''Band Waggon'' is a 1940 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Marcel Varnel Marcel Varnel (16 October 1892 – 13 July 1947) was French film director, notably however for his career in the United States and England as a director of plays and films Biography He was born Marcel Hyacinthe le Bozec in Paris, France. Va ...

and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch and

Moore Marriott George Thomas Moore Marriott (14 September 1885 – 11 December 1949) was an English character actor best remembered for the series of films he made with Will Hay. His first appearance with Hay was in the film '' Dandy Dick'' (1935), but he wa ...

. It was based on the BBC

radio show A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netwo ...

'' Band Waggon''.

Plot

Arthur Askey and Stinker Murdoch, two out-of-work performers, are living on the roof of the

Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The ma ...

Central London Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local government. Its characteris ...

. After being called in for an audition with the BBC three months before, they were forgotten about and settled down to live there waiting for their big chance. One day an item from their

clothes line A clothes line or washing line is any type of rope, cord, or twine that has been stretched between two points (e.g. two sticks), outside or indoors, above the level of the ground. Clothing that has recently been washed is hung along the lin ...

falls and hits Claude Pilkington, a senior figure at the BBC, who has them evicted. They are forced to pack up all their belongings and leave. While driving home that evening one of the tyres on Pilkington's car gets a puncture from broken glass lying on the road. It has been put there by the owners of the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, who hope their

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dinin ...

act will be given a contract with the BBC and have so far failed to gain an audition. Pilkington sits unwittingly through their act, including singers Jack Hylton and

Patricia Kirkwood Patricia Kirkwood (24 February 1921 – 25 December 2007) was a British stage actress, singer and dancer who appeared in numerous performances of dramas, cabaret, revues, music hall, variety and pantomimes. She also performed on radio, televi ...

, barely noticing it while he reads the newspaper. When he discovers that they have caused his puncture, he storms off in anger. Meanwhile, Askey and Murdoch have found themselves in the countryside. Needing somewhere to live they go to a local

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged ...

hoping to pick up a cheap cottage. Instead they are offered a

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

for £3 rent, which the owner is trying to get off his hands as it is haunted. After they settle down in the castle they begin a sequence of sinister happenings occur despite the estate agent's insistence that there is a "perfectly natural explanation for everything". When they encounter Jasper Blackfang, a ghost who claims to haunt the place, they flee and take shelter at the nearby Jack-in-the Box restaurant. Emboldened by the realization that the ghost is in fact the caretaker of the castle, who has been living there rent free, they return along with Hylton and Kirkwood. They discover a television studio inside the castle, which the caretaker claims is being used by a pirate commercial station. In fact it is being used by

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

agents in Britain, but the caretaker is unaware of this. Frustrated by their failure to secure an audition at the BBC, they decide to use the studios to broadcast their own show. Arthur Askey does a performance on the same

wavelength In physics, the wavelength is the spatial period of a periodic wave—the distance over which the wave's shape repeats. It is the distance between consecutive corresponding points of the same phase on the wave, such as two adjacent crests, tr ...

as the BBC television station, interrupting a programme by Pilkington himself, who has to be faded out. Pilkington is furious by the interruption, but the pirate show generates huge interest amongst the general public. Pilkington, meanwhile, gets

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

to hunt down the pirate station. Their determination to find the station is boosted by the realisation that the castle contains plans of British planes stolen by the Nazi agents, and Askey unwittingly holds up the plans during his broadcast. Askey has organised a major hour-long performance which ends in a finale with where the police, BBC officials and Nazi agents all converge on the castle, while a time bomb is ominously ticking down. The programme is such a roaring success that the BBC eventually agree to Askey, Murdoch and their associates having their own show.

Cast

* Arthur Askey as Arthur Askey * Richard Murdoch as Stinker Murdoch *

as Pat *

as Jasper *Freddy Schweitzer as himself (accordion player) *Bruce Trent as himself *Michael Standing as himself *C.H. Middleton as himself * Jasmine Bligh as herself * Jonah Barrington as himself * Peter Gawthorne as Claude Pilkington * Donald Calthrop as Hobday *

Wally Patch Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970) was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre. Biography Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on the music hall stages i ...

as Commissionaire *Jack Hylton and His Band as band * Jack Hylton as himself (bandleader) *

The Sherman Fisher Girls The Sherman Fisher Girls were a British dance troupe active in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Active in variety shows on the Music Hall circuit, they also featured at the Royal Variety Show. In 1938 and 1939 they were part of the hit revue ''These Fool ...

as dancers

Soundtrack

* "The Melody Maker" – by Noel Gay and

Frank Eyton Frank Eyton (30 August 1894 – 11 November 1962) was an English popular music lyricist best known for co-writing the lyrics of Johnny Green's " Body and Soul" (1930) with Edward Heyman and Robert Sour. Frank Eyton biographyat Allmusic - retrieve ...

– performed by Jack Hylton, Patricia Kirkwood and Chorus with Jack Hylton and His Band and The Sherman Fisher Girls *"The Only One Who's Difficult Is You" – by Noel Gay and

Clifford Grey Clifford Grey (5 January 1887 – 25 September 1941) was an English songwriter, librettist, actor and screenwriter. His birth name was Percival Davis, and he was also known as Clifford Gray. Grey contributed prolifically to West End and B ...

– performed by Richard Murdoch, Patricia Kirkwood and Arthur Askey with Jack Hylton and His Band *"After Dark" – by Noel Gay *"Heaven Will Be Heavenly" – by

Harry Parr Davies Harry may refer to: TV shows * ''Harry'' (American TV series), a 1987 American comedy series starring Alan Arkin * ''Harry'' (British TV series), a 1993 BBC drama that ran for two seasons * ''Harry'' (talk show), a 2016 American daytime talk show ...

and Roma Campbell Hunter – performed by Patricia Kirkwood and chorus *"A Pretty Bird" – by Kenneth Blane – performed by Arthur Askey *"Boomps-A-Daisy" – by Annette Mills – performed by Patricia Kirkwood, Richard Murdoch, Jack Hylton and Arthur Askey *"Band Waggon (theme song)" – by Harry S. Pepper – performed by the chorus during the opening credits and reprised at the end by Jack Hylton and His Band *"Big Hearted Arthur" – by Robert Rutherford and Frank Wilcock – performed by Arthur Askey *" Old King Cole" (traditional nursery song) – performed by Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch and the trio of Charlie Forsythe, Addie Seamon and Eleanor Farrell

References

;Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Band Waggon 1940 films 1940 musical comedy films British musical comedy films British black-and-white films Films set in London Films set in England Films based on radio series Gainsborough Pictures films Films directed by Marcel Varnel Films with screenplays by Marriott Edgar 1940s English-language films 1940s British films