Danny Boy

Butchers Films who distributed this film were one of the longest lived companies (1910-1982) in the British film industry.They normally made films that were destined for the bottom half of the double bill.This however looks as if it was rather more ambitious.the cast contains,David Farrer,Ann Todd and Wilfred Lawson.The story is fairly invisible and concerns Todd who comes back to England during the blitz to find her ex husband and her boy.There are some musical numbers with the eponymous title number to the fore.All in all it is fairly entertaining and manages to keep a fairly cheerful spirit not dissimilar to a John Baxter production.To its credit it avoids any mawkishness which can creep into some films of that era.

A paper-thin plot built around a number of old standards (everything from Liebestraum to Roll out the Barrel and the title track) makes for sub-standard entertainment. Leading man David Farrar is rendered redundant by the plot while the old-school decency of the lugubrious Wilfrid Lawson simply makes him look weak. Partially redeemed by the occasional touch of gentle humour, but still something of a slog.

Although Wilfrid Lawson (inevitably first seen pouring himself a drink) is top-billed as a cigar-chomping agent dressed like a bookie in loud checks and a fur collar, the lead actually goes to John Warwick in this remake by Oswald Mitchell of his own directorial debut of 1934 made by Butcher's at Ealing and updated to London during the Blitz.

It never leaves the studio but passes the time satisfactorily enough. An interesting cast includes a brunette Anne Todd as the boy's mother, and a sympathetic supporting role for David Farrar. (One notable period detail in the early scenes is a little mixed-race kid called 'Sambo'.)