Off the Dole

This was the follow up to Boots! Boots! from the previous year – and another pleasant low brow low budget no plotter, right up my street in fact. I hadn't seen it in 10 years because my copy from a bad print puts me off, and not because it's a struggle for me with the amateurish acting and production.

George again playing his father's creation John Willie, is kicked off the dole after 4 years but then is immediately offered and accepts a detective job at his uncle's agency. He gets a few bizarre commissions, sings and plays a few nice songs, has a few routines some with Beryl and along with a very slight Edwardian type love story that's about it. Watch him spray and comb his hat! There are a few other Music Hall/Variety turns in here too, especially funny were Stan Pell and Stan Little providing an unusual entertainment with gusto for the kids in the schoolroom. George's banjolele made its first appearance on film in I Promised To Be Home At Nine O'Clock, my favourite song being If You Don't Want The Goods Don't Maul 'Em in the record shop singing along to a recording by a certain George Formby! Also in right at the end is a truncated version of With My Little Ukelele In My Hand – 2 years previously Decca had had to withdraw released copies of the record after it was adjudged obscene – what would they all think of todays incredibly high standard of lyric writing? Overall this was a better effort but next stop was Basil Dean and ATBP and much better efforts with 10 years at the top of the entertainment ladder.

It's a bit of a jolly artless potpourri, I like it but then again I'm not a serious person who needs everything to be Art.

Watching Formby films in chronological sequence as part of a 20 film collection. This was his 2nd film, and for the most part looks as inept as the 1st was.

Contains all the same deficiencies as Boots! Boots!: negligible plot, Am-Dram theatricals, cheap production values, inane script, laboured set ups etc.

After a while i was fast forwarding the contrived story elements just to get to the songs.

But then - near the end - comes along the Stan Pell and Stan Little dance skit in the school. Brilliant! Funny! At last something to be genuinely merry about.

If i ever watch this film again I'll go straight to Pell & Little's merry mad dance. And watch some of the songs again too (like "With My Little Ukulele In My Hand")

As for the rest of the film - forget it.

This film was also made by John Blakely and shot at the Albany 'Studio' which was above a garage in Regent Street. Apparently the mechanics had to stop work every time they filmed.

The film is described as a 'Merry Musical Burlesque' The plot is so disjointed it barely deserves a mention other than to say Formby plays a gormless private detective.

He appears again in scenes with his wife Beryl - she wasn't much of a singer and had a 'posh' 1930s speaking voice which now sounds rather ridiculous and is at odds with George's accent.

At least he gets to sing a lot more than in his first film and he uses not only a proper ukulele but the banjulele (or Ukulele Banjo) for which he was famous.

The other highlights for me are the inclusion of two super variety acts that border on being speciality acts. Firstly is an eccentric dancer called Len Martin who starts of with a patter and cross talk routine before dancing. Some of his material is just a bit near the mark too, especially for 1935.

The second act is Stan Pell and Stan Little who do a routine as a Parson and a little boy. Little is the little boy who is supposed to be 7 years old but is actually a midget who was aged around 24. You'll see for yourself if you ever get to see this film. It's a priceless act - but like Len Martin absolutely nothing to do with the 'plot'.

By Blakeley and Mancunian Films standards this was probably a good film but by any other standards it was not. Nevertheless it and its predecessor Boots! Boots! were a big enough attraction 'oop North' to gain the interest of Basil Dean who directed Formby's following films and made him one of the greatest (if not the greatest) cinema stars of the 30s and 40s in the UK.