hamilton65

I'm writing this "review" in order to point out the basic error in the previous reviewers remarks. I believe the previous reviewer is actually thinking of the Alistair Sim 1951 version of the story and not the live TV broadcast on the BBC from 1950–which he is extremely unlikely to have seen since it's lost - unless he lived in London at the time and saw the original broadcast - doubtful.

Of course one can always hope that a copy of this will turn up at the BFI, along with Bransby Williams previous appearance in the 1928 Phonofilm short. He can be seen in an excerpt from Bleak House filmed in 1926, in which she plays the part of an old miser not unlike Scrooge.

Let's hope that will turn up some day.

(Generally I get quite annoyed when people review things they couldn't possibly have seen, bur in this case I'm fairly certain it was an innocent mistake.) But folks, please check that you really are reviewing the film you think you're reviewing.

Often overlooked in Buster filmographies and only recently included in the imdb, this is an interesting item in Buster's career. Not quite a film. It's actually one of two pseudo features that British Lion compiled from episodes of Life with Buster, his shot on film TV series, about Buster's misadventures both running a sporting goods shop, and a local theatre company.

The "film" is thus a series self contained skits built round one or other premise. Reputedly Buster didn't enjoy this series, missing the live audience of his previous show. Also Buster found it hard to come up with a half hour's worth of original material each week and in future would do only guest spots. You can sence this difficulty in the variable quality of the sequences here, many of which harken back to Buster's vaudeville days eg an onstage sequence with Buster as an idiotic suitor, one of 3, who come a courting..

Though some of the material is weak, Buster is as always a pro and he does have a few very funny moments, notably a reprise of the piggy bank gag from Cameraman, a fun poster sticking scene, in which Eleanor Keaton makes a brief appearance, and the climactic scene where he attempts to perform the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and the set falls forward on him just like in Steamboat Bill Jnr.. Eleanor again appears here as Juliet, a nice touch.

5 out of 10