''Bell-Bottom George'' is a 1943 black and white British comedy

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 ...

film, 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 ...

, 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 s ...

and Anne Firth. A wartime morale booster, it features the songs, "Swim Little Fish", "It Serves You Right", "If I Had A Girl Like You" and "Bell Bottom George." Future ''Carry On'' star Charles Hawtrey appears in a small role. The film title derives from the

Bell bottom trousers "Bell Bottom Trousers" is a reworking of the folksong " Rosemary Lane". A sea shanty version has bawdy lyrics, but a clean version of the tune was written in 1944 for modern audiences by bandleader Moe Jaffe. Moe Jaffe version This version enjoye ...

which form part of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

uniform.

Plot

Anti-British agents plan an attack on a Royal Navy ship. Jim Bennett is a sailor who has overstayed his shore leave. He explains he was a boxer and if hit in one side he sleeps for 24 hours but if hit on the other he wakes. Meanwhile, George Blake (Formby) serves drinks to officers in a gentlemen's club. They chastise him for his poor service and say he should join the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It include ...

. George retires to his room in the club where he chats to his goldfish Egbert. During an air raid George is out with Jim and for various reasons is wearing his uniform. Jim gets knocked out and is trying to "revive" him by hitting him on the other side. The military police spot him and think he is both attacking Jim and that he is absent without leave. From then he is mistaken for the absent Jim. He has borrowed his to go to a Lock-in at a pub. George is spotted by

military police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. In wartime operations, the military police may support the main fighting force with force protection, convoy security, Screening (tactical), ...

who think he is

AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or Military base, post without permission (a Pass (military), pass, Shore leave, liberty or Leave (U.S. military), leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with u ...

and escort him back to Naval barracks. He impresses the sailors there with his song "It Serves You Right - You Shouldn't Have Joined" whilst playing

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

, and is chosen to play at the "Spick and Span" troop radio concert in London. He meets Pat, a Wren, here, and they start to fall in love. He takes her to a dance and sings "If I Had a Girl Like You" to her. In the same period, he stumbles on the aforementioned pair of Nazi spies using a taxidermists shop as a front, and foils their plot to blow up a British submarine, "The Firefly". He also impresses and wins the heart of Pat (Anne Firth), the

Wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonl ...

he has fallen for. When the real Bennett fully recovers in hospital ne panics that he is absent without leave and runs into the two military police who have been harassing the false Bennett. George passes and they give chase. He meets Pat in a car and they think they have escaped, but the group chasing them flag down a police car. They drive to harbour and steal a small launch but the others also steal a boat and the chase continues until George's boat is wrecked.

Sample gag

George is reduced to his underwear by the bad guys and complains he cannot walk around the streets like that as he would be mistaken for Gandhi.

Cast

as George Blake *

Anne Firth Anne Heather Firth (1 August 191816 January 1961) was a British film actress.Chapman p.157 She appeared in several leading roles in films of the 1940s. She also worked on the West End stage, appearing in the 1937 play ''Bonnet Over the Windmil ...

as Pat *

Reginald Purdell Reginald Purdell (4 November 1896 – 22 April 1953) was an English actor and screenwriter who appeared in over 40 films between 1930 and 1951. During the same period he also contributed to the screenplays of 15 feature films, such as ''The ...

as Birdie Edwards * Peter Murray-Hill as Shapley * Manning Whiley as Church * Hugh Dempster as White * Dennis Wyndham as Black * Charles Farrell as Jim Bennett *

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 i ...

as Johnson *

Peter Gawthorne Peter Gawthorne (1 September 1884 – 17 March 1962) was an Anglo-Irish actor, probably best known for his roles in the films of Will Hay and other popular British comedians of the 1930s and 1940s. Gawthorne was one of Britain's most called-up ...

as Admiral Sir William Coltham * Jane Welsh as Rita * Harry Fowler as Delivery Boy * Ian Fleming as Lt. Commander Carter * Charles Hawtrey as BBC Radio Man * Frank Atkinson as Harry, the Barman

Box office and reception

According to trade papers, the film was a success at the British box office in 1944. '' Halliwell's Film Guide'' called it a "formula star comedy, too long and too familiar". ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program TV listings, listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine, TV Guide Mag ...

'' commented: "an overlong launching for an unseaworthy production"; while in the opinion of ''The Spinning Image'' "there are a few laughs to be had."

External links

References

{{reflist 1943 films 1943 musical comedy films British black-and-white films British musical comedy films Films directed by Marcel Varnel Films set in England British World War II propaganda films Films with screenplays by Edward Dryhurst Films set in London 1940s English-language films