''Penny Paradise'' is a 1938 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

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), '' The Third Man'' (1949), and '' Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded th ...

and starring

Edmund Gwenn Edmund Gwenn (born Edmund John Kellaway; 26 September 1877 – 6 September 1959) was an English actor. On film, he is best remembered for his role as Kris Kringle in the Christmas film '' Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), for which he won t ...

, Betty Driver and Jimmy O'Dea. It was an early directorial assignment for Reed, and along with many other British productions of the era such as the same year's better-known Reed-directed ''

Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or he ...

'', is described as: "...belonging to a wider studio tradition of modest representation of ordinary British life."Basil Dean
BFI Screen Online. ''Retrieved 31-07-2010''

Plot

The film is set in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

, where tugboat captain Joe Higgins (

), believing he has won £20,000 on the football pools, resigns from his job and throws a party in a local

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

where family and friends – some of whom have an eye on a share of the winnings – gather to celebrate his good luck. Higgins pays court to the widow Clegg ( Maire O'Neill) who he has been wooing, while his daughter Betty ( Betty Driver) is targeted by a chancer who wants her money. The party grinds to a halt with the arrival of the hapless Pat ( Jimmy O'Dea), Higgins' Irish first mate on the tugboat, who is forced to admit that he forgot to post the winning pools coupon. There now seems no reason for celebration, but Higgins is mollified when his former employer offers him the captaincy of the best tugboat on the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed par ...

, a position to which he had long aspired. The action of the film is interspersed with several musical numbers performed by Driver and one by O'Dea. Whilst O'Dea's song is clearly provided for comic effect, those sung by Driver are presented straight.

Cast

as Joe Higgins * Betty Driver as Betty Higgins * Jimmy O'Dea as Pat * Ethel Coleridge as Aunt Agnes * Maire O'Neill as Widow Clegg *

Syd Crossley Syd Crossley (18 November 1885 – 1 November 1960) was an English stage and film actor. Born in London in 1885, Crossley began his career as a music hall comedian. He appeared in more than 110 films, often cast as a butler, between 1925 an ...

as Uncle Lancelot *

James Harcourt James Harcourt (20 April 187318 February 1951) was an English character actor. Harcourt was born in Headingley, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire. He started work as a cabinet maker, and drifted into amateur dramatics. He appeared as a stage act ...

as Amos Cook * Jack Livesey as Bert * Frederick Burtwell as Policeman

References

External links

* * * 1938 films 1938 comedy films British comedy films Films directed by Carol Reed British black-and-white films Films set in Liverpool Associated Talking Pictures 1930s English-language films 1930s British films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub