Jumping for Joy is one of those chaotic, anarchic and 'slap stick' films, which during the 50's, often featured Norman Wisdom. However, Frankie Howard takes the leading role, but Howard, who plays Willie Joy, comes across as a bland and slow witted type village idiot, but without the Wisdom mannerisms, energy and acrobatics.
The thin storyline revolves around greyhound racing and betting skullduggery with a cast of well known British character actors, all playing stereotypical eccentrics. Howard, isn't good enough to carry the film, and although on stage, TV and radio, he attracted a large audience, Howard didn't have that charisma or personality of a Norman Wisdom to retain interest of a cinema audience. It doesn't help matters when you have banal and cliched dialogue together with cobbled together 'Keystone cop' type, mayhem scenes, designed to promote mirth, but spectacularly fails. Essentially, the supporting cast do their their best with their cardboard and one dimensional roles, but they are defeated by an inane script and actors behaving like dim adolescents. This sort of film was outdated even when it was released in 1956 and since then it has become one of those museum pieces which people look at when reflecting about the demise of the British film industry.
