''Keep Smiling'' is a 1938 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

Monty Banks Montague (Monty) Banks (born Mario Bianchi; 18 July 1897 – 7 January 1950) was a 20th century Italian-born American comedian, film actor, director and producer who achieved success in the United States and United Kingdom. Career Banks was bor ...

and starring

Gracie Fields Dame Gracie Fields (born Grace Stansfield; 9 January 189827 September 1979) was a British actress, singer and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the h ...

Roger Livesey Roger Livesey (25 June 1906 – 4 February 1976) was a British stage and film actor. He is most often remembered for the three Powell and Pressburger, Powell & Pressburger films in which he starred: ''The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'', '' ...

and

Mary Maguire Mary Maguire (born Ellen Theresa Maguire 22 February 1919) was an Australian-born actress who briefly became a Hollywood and British film star in the late 1930s. Early life Maguire was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Michael "Mickey" Magu ...

. The film follows a group of performers who club together to buy a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a motor vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van, but fewer than the average rail transport. It is most commonly used ...

and travel around the country doing shows after they are cheated out of money by an ex-manager.

Plot

Cast

as Gracie Gray *

as Bert Wattle *

as Avis Maguire *

Peter Coke Peter John Coke ( "cook"; 3 April 1913 – 30 July 2008) was an English actor, playwright and artist. Early life Peter John Coke was born in Southsea, Hampshire on 3 April 1913.

as Rene Sigani * Jack Donohue as Denis Wilson *

Hay Petrie David Hay Petrie (16 July 1895 – 30 July 1948) was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' (1934), the McLaggen in '' The Ghost Goes West'' (1935) and Uncle Pumblechook in ''Grea ...

as Jack * Mike Johnson as Charlie * Eddie Gray as Silvo * Tommy Fields as The Three Bolas * Gladys Dehl as The Three Bolas * Nino Rossini as The Three Bolas *

Edward Rigby Edward Coke MC (5 February 1879 – 5 April 1951), known professionally as Edward Rigby, was a British character actor. Early life Rigby was born at Ashford, Kent, England, the second son of Dr William Harriott Coke and his wife, Mary Elizabe ...

as Silas Gray * Joe Mott as Bill Sneed * Philip Leaver as De Courcy *

Gus McNaughton Gus McNaughton (29 July 1881 – 18 November 1969), also known as Augustus Le Clerq and Augustus Howard, was an English film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1930 and 1947. He was born in London and died in Castor, Cambridgeshire, Cast ...

as Eddie Perkins * Paula Rae Wright (Paula Raymond age 14) as Bettina Bowman * Carol Adams as Dancer *

Joss Ambler Joss Ambler (23 June 1900 – 1959) was an Australian-born British film and television actor. He usually played somewhat pompous and irascible figures of authority, particularly in comedy films. He was an effective foil to George Formby in both ...

as Max *

as Auditioner *

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 ...

Wilfrid Hyde-White Wilfrid Hyde-White (né Hyde White; 12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was an English actor. Described by Philip French as a "classic British film archetype", Hyde-White often portrayed droll and urbane upper-class characters. He had an extensive stage ...

as Assistant hotel clerk *

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 Printer *

Julian Vedey Julian Vedey (b. Warwickshire, 1898; d. Worthing, 1967) was a British actor. Selected filmography * ''Romance in Rhythm'' (1934) * '' Cafe Mascot'' (1936) * '' Strange Cargo'' (1936) * '' Full Speed Ahead'' (1936) * '' Command Performance'' (193 ...

as Hotel clerk

Production

It was the second film made by Fields under her contract with

20th Century-Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc., formerly 20th Century Fox, is an American film production and distribution company owned by the Walt Disney Studios, the film studios division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Com ...

. It was made at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

with sets designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Oscar Friedrich Werndorff Oscar Friedrich Werndorff (1880–1938) was an Austrian art director. After leaving Germany in the early 1930s he moved to Britain where he worked in the British film industry. He co-directed the 1931 film '' The Bells''.Bergfelder & Cargnell ...

. It was retitled ''Smiling Along'' to avoid confusion with another film with the same name, released by Fox in America the same year, and starring

Jane Withers Jane Withers (April 12, 1926 – August 7, 2021) was an American actress and children's radio show hostess. She became one of the most popular child stars in Hollywood in the 1930s and early 1940s, with her films ranking in the top ten list fo ...

. Fields' salary was £50,000 making her the best paid British based film star of the 1930s.

References

Bibliography

* Low, Rachael. ''Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985. * Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

External links

* 1938 films 1930s English-language films 1938 comedy films British comedy films Films directed by Monty Banks Films shot at Pinewood Studios 20th Century Fox films Films set in England British black-and-white films 1930s British films Films scored by Bretton Byrd {{1930s-comedy-film-stub