It's a Grand Life

'It's a Grand Life' marks the screen swansong of Frank Randle who is still pretty light on his feet and doesn't look a day older than when he first started (not that he probably ever looked young in the first place).

Returning to the sort of nonsense Our Frank was making ten years earlier the old codger is back in uniform (queue the usual jokes about Randle's sergeant major).

But at least the camera occasionally leaves the studio and it certainly benefits from frequent exteriors and blonde bombshell Diana Dors and Jennifer Jayne in uniforms make attractive attractive additions to the usual formula.

I do love the old black & white British comedies of the 30s, 40s, 50s and early 60s and I note that Odeon Entertainment is bringing out a series of classics covering this era. I recently purchased "Double Bunk" and "It's a Grand Life" has just been added to my collection.

I cannot recall seeing this film before which dates from 1953. The top two stars are Frank Randle, whom I associate more with music hall than film, and Diana Dors who is instantly recognisable by her trademark long blonde hair. She provides the glamour/love interest.

The film is about army life and Frank Randle plays an eccentric/incompetent Private Randle who attempts to frustrate the amorous intentions of an army sergeant major, played by Michael Brennan, towards Miss Dors (Corporal Paula Clements) who only has eyes for another.

The film is very much in the style of music hall with fast dialogue and memorable one-liners. It put me in mind of another film, Arthur Askey and "Ghost Train".

There is a kind of musical 'interlude' during all the fast action when there is a rare appearance on film by Winifred Atwell who interrupts the quick-fire dialogue, which can feel just a little monotonous at times, unless you like that kind of thing. Miss Atwell plays a medley of some of her favourite tunes on the piano in a style that is uniquely her own. A highly competent, ubiquitous entertainer and fine musician in her time.

The film is described as a comedy and it will definitely appeal to a particular type of audience, probably now well past middle age. Many of the scenes will appear childish, silly and not particularly funny by modern tastes but this comedic style was popular in the 30s, 40s and early 50s. Things began to 'quieten down' in the late 50s and 60s. Remember "Carry on Sergeant"? In my opinion the first of the Carry Ons is a much better film because it explores the complex relationship between a group of new recruits with a tough army sergeant, played by William Hartnell, who is shortly to retire having never trained a top platoon. 'It's a Grand Life', by comparison, is thin on plot, relying in the main upon a series of unbelievable military situations and played in a knockabout, no-brainer style. But this form of comedy was what Frank Randle was perhaps best known. It therefore deserves to be called a classic.

It's an interesting example of how to make a film on a low budget. All the music is from pre-existing music libraries. All the major comedy sequences are filmed in very long takes, and have every indication of hardly being scripted at all, just blocked out and leaving Randle and his experienced team to improvise. The plot is much the same as all the other Randle films - set in the Army (an excuse for cheeking senior officers and the sergeant), and involving a younger well-off recruit whose home they end up in. In the end sequence here Randle adopts a kilt and a dubious Scots accent for no apparent reason.

It's interesting to note that Winifred Atwell plays everything in key C, unlike most jazz-type pianists who tend to use b or E flat. The 'historical' piano she uses at the end if of course an ordinary piano in disguise, with one string on everyh note detuned slightly to produce the 'honky tonk' effect she was famous for employing. (Side note - originally 'honky tonk' meant brothel, something everyone had forgotten by then.)

This turned out to be the final film featuring the great northern comic actor, Frank Randle. As a swansong it's not at all bad, though it does have scenes that linger too long, and where the humour is a little too forced. However, some of the slapstick scenes are still genuinely funny, especially the one where Frank Randle has the new army recruits doing a childlike dance, with their rifles held aloft! Diana Dors, along with Jennifer Jayne, provides the glamour interest, and there are likable performances from the rest of the cast, including a cameo appearance by Winifred Atwell at the piano. A famous wrestler, from that era, Jack Pye also appears in funny wrestling interlude with Frank Randle. The same Jack Pye was still taking on opponents in the ring whilst in his 60's!!! The film does tend to go on too long, and would have been better with tighter editing. Also John Blythe (as Diana Dors' fiancé) must be the oldest looking 23 year old ever!! A nice nostalgic film for fans of the genre.

I didn't understand half of the actors' lines. Subtitles would have helped.