D'Ye Ken John Peel?

An extravagantly produced melodrama set in 1815. Nominal leads John Garrick and Winifred Shotter disappear for long periods, while other characters barge in and out of the story - including Stanley Holloway as Sam describing how Wellington had to persuade him to Pick Up Thy Musket, Mary Lawson (later killed in the Blitz) as Toinette bursting into song in a chic, expensive-looking hussar's uniform, and a dashing young John Stuart as singing highwayman Captain Moonlight.

Expensive-looking digressions which explain why Twickenham Studios soon went bust include an elaborate hunt sequence followed by an equally elaborate post-hunt ball.

Boney having been defeated on the fields of Waterloo, Major John Peel -- as played by John Garrick -- calls out Leslie Perrins, card and dice sharp, who has wronged Mary Lawson, the darling of the regiment. Having made Perrins marry the girl, Garrick is off to England, where the death of his uncle has left him vast estates and the local Hunt. But Perrins returns to England, too, where his sharping forces Charles Carson into marrying him his daughter, Winnifred Shotter. She and Garrick, of course, love each other, but what are you going to do?

Gadzooks! Julius Hagen was moving into A pictures, and while visually it is a delight under Sydney Blythe's camera, director Henry Edwards can't do much with this melodramatic story, which includes John Stuart as a highwayman, and Stanley Holloway as Garricks' man. Holloway's character is called Sam Small, so that he can perform his stage monologue "Pick Oop the Musket" and Miss Lawson a music hall number. Hagen and Edwards had a nice, profitable line in quota quickies, but the mirage of the profits of A pictures led them into works like this; the local distributors and cinema halls saw no need to encourage competition, so they went bankrupt within a couple of years.

Right from the start, we realise that "Sir Charles Hawksley - aka "Craven"" (Leslie Perrins) is a bit of a bounder. Now that the Napoleonic wars are all but over, he is intent on returning home leaving "Toinette" (Mary Lawson) in the lurch. Luckily for her, gallant "Maj. Peel" (John Garrick) is on hand to rectify matters. Back in Britain with the war now ended, we discover that our protagonist is at it again - this time forcing the rather incompetent gambler "Merrall" (Charles Carson) to the brink of homelessness and bankruptcy. His price? Well he gets to marry his daughter "Lucy" (Winifred Shotter). Reluctantly, she agrees - but a chance encounter with the reputable "Peel" - who's has the odd scrape himself since returning - might just offer her a way out! It's a competently strung together tale of honour and chivalry that I felt needed just one thing - Tod Slaughter. He in the role of the deceitful, manipulative, baddie would have done the trick for me. Otherwise, this is all a rather weakly cast costume drama with the odd bit of action and one or two rather lengthy, though quite amusing, songs/monologues from the actual star of the thing - Stanley Holloway. I like the genre so it's my kind of film and I did quite enjoy it, it's just something that could have been a bit less wordy and a bit more lively.

Julius Hagen was doing well as the producer of quota quickies.However he changed tack in the mid thirties.Abandoning quota quickie and making films such as this.He also set up his own distribution company.Both moves proved unsuccessful and he has made bankrupt in 1937.Mind you so did many other film companies.This is not a bad film but it had no chance when competing against Hollywood films.