''Spare a Copper'' is a 1940 British

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic 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. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

John Paddy Carstairs John Paddy Carstairs (born John Keys; 11 May 1910, in London – 12 December 1970, in London) was a British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and ...

and starring

George Formby George Formby, (born George Hoy Booth; 26 May 1904 – 6 March 1961), was an English actor, singer-songwriter and comedian who became known to a worldwide audience through his films of the 1930s and 1940s. On stage, screen and record he ...

, Dorothy Hyson and

Bernard Lee John Bernard Lee (10 January 190816 January 1981) was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven Eon-produced James Bond films. Lee's film career spanned the years 1934 to 1979, though he had appeared on stage from ...

. It was produced by

Associated Talking Pictures Associated may refer to: *Associated, former name of Avon, Contra Costa County, California *Associated Hebrew Schools of Toronto, a school in Canada *Associated Newspapers, former name of DMG Media, a British publishing company See also *Associatio ...

. It is also known as ''Call a Cop''. The film features the songs, "I'm the Ukulele Man", " On the Beat", "I Wish I Was Back on the Farm" and "I'm Shy".

Beryl Reid Beryl Elizabeth Reid (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996) was a British actress. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for '' The Killing of Sister George'', the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for '' Born in th ...

makes her film debut in an uncredited role, while

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal North-Wes ...

appears similarly uncredited, in the role of the Piano Mover and Tuner. Working on the film as associate producer and writer, this production was an early assignment for director

Basil Dearden Basil Dearden (born Basil Clive Dear; 1 January 1911 – 23 March 1971) was an English film director. Early life Dearden was born as Basil Clive Dear at 5 Woodfield Road, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex to Charles James Dear, a steel manufacturer, and the ...

: "it was relatively easy to fit the Formby films into the new demands thrown up by the war: whereas George had typically had to overcome rogues and villains in his 1930s films, these were now simply replaced by spies and saboteurs". The film title is a pun, using the colloquial term "copper" meaning a policeman, with the longer phrase "spare a copper" used by beggars - meaning can you spare a penny (which I might have).

Plot

Formby plays a bumbling War Reserve police officer called George Carter who aspires to become a member of the flying squad. The film is set in

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

where the battleship HMS ''Hercules'' is being built. A group of saboteurs are planning to blow it up. George manages to foil them. One of the saboteurs, called "Jake", is played by

. The saboteurs include fellow police officers who plan to shoot Formby in a remote area but he escapes in a motorised toy car. A crazy chase ensues ending in Formby going round and round a

wall of death The wall of death, motordrome, velodrome or well of death is a Traveling carnival, carnival sideshow featuring a silo- or barrel-shaped wooden cylinder, typically ranging from in diameter and made of wooden planks, inside which motorcyclists, o ...

before foiling the plot.

Cast

as George * Dorothy Hyson as Jane *

as Jake *

John Warwick John McIntosh Beattie (some sources give Beattle) (4 January 1905 – 10 January 1972), known professionally as John Warwick, was an Australian actor and television dramatist. who was also active in the United Kingdom. He was born at Bellinge ...

as Shaw *

Warburton Gamble Evelyn Charles Warburton Gamble (16 December 1882 – 27 August 1945) was a British stage and film actor. Gamble was born on 16 December 1882 in London and acted on stage professionally as early as 1905. His work on stage included a season o ...

as Sir Robert Dyer * John Turnbull as Inspector Richards * George Merritt as Brewster *

Eliot Makeham Harold Elliott Makeham (22 December 1882 – 8 February 1956) was an English film and television actor. Career Makeham was born in London, England. Between 1931 and 1956, Makeham appeared, primarily in character roles, in 115 films and in 11 t ...

as Fuller *

Ellen Pollock Ellen Pollock (26 April 1903 – 29 March 1997) was a British character actress who mainly appeared on stage in London's West End. She also appeared in several films and TV productions. The second child of Hanover merchant Adolf Meyer (1890-? ...

as Lady Hardstaff *

Edward Lexy Edward Lexy (18 February 1897, in London – 31 January 1970, in Dublin) was a British actor. He was born Edward Little. Career He made his London stage début in 1936, and his first film the following year. His film roles were a mixture of s ...

as Night watchman *

Jack Melford John Kenneth George Melford Smith (5 September 1899 – 22 October 1972) was a British stage, film and television actor. Biography Melford was the younger brother of screenwriter and film director Austin Melford. On stage from the age of 12, M ...

as Dame *

Hal Gordon Hal Gordon (1894–1946) was a British film actor. A character actor, he appeared in over 90 films in both comic and straight roles. He started off as a lawyer's clerk but finding it dull he decided on the stage, making his music hall debut in ...

as Sergeant * Jimmy Godden as Manager *

Grace Arnold Grace Arnold (19 September 1894 – 26 February 1979) was an England, English actress. Selected filmography * ''Guilt (1931 film), Guilt'' (1931) * ''Men Without Honour'' (1939) - Mrs. Hardy * ''Crimes at the Dark House'' (1940) - Maid (uncred ...

as Music shop customer * Charles Carson as Admiral

Critical reception

* ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' critic wrote in 1940: "the structure of Mr. George Formby's films do not alter very much, and the same blue-print that has done serviceable work in the past was taken out of its drawer for ''Spare a Copper''". * In a 1940 issue, ''

Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' called it "a good Formby film...With a better story than most". * ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' dismissed the film as a "mediocre WW II comedy". * ''

Halliwell's Film Guide Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...

'' comments, "one of the last good Formby comedies, with everything percolating as it should". *George Perry wrote in "Forever Ealing", "the notion of unsuspected German spies in respectable positions was to recur in more serious Ealing films such as ''

The Foreman Went to France ''The Foreman Went to France'' (released in the USA as ''Somewhere in France'' ) is a 1942 British Second World War war film starring Clifford Evans, Tommy Trinder, Constance Cummings and Gordon Jackson. It was based on the real-life wartime e ...

'' and ''

Went the Day Well? ''Went the Day Well?'' is a 1942 British war film adapted from a story by Graham Greene and directed by Alberto Cavalcanti. It was produced by Michael Balcon of Ealing Studios and served as unofficial propaganda for the war effort. The film shows ...

'' These comedy films were judged as very good for public morale at the time while delivering an important message."

References

External links

''Spare a Copper''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spare a Copper 1940 films 1940 musical comedy films British black-and-white films British musical comedy films 1940s English-language films Films directed by John Paddy Carstairs British World War II propaganda films Associated Talking Pictures Films set in Liverpool Films with screenplays by Basil Dearden Films scored by Louis Levy English-language musical comedy films English-language war films