I Thank You

Arthur Askey's name is pretty much a seal of greatness, and this movie is no exception. If you don't mind his usual corny jokes, you're in for a dream ride with this one. Rivalling Askey in the comedic department is a young, unnamed girl who may well have been the English Gracie Allen with her charming voice and illogical logic. Sadly though, her character was never named, and she does not appear in any credits list for the film.

Askey and co. need a backer for their show, and the usual brass, Lady Randall, won't comply - so they set out for her house to pretend to be the new hired help, and end up getting a lot more than they bargained for! A great movie with a laugh around every corner.

My bet is that if you asked 100 of my fellow Americans who Arthur Askey was, you MIGHT get lucky and find one. He and other British comedians like Will Hay are simply never shown on TV around here and the only reason I discovered them is that I like to download and watch public domain movies--and I have discovered some interesting movies that way. It seems that a lot of the public domain films were made by Gainesborough Pictures--and they made a lot of comedies as well as dramas.

Now I am not saying all these films are brilliant. Askey was often a bit low-brow in his humor--probably because he had his roots in the English stage--sort of like their version of vaudeville. So, for his audiences, Askey and many other comedians went for the cheap laugh--and that's not really a bad thing! Plus, his humor was never as cheap as our Three Stooges! This film must have seemed very near and dear to the hearts of the actors, as it's about a group of stage performers who are out of work and need someone to finance their show. So, Askey and Richard Murdock both approach a rich Lady--who also used to be a performer like them. But, she turns out to want nothing to do with her old job and now she is too sophisticated for such things. So, instead of asking for her financing directly, the decide to go to work for her, as she's advertising for a butler and maid. So you think....how can one of them be a maid?! Well, Askey, in the grand tradition of low-brow entertainment, dresses in drag--and he looks pretty convincing actually! So when exactly will they get around to popping the question? And what will she say? And what hope do they have of convincing anyone they are real servants?! Although this film too much singing, some of the songs were pretty catchy. Plus, I loved Moore Marriott in the he film. While he did a lot of films with Askey and Will Hay, here he is at his funniest. His crazy old coot routine is a hoot--and does a lot to make up for the plot lulls and songs. Well written and funny--this is a fun film even if some of the humor is a bit corny.

Really enjoyed it. Cheap, cheerful, entertaining so the highbrow can get stuffed!

`Big-hearted Arthur Askey' was a major British star of cinema, TV, and even, much earlier, Music Hall. On the evidence of `I Thank You' (a catch-phrase pronounced Aye Theng Yew) he was a comical little man with great timing but I just couldn't get a laugh out of this movie. And its not simply a case of what made people smile more than fifty years ago not being relevant today. A couple of nights previously I had watched an even older film, `Nothing Sacred' and found it absolutely hilarious.

`I Thank You' was made & set during the Second World War. It opens & closes in the London Underground where the population went to escape the German air raids, includes a couple of novelty songs plus performances from Richard `Stinker' Murdoch who became a top radio script-writer and Kathleen Harrison who always seemed to play a maid until she had great success in the fifties in The Huggetts series of films.

It's hard to recommend `I Thank You' which is often frantic and farcical; the best I can say is that it is mercifully short at seventy-odd minutes.

If you ever wondered what British music hall or American vaudeville was all about, this is a pretty good representation of the styles of humor and performance from those circles. The plot is so old, it creaks; jokes are corny and people break into song all the time, but everyone is so committed to what they're doing, you're completely entertained. You'll remember Arthur Askey's delivery of the line "I thank you" for a long time.

The vaudeville team of Forsythe, Seamon & Farrell get some nice showcasing here. While Charles Forsythe and Eleanor Farrell can sing and deliver a punchline, Addie Seamon plays "Peaches", a Gracie Allen ditz who can dance up a storm. You won't forget her.

Great fun for a Saturday afternoon.