''Miss London Ltd.'' is a 1943 British,
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
,
comedy
Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term ori ...
,
musical
Musical is the adjective of music
Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact def ...
,
war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about naval, air, or land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle scenes means that wa ...
,
directed
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Director (band), an Irish rock band
* ''D ...
by
Val Guest and starring
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...
and
Evelyn Dall. It was
produced
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
by
Edward Black, Maurice Ostrer, Fred Gunn and
Gainsborough Pictures
Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, north London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The c ...
.
Plot
This musical comedy playing in
wartime London, stars
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...
as Arthur Boden alias Miss London, the name of the escort agency he inherited from his mother. Soon he is joined by his new American partner, Terry Arden (
Evelyn Dall), as she inherited the other half of the Agency from her parents, who just arrived from abroad. The first thing she accomplishes is to clean up the office, together with her partner.
Then they have to renew the files of escort-Ladies. In order to do so, each of them goes searching in different places. Arthur Boden is assigned to the railway station and finally he finds railway clerk Gail Martin (
Anne Shelton) to hire.
The opening sequence of the film features the latter singing "The 8.50 Choo Choo For Waterloo Choo" at
Waterloo station before she is recruited by Bowman for his agency. As usual,
Ronald Shiner's character of Sailor Meredith plays a decisive role.
The film features a surreal self-parodying sequence in which Boden, in order to gain entrance to a hotel, pretends to be the famous Arthur Askey, using some of his choice
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture
Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recogni ...
s. Other spoofs include Askey and Dall doing a routine as
Fred Astaire
Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz; May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, choreographer, actor, and singer. He is often called the greatest dancer in Hollywood film history.
Astaire's career in stage, film, and tele ...
and
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers (born Virginia Katherine McMath; July 16, 1911 – April 25, 1995) was an American actress, dancer and singer during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in ''Kitty Foyle'' ...
and, with Shiner in addition, as the three
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AF ...
.
Cast
*
Arthur Askey
Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...
as Arthur Boden
*
Evelyn Dall as Terry Arden
*
Anne Shelton as Gail Martin
*
Richard Hearne
Richard Lewis Hearne (30 January 1908 – 23 August 1979) was an English actor, comedian, producer and writer. He is best remembered for his stage and television character Mr Pastry.
Career
Hearne was born in Norwich, Norfolk, in 1908, the son ...
as Commodore Joshua Wellington
*
Max Bacon
Max Bacon is an English rock singer. He was the lead singer for 1980s rock group GTR, as well as for Burn the Sky, Moby Dick, Nightwing, Phenomena, and Bronz. He was the vocalist on GTR's top 40 single, "When the Heart Rules the Mind" and GTR's ...
as Romero
*
Jack Train as Joe Nelson
*
Peter Graves
Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series '' Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 (original) and from 1988 t ...
as Captain Michael "Rory" O'More
*
Jean Kent
Jean Kent (born Joan Mildred Field; 29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013) was an English film and television actress.
Biography
Born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London in 1921, the only child of va ...
as The Encyclopedia Girl
*
Ronald Shiner as Sailor Meredith
* Iris Lang
*
Virginia Keiley
* Una Shepherd
* Sheila Bligh
* Noni Brooke
*
Patricia Owens as Miss London
* Hilda Campbell Russell as Cabaret Singer
Soundtrack
*Evelyn Dall and Anne Shelton – "A Fine How Do You Do" (Words and music by Val Guest and
Manning Sherwin)
*Evelyn Dall – "Keep Cool Calm and Collected" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
*Arthur Askey – "The Moth" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
*Arthur Askey – "I'm Only Me" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
*Anne Shelton – "You Too Can Have a Lovely Romance" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
*Anne Shelton – "The 8.50 Choo Choo" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
*Anne Shelton – "If You Could Only Cook" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
* "My Father Was a Yes Man" (Words and music by Val Guest and Manning Sherwin)
References
External links
*
*
{{Marriott Edgar
1943 films
1943 musical comedy films
1940s war comedy films
British black-and-white films
British musical comedy films
British war comedy films
British World War II propaganda films
1940s English-language films
Films directed by Val Guest
Films produced by Maurice Ostrer
Films set in London
Gainsborough Pictures films
Films with screenplays by Marriott Edgar
1943 directorial debut films