A Cup of Kindness

Well I have become a Tom Walls "expert" now with this the fourth film of his I have seen. This is a mild comedy of word, manners and farce. It is typical Tom Walls fare, although it seems to be an early example of a style he later perfected. The supporting roles do their best with the material and make the appropriate faces. The bizarre get of the old cranky scheming uncle who lives upstairs is a bit disconcerting, and the musical interlude where they are in the stone age is amusing. Overall a mildly diverting comedy nothing to write home about, but not the worst comedy I have seen. Mainly for the Tom Walls fans out there. At least it did not wear out its welcome with its length (unlike these reviews which insist of a minimum of ten lines of text!)

Claude Hulbert joins the Aldwych farce for this film.He is a very funny actor,far better than his better known brother Jack.Unusual to have 2 actors who played "silly ass" parts in the same film.To me the main problem with these films is Tom Walls who insists upon acting as if he is on stage with very broad gestures.I just don't find him funny unlike say Robertson Hare who is far better.There is a stone age dream which might be there to pad out the running time but is far and away the funniest thing in the film.Incidentally there is one curious point.All of the actors are wearing very dark eye shadow.In once scene Ralph Lynn looks as if he has 2 black eyes.I wonder if this was required because of the film stock or the lighting.In any event it looks extremely strange.

A reasonably amusing British comedy with some great lines, it is nevertheless often slow-moving and rather stale between the jokes. The same team struck gold with a film called 'Fighting Stock' a year later, but this entry is still worth checking out, with Ralph Lynn as delightful as ever. Yet, it is not much in the way of great film-making, with the content insufficient for the short running time, and there is a silly dream sequence added in for arguably little purpose except to buff up the film's length. Fans of British comedies from the era should find enough to enjoy in it, but it is hard to guarantee this for other viewers.