No Limit

This film was made in 1935 when Formby was at the height of his fame in the British music halls. This was Formby's third film and also one of his most fondly remembered. He plays George Shuttleworth (speed demon), Who has a dream of riding his motorbike in the Isle Of Man TT races. It is a wonderful 80 minutes of nostalgic fun as George gets into many scrapes on the way and manages to fit in a few songs while plucking his Ukelele. It is also a timely reminder of a Britain which (sadly) no longer exists. So sit back and reminisce but most of all enjoy.

I've enjoyed Formby's singing and ukulele playing for several years but have just tonight seen several of his movies on TCM. It's easy to see why he was (and is still) loved in the UK. Formby's style of comedy reminded me of Jerry Lewis in his early movies though Formby preceded Lewis by some 15 years.

George enters a motorcycle race, sings and meets a pretty girl. He's the underdog. Will he win? Will he get the girl in the end? Of course. Surprised?

The film uses quite a bit of actual race footage and the. Crashes are quite violent. One rider falls over and is hit by two other riders. One cycle and rider go over the edge of a mountain. I'd be surprised if he lived.

Stream some of Formby's songs on Spotify. "Count Your Blessings and Smile" or "When I'm Cleaning Windows".

There's a few things going for this film if your into nostalgia. Firstly George is a likable Lancashire comedian setting out on the big screen in an absolutely predictable script.

It's worth a watch if you've ever been to the Isle of Man (TT races or not) purely from a historical point of view. Health & safety would just die at the crowds locality to the bikes! There are a few good laughs but 75 years on it all looks very, very familiar. The Riding the TT Races song on the train journey is an eccentric bit of comedic genius and the Shuttleworth Snap is a dream bike (there's a full replica at The Bay Inn, Port Erin, Isle of Man - fab pub).

What a jump up in quality No Limit is from George's first 2 films ("Boots!, Boots!" and "Off The Dole")

More lavishly produced, more of a story, more of a drama, more of a genuine laugh.

More of a proper film really (instead of the disjointed bits of skits and sketches of the previous films) professionally directed by Monty Banks (Gracie Fields husband)

I could imagine going to see this in the cinemas in 1936 and having a "reet rollikin good laff"

George singing "Riding in the TT Races" to a carriage full of smiley fat faces gives a little tug on the happy string in your heart.

The TT race finale is a thrills and spills rompalong (how close the dangerously careering bikes are to the crowd around would give the present day Health & Safety police kittens)

It all ends predictably and happily ever after.

I'd pick a rainy Sunday afternoon to watch this film, cuddled up on the sofa, drinking pots of tea, munching Eccles cakes.

The greatest movie of all time this isn't. I don't think it ever tried to be. It's a vehicle of George "oooh, mother!" Formby and his ukelele, in an era when Vaudeville was coughing up blood and there was a pool of talent going idle (assuming you consider the ukelele a talent!). It's lots of fun, and entirely predictable - underdog battles the odds, has a few scrapes, but gets the girl (and other things) in the end, baddies roundly thrashed, and all to the strains of the obligatory musical numbers that permeate the movie. I grew up on the Isle of Man and used to marshal on the TT course - there wasn't a year went by that at least one rider didn't have his machine painted in the Shuttleworth Snap checkerboard pattern, such is the legacy of this movie in the road-racing fraternity. Filmed almost entirely on location, it cuts in archive race footage (amazing to see what's changed and what hasn't) and it's sublimely ridiculous. If you're a road-racer, or know people who are, this is a must. For everyone else, it's a maybe. Bizarrely, in the scene at the beginning of the big race, there is a swastika flag flying from the grandstand. It's customary to fly the flags of all of the countries that the competitors are from, and I guess in 1936 there were German riders - still, it's a little strange to see it there, looks out of place.