I Thank You

If you ever wondered what British music hall or American vaudeville was all about, this is a pretty good representation of the styles of humor and performance from those circles. The plot is so old, it creaks; jokes are corny and people break into song all the time, but everyone is so committed to what they're doing, you're completely entertained. You'll remember Arthur Askey's delivery of the line "I thank you" for a long time.

The vaudeville team of Forsythe, Seamon & Farrell get some nice showcasing here. While Charles Forsythe and Eleanor Farrell can sing and deliver a punchline, Addie Seamon plays "Peaches", a Gracie Allen ditz who can dance up a storm. You won't forget her.

Great fun for a Saturday afternoon.

"I Thank You" is the best of the films that Arthur Askey made. With his friends Moore and Graham Moffatt and Richard Murdoch, Askey romps and stomps his way through mayhem with many laughs and chuckles. They are joined by some talented performers of the day that add a musical production touch to this comedy.

The plot is a fairly simple one, but the hilarious chaos of many scenes makes one wonder if it was all scripted that way, or if the leads were just ad-libbing as they went along. It is clear that they were enjoying the making of this film.

No doubt this and other comedies of the period did a lot to ease tensions during the war. Farce of this type probably helped many in England keep the proverbial British stiff upper lip during the German bombing of London. The closing scene of the troupe entertaining Londoners in a bomb shelter was a fitting tribute to the English and to the entertainers who did their part for the war effort.

This is a fun film that rivals the best of the raucous movies of the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges in America.

Really enjoyed it. Cheap, cheerful, entertaining so the highbrow can get stuffed!

`Big-hearted Arthur Askey' was a major British star of cinema, TV, and even, much earlier, Music Hall. On the evidence of `I Thank You' (a catch-phrase pronounced Aye Theng Yew) he was a comical little man with great timing but I just couldn't get a laugh out of this movie. And its not simply a case of what made people smile more than fifty years ago not being relevant today. A couple of nights previously I had watched an even older film, `Nothing Sacred' and found it absolutely hilarious.

`I Thank You' was made & set during the Second World War. It opens & closes in the London Underground where the population went to escape the German air raids, includes a couple of novelty songs plus performances from Richard `Stinker' Murdoch who became a top radio script-writer and Kathleen Harrison who always seemed to play a maid until she had great success in the fifties in The Huggetts series of films.

It's hard to recommend `I Thank You' which is often frantic and farcical; the best I can say is that it is mercifully short at seventy-odd minutes.

Arthur Askey's name is pretty much a seal of greatness, and this movie is no exception. If you don't mind his usual corny jokes, you're in for a dream ride with this one. Rivalling Askey in the comedic department is a young, unnamed girl who may well have been the English Gracie Allen with her charming voice and illogical logic. Sadly though, her character was never named, and she does not appear in any credits list for the film.

Askey and co. need a backer for their show, and the usual brass, Lady Randall, won't comply - so they set out for her house to pretend to be the new hired help, and end up getting a lot more than they bargained for! A great movie with a laugh around every corner.