Tons of Trouble

I remember (probably around 1964/5)an afternoon off from school during the week, and this film was on TV. I have a feeling it was coming up to Christmas so perhaps the time off school was part of the Christmas break, but it's a fuzzy memory. Mr Pastry (Richard Hearne) was quite a well known face on TV, especially in children's shows. I can't remember much about the plot of this film(I've learnt a lot more from this site!) but I remember two boilers being a main feature of the story. Since that's so unusual, and who else but the British could script a film around two old heating boilers, I guess that's why it's stuck in my young and impressionable memory, and yes, perhaps a tear was shed at the demise of Mr Pastry's beloved charges!

I wondered what the film was called, and thanks to IMDb, I've found out. Would I like to see it again? Possibly...but maybe the impression it gave me then, should simply be left alone.

I too remember this little gem....at least, it was then!

I was 7 years old and my Dad took me to see this at our local Gaumont. It was the support film for Disney's "Davy Crockett", which was a real "Biggy" that year.

It's many,many years since it was on TV but, it's one of those films that has always stuck in my memory.

The only thing I can remember about it for sure is that Mr Pastry had a lot of trouble with some soap suds?

Unseen for many years, we can finally catch up with it next Monday, Feb 1st, 2016 when those excellent people at the Talking Pictures Channel will be showing it, at 12:05pm.

I can't wait!

Tons of Trouble stars Richard Hearne as his well known Mr Pastry character which was a staple on television in the 1950s and early 1960s.

In this film version, Mr Pastry is a kindly but haphazard caretaker in a block of flats looking after two old boilers which need much attention. There is also a subplot where a car crashes and the driver wants Mr Pastry to deliver a message which the police are interested in.

Wily milkman William Hartnell is after the caretaker's job for some reason, presumably assuming this is a cushy number. He eventually gets Mr Pastry fired and gets his job but finds out the keeping the boilers going is harder than he imagined.

The film has short comic interludes with Mr Pastry getting people to laugh silly by use of some portion or pushing a maid in the bath.

The version of the film I saw claimed to have been remastered. The picture quality was poor and the sound was almost inaudible. There was nothing amusing about Mr Pastry's antics.

I have heard about this character for decades and have seen snippets of him before. Just because people were glued to the television set once upon a time when he appeared does not make it any good. To think that the bumbling Mr Pastry persona was once considered for the role of Doctor Who shows how much of a bullet the sci-fi series managed to dodge.

I remember watching this film on TV over 40 years ago. It's a touching tale, which reflected an innocence for the times. I loved it and kept the copy of Radio Times, where it was listed, for many years. Mr Pastry is a caretaker in charge of boilers in some establishment (school?)and has a little dog as a friend. Time has made the memory a little fuzzy, but the film was full of character actors such as William Hartnell (pre-Doctor Who days), Ronald Adam, John Stuart. I remember Mr Pastry riding his bike with the dog in a basket. It all turns out OK in the end when the boilers are saved from being dismantled. Can't remember much of the romantic interest - must have been my age! Great nostalgic stuff!

This is tricky, because I last saw this movie on TV in about 1965. The central character, 'Mr Pastry', played by Richard Hearne, was a popular knockabout comic, still busy at that time, and I, as a child, welcomed any appearance by him on the television. He looked like a little old man with fluffy white hair and moustache, and a dark suit and hat.

As far as I know this was Mr Pastry's only feature film. The title refers to the huge boilers that are used to heat an office building, and Mr Pastry is the caretaker, who has looked after them all his working life. Trouble arises when the system is to be modernised, and oil heaters installed, meaning that the big old boilers will be scrapped, along with their loving caretaker.

I'm sure this film is full of slapstick and chases, but the only scene that remains in my mind is poor old Mr Pastry saying his good-byes to his boilers. They have names (one, I'm sure, is Bessie), and I think I remember the whole thing as being quite touching.

I also remember that it all turns out okay in the end. I hope this film is still intact somewhere, and someone sees fit to give it a TV airing one afternoon. It's a comedy about a changing world, and in 1965, it was shown at peak time in the evening, which just goes to show how the world continues to change.