''Jumping for Joy'' is a 1956 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

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

Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of a soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...

Stanley Holloway Stanley Augustus Holloway (1 October 1890 – 30 January 1982) was an English actor, comedian, singer and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles Stanley Holloway on stage and screen, on stage and screen, especially t ...

Joan Hickson Joan Bogle Hickson (5 August 1906 – 17 October 1998) was an English actress of theatre, film and television. She was known for her role as Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the television series '' Miss Marple''. She also narrated a number of ...

and

Lionel Jeffries Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Golden ...

. It was written by Henry Blyth and Jack Davies. It tells of the comic adventures of an ex-worker at a greyhound racing track.

Plot

Willie Joy works at a

greyhound track Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of the greyhounds o ...

as a cleaner, which involves picking up droppings from the dog track between races. He is tricked into standing in the line of the lure and falls on it as it speeds past with the dogs chasing it. He is fired. Breeder Bert Benton has a sick dog and sells it to Joy who takes it home. His landlady evicts him. He meets con-man "Captain" Jack Montague and together they hatch a plan to make money from the dog, whom they name "Lindy Lou". Nursed back to health, Lindy starts to prove herself at racing trials. Benton wants to buy her back. Crooks use Joy as an unwitting collaborator in fixing races and placing large bets. They pass doped meat for the dog but Joy and Montague eat it themselves. The crooks find them asleep but cannot find the dog. They detach Montague's railway carriage home and move it onto an active railway line. When they awake they are told they are near

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

. The dog is rescued just before the carriage is hit by a train. Lindy Lou wins the Gold Cup but only due to a distraction in crowd as Joy hits a policeman to ensue a whistle is blown. He is arrested and recognises the distinctive shoes of Haines of Scotland Yard as the ringleader of the crooks.

Cast

as Willie Joy *

as Captain Jack Montague *

A. E. Matthews Alfred Edward Matthews (22 November 186925 July 1960), known as A. E. Matthews, was an English actor who played numerous character roles on the stage and in film for eight decades. Already middle-aged when films began production, he enjoyed incr ...

as Lord Reginald Cranfield * Tony Wright as Vincent *

Alfie Bass Alfie Bass (born Abraham Basalinsky, 10 April 1916 – 16 July 1987) was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; his parents had left Russia many years before he was born. He a ...

as Mr Blagg *

as Lady Emily Cranfield *

as Bert Benton * Susan Beaumont as Susan Storer * Terence Longdon as John Wyndham *

Colin Gordon Colin Gordon (27 April 1911 – 4 October 1972) was a British actor. Although primarily a stage actor he made numerous appearances on television and in cinema films, generally in comedies. His stage career was mainly in the West End, but he w ...

as Max, the commentator *

Richard Wattis Richard Cameron Wattis (25 February 1912 – 1 February 1975) was an English actor, co-starring in many popular British comedies of the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Richard Cameron Wattis was born on 25 February 1912 in Wednesbury, Staffords ...

as Carruthers * Danny Green as Plug Ugly *

Barbara Archer Barbara Janet Archer (born in London in 1933) is a British actress. She is perhaps best known for her appearance in the 1958 film ''Dracula'', starring Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. Selected filmography * '' A Kid for Two Farthings'' (1955) ...

as Marlene * William Kendall as Blenkinsop *

Ewen Solon Peter Ewen Solon (7 September 1917 – 7 July 1985) was a New Zealand-born actor, who worked extensively in both the United Kingdom and Australia. At the outbreak of World War II, Solon became a member of the First Echelon, 2nd NZEF that saw ser ...

as Haines *

Reginald Beckwith William Reginald Beckwith (2 November 190826 June 1965) was an English film and television actor, who made over one hundred film and television appearances in his career. He died of a heart attack aged 56. Beckwith was also a film critic and ...

as Smithers * Charles Hawtrey as man at bar (uncredited) *

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play '' ...

as drunk in snooker hall (uncredited) * George A. Cooper as farmer (uncredited) *

Andrew Faulds Andrew Matthew William Faulds (1 March 1923 – 31 May 2000) was a British actor and Labour Party politician. After a successful acting career on stage, on radio and in films, he was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 1997. Early life Faul ...

as friend of drunk man (uncredited) * Richard Dunn as policeman (uncredited) *

Joyce Gardner Joyce Gardner (1910–1981) was an England, English professional English billiards player. She was the Women's Professional Billiards Championship, Women's Professional Billiards Champion from 1931 to 1933, and from 1935 to 1938. Early life Joyc ...

as the billiards room hustler (uncredited) *

Beatrice Varley Beatrice Evelyn Varley (11 July 1896 – 4 July 1964) was an English actress who appeared in television and film roles between 1936 and 1964. She made her screen debut in the 1936 film ''Tomorrow We Live'' and began to portray a variety of ...

as Joy's landlady (uncredited) * John Warren as main commentator (uncredited) * Tom Gill as second commentator (uncredited)

Production

In June 1955 it was announced producer Raymond Stross had signed Frankie Howerd to a six picture contract, of which ''Jumping for Joy'' was to be the first. "I see Howerd as a young English

Fernandel Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin (8 May 1903 – 26 February 1971), better known as Fernandel, was a French comic actor. Born in Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, a town located in th ...

," said Stross. The film was reported to have been specifically written for Howerd. However the film had been originally offered to

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series '' Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

who turned it down (he had also turned down '' The Big Money''.) It was one of several attempts by Rank to find a comedian to match the success of Norman Wisdom. Filming took place at Pinewood in September 1955. Lindy Lou was actually a racing greyhound called Moyshna Queen from Wandsworth Stadium. Tony Wright's performance led to him being offered a contract at Rank. Another Rank contract player was Susan Beaumont. Joyce Gardner was a well known professional billiards player at the time, not an actress.

Critical reception

In contemporary reviews ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' called the film a "hilarious dog racing comedy," adding: "Frankie Howerd, popular TV and vaude comic here, gets the maximum of laughs out of a dismissed trackboy role"; ''

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 ...

'' said "An inoffensively obvious and naive comedy, ''Jumping for Joy'' is enlivened by a somewhat macabre running joke about a myopic old woman driver and assured and pleasant performances by Frankie Howerd and Stanley Holloway." ''

Kine Weekly ''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971. Etymology The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...

'' said "The picture smoothly follows through with its basic gags and, oddly enough, the more they are repeated the livelier they become." ''Evening Standard'' felt Howerd's "first film as star is as much a waste of his time as it is of yours." ''Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000'' describes the film as a "totally predictable star comedy which needs livening up"; the ''Time Out Film Guide 2009'' describes the film as "lame". ''

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 ...

'' called the film a "Sporadically funny comedy". Howerd subsequently made '' A Touch of the Sun'' (1956) for Raymond Stross, although that was not made through the Rank Organisation.

Musical score

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' noted: "the delightful harmonica score in ''Jumping for Joy'' is provided by American expatriate

Larry Adler Lawrence Cecil Adler (February 10, 1914 – August 6, 2001) was an American harmonica player and film composer. Known for playing major works, he played compositions by George Gershwin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Malcolm Arnold, Darius Milhaud ...

References

External links

*
''Jumping for Joy''
a
ReelStreets
{{John Paddy Carstairs 1956 films 1956 comedy films British comedy films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films and television featuring Greyhound racing Films set in London Greyhound racing films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films British black-and-white films