Back-Room Boy

One of Arthur Askey's better moments, in a Ghost Train/Oh Mr Porter-style comedy-thriller featuring a haunted lighthouse and a boatload of disappearing girls. Plenty to savour. In particular, Askey's performance, stripped of the charmless mugging to which he was regrettably prone, is very enjoyable, and unusually for him bears a passing resemblance to a member of the human race. Disappointed in love, he turns all misogynistic, tries to run away from women, and of course ends up surrounded by them; he is greatly supported by a dry, even sardonic script.

Other pluses include Moore Marriott on good form as Jerry, and a splendid debut by Vera Frances, surely one of the top child stars of the UK cinema. A real shame she didn't make more films. She delivers several marvellous lines, pearls of wisdom indeed, in a convincing cockney accent, although perhaps flawed by her imperfect diction; a very nice dry run for her finest moment with Tommy Handley in It's That Man Again. The opening sequence, where Askey is the man charged with doing the pips for the BBC, is splendid - as another commentator has already said, one wonders how many of the audience actually believed that they were produced by hand. The BBC has always inspired a vein of mildly surrealistic comedy, and Askey was one of its best exponents. And the scene where Askey first sees Googie Withers is genuinely scary.

There are minuses. After the BBC sequence, the plot takes an age to get going, and the scares of the middle third of the picture aren't connected strongly enough with those of the final third. The actual plot feels a bit bolted onto the rest of the picture. And although, in this genre, it is essential that the lead character is a cowardly incompetent who undoes the villains, here Askey is too cowardly, and does too little to thwart the sinister plot. Finally, Graham Moffatt has a couple of decent lines, but basically there is not enough for him to do, and sadly he is by now much too old to play the Albert character.

But all in all, a nice film, a cosy hour and a quarter, several good jokes, and certified safe even for committed Askeyphobes.

Unlike the excellent review by GARY170459, I am not that familiar with Arthur Askey's films--they just aren't shown here in the states. I've seen a couple but am far from knowledgeable about him and his films. I did also recognize Moore Marriott as I'd seen him in a few films, including "Gasbags"--one of several Crazy Gang films. Both were particularly good, though Askey was clearly the star and Marriott was just there for support.

The film is a WWII propaganda piece made in the UK for local consumption. It's a very amiable comedy that both entertains and helped get the public behind the war effort.

It begins with Askey breaking up with his girlfriend and he is sick of women. He arranges to be transferred to a job manning a lighthouse in the middle of no where off the Scottish coast, but far from being isolated, people keep dropping in--even though he's 40 miles off the coast! It's pretty funny to see him getting frustrated with this and the film then gets tangled up in a German plot--though you'll just need to see the film yourself to find out what's in store.

The film is very entertaining and it's nice to see a tale set in a lighthouse that is worth seeing, as the last film I saw with a similar setting was "Sh! The Octopus (1937)"--a terrible little film with little to recommend it.

Arthur Askey plays Arthur Pilbeam, who after recently being jilted by his fiancé swears off women and seeks employment away from them. He lands a post at a remote lighthouse on one of the Scotish Isles, here he thinks he's finally cracked it and can enjoy solitude whilst providing the meteorological bulletins. However, his peace is soon shattered when young Jane walks into his life, she stowed-away on his boat for she's searching for her uncle on a neighbouring island. Then Bobbie shows up after her boat was torpedoed, then another boat load of survivors, predominantly women, arrive. Arthur is beside himself, but worse is to come for all of a sudden they all start to disappear one by one. Could this be another Mary Celeste? Only in lighthouse form?

Produced out of Gainsborough Pictures, this Askey vehicle is directed by Herbert Mason and co-written by Marriott Edgar, Val Guest & J.O.C. Orton. Starring alongside Askey are Googie Withers, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt and Vera Francis. Very much along the lines of another Guest/Edgar scripted piece, the classic Oh Mr Porter! this fun and breezy picture sees Askey restrained and the film be all the better for it. In truth it takes its time to get going, practically 40 minutes pass by before the additional characters start being introduced. Which means we are at the mercy of Askey and the delightful Vera Francis for much of the movie. But it works.

Francis isn't an annoying child star, she has nice delivery and her role is so well scripted it keeps the film breezy. Her natural like presence appears to have a good effect on Askey, who is more relaxed and thus the comedy is more humanistic and real. Enter the support players, who somewhat understandably given the plot, aren't given much to do. Which is a shame because more of Withers, Marriott & Moffatt would obviously have been a bonus. But it is what it is and as the mystery element kicks in, and some sinister undertones sidle up next to the comedy, the lack of meat for the support characters' bones is easily forgiven. There's no real surprises come the finale, but one thinks nobody would be expecting that given the time of the film's release. So sit back and enjoy this fun mystery for it's one of the better Askey pictures. 7/10

This is quite a fun outing for Arthur Askey. He is transferred from the BBC in London to a lonely lighthouse to set up a weather station. Needless to say, it's wet, windy and downright dreich in his new home. Then in the best traditions of "Whisky Galore" there is shipwreck. This time, though, it's not booze - but buxom beauties that find themselves stranded and he finds himself completely bamboozled. He is soon awakened from his delirium of delight though, when the girls start to disappear. What could be happening to them? He starts to investigate and soon finds himself embroiled in a devious Nazi plot that could alter the course of the whole war. It's maybe a bit too long - it certainly takes a while to get going, but once it's up and running it shows off the comic skills and timing of this consummate professional as he owns the screen with his smile and his antics. The story is a gentle reminder of what made us laugh at the height of the war and though entirely predictable is still quite a watchable effort with a couple of nice contributions from Googie Withers and Moore Marriott too.

After being jilted by his fiancee, Arthur Pilbeam wants a job where he will encounter no women. He is sent to a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island which is being run as a meteoroligical station where he is supposed to be the only inhabitant. However, Jane, a young girl, has stowed-away on his boat. She is looking for her uncle on the neighbouring island. Then model Bobbie turns up - her boat has been torpedoed. With the arrival of another boatload of survivors, bringing the total occupancy of the island to 13, things are getting a little crowded. That's when they all start to disappear, one by one...