Calling All Cars

"Calling All Cars" is an interesting and unusual little film. There is little by way of a plot as it was actually a promotional film for the Dover Harbour Board's new ferry terminal, and as such, the film is merely, if you will excuse the pun, a vehicle for publicising the introduction of roll-on, roll-off ferries, or RO RO ferries, but don't let that put you off.

It is actually a pleasant bit of light comedy, not hilariously funny, but light-hearted and jolly enough with some witty dialogue. One or two of the jokes are rather corny ("Liechtenstein, how the heck do you spell that?", "Ten licks and a stein") but it's not trying to be sophisticated, it's just fun.

The plot, what there is of a plot, can be told in a few words. Reggie and Freddie, trying to make the acquaintance of two attractive women, follow them as they drive down to Dover and board the ferry to France.

So it falls into the category of a "road" film, with some of the events along the way being an unusual stop at a petrol station where the pals are attended to by what certain newspapers today would refer to as "a bevy of beauties".

Reggie and Freddie foil an attempted robbery at a jewellers and then they pull a bit of a prank to delay the women in the hope that it will give them the chance to talk to them.

So with not much of a plot to analyse, let's take a look at its plus points to see what makes it worth watching.

Since it is basically a "road" film, let's talk about the roads - and what a contrast with today's crowded highways. Today's drivers can watch this and dream of the open road with very little traffic. With so few vehicles on the road, motoring was surely a more pleasurable experience back then.

Stopping for petrol also had a sort-of elegance and ease that it lacks today. These were the days before self-service petrol stations and drivers didn't even need to get out of the car to put petrol in - an attendant would do it - but I doubt that you would have had the attention of half a dozen young ladies as we see in this mirth-making scene. Had this been a musical comedy, the chorus line would have provided the chance to bring on the showgirls to delight the eye, and this scene is a rather clever way of slotting them in here. It's played for laughs, but I suspect that whoever wrote that scene was indulging in a little fantasy and expressing his desire of how he'd like it to be.

The next attraction of this film must be the Jaguar cars. The stunning designs with sleek curves that are unmistakably Jaguar certainly turned heads, and not only the heads of sports car enthusiasts. Anyone with an eye for beauty and classic style can understand why they made Jaguar a world famous name and why the makers of this film chose Jaguar over other brands.

Next comes the the acting of Adrienne Scott and Pauline Olsen. Their natural, authentic and unpretentious style of acting, plus good looks, adds greatly to the charm of this film. Unfortunately we don't see enough of them. They don't have a lot of dialogue, which is why I gave them second billing after the Jaguars.

I'll give a brief mention to Margot Bryant as Mrs Flit. She would later go on to be a star of Coronation Street, appearing in many episodes.

As well as the attractions of this film, the negative aspects need to be discussed. What might put off some people?

I'll begin with the fact that it has a few short documentary sections which are very much like the old public information films, the Railway Transport Films or the Rank Organisation's "Look At Life" series of short films which cinema-goers of the 1960s will remember very well, as they were shown before the main feature.

Hopefully it will be a very small minority who are put off by these short documentary sections. They make up only a few short parts of the film and don't take up a lot of time and perhaps the majority will be fascinated to see the old method of cars being hoisted on to the ferry by means of a crane and will marvel at the construction scenes. In its day, the new RO RO terminal was an impressive piece of engineering and worthy of publicity. For a better view of cars being loaded on to the ferry by a crane, see Diplomatic Passport (1954).

I found the scene with the boy causing a hold up on the zebra crossing rather dull and I wonder how today's audiences would take the scene with Reggie and Freddie dressed as schoolboys, but that schoolboy outfit was part of Cardew Robinson's stage act and audiences of the 1950s would have laughed on seeing it just as audiences do on hearing a comedian's catchphrase.

There is a bit of narration by Spike Milligan talking, in one of his silly voices, as the voice of the car. Milligan was one of a team of comedians known as "The Goons", very popular in their day and the addition of Milligan to "Calling All Cars" was to attract bigger audiences, but this is another aspect that has me wondering about the reaction of modern audiences. Still though, modern audiences flock to see Joe Pasquale with his silly voice, so perhaps Milligan's buffoonery won't put them off.

In terms of cinematic production it borders on cinéma-vérité or direct cinema, so although some might see it as amateurish, others will see it as refreshing and having the "spontaneity and flavour of the real event" to quote Karel Reisz.

To sum up, it is stylistically different, quirky if you like, but fun and full of jollity, somewhat reminiscent of a saucy seaside postcard, not too taxing on the intellect, but with a few witty wisecracks dropped in, so be on the alert for them.

It is ideal for winding down after a hard day, delightful for its charming innocence. Just sit back and enjoy the clowning around, the scenes of a country that once was England and the sophisticated curves of the Jaguar cars.

This 40 minute short was sponsored by the Dover Port Authority and was clearly intended to showcase their newly built facilities. Consequently don't expect a story any more complex than two comical guys in a clapped-out taxi pursue two classy women in a sports car as far as France in the hope of making their acquaintance.

There are a few mildly comedic moments (e.g. Robinson sticks a firework in the car exhaust in order to get it going) and there is the unusual touch of having Spike Milligan doing a voice-over as though he was the voice of the taxi itself. As another reviewer points out this is more irritating than funny.

Also unusual is the fact that the budget obviously didn't stretch to portable sound equipment so the film was made silent with all background noises, sound effects and dialogue dubbed on later. This was done very badly so they may appear to be on a busy road but when they speak they sound like they are sitting round a microphone in a studio somewhere. There are also very few close ups in the film - I suspect this is so you don't notice the lousy lack of lip-sync.

Putting all that aside though this is interesting as a little piece of history and giving a glimpse of '50's England.

What can I say, it's daft with Cardew Robinson being, well, being Cardew Robinson. Spike Milligan is doing an annoying voice over as Eccles. I'm a big fan of Spike but this was painful.

What was good about it? Watching a slice of Britain as it was when I was a boy, empty roads and no queues for the ferry.

Made me smile.

This is a 40 minute short where 2 men pursue 2 neighbours in a bid to meet them and share their holiday in France.It has some silly voices by Spike Milligan which are more irritating than funny.This film is more of nostalgic interest in what it was like in those pre sat nav and motorway days to go down to Dover.The AA map is shown it was a direction booklet which took you step by step through the route in the same way as a sat nav.The A2 then was just a single lane each way road passing through some rather attractive Kentish scenery.There were restaurants and café s that you could stop in for a time.The process of boarding a ferry seems to be a fairly relaxed affair.Nice spacious café and shops area,with hardly any people and a petrol station which looks like something out of the thirties it is so streamlined.Contrast this with today!So for that reason if nothing else I found this film of interest.

I looked at this because the cast included Spike Milligan. It's about the misadventures of Cardew Robinson and John Milligan, as they travel in a wreck of an old car towards Dover, pausing occasionally to ogle women or put on schoolboy uniforms. Milligan offers his Eccles voice occasionally as the car.

If I tell you that E. J. Fancey is the producer, and Maclean Rogers the director, is that sufficient warning? It has all the hallmarks of a Fancey production: wild shooting with everything looped, a five-minute sequence show in what purports to be the building of the Dover terminal, Adrienne Scott -- nee Fancey -- along the way.