''Sing As We Go'' is a 1934 British musical film 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 ...

, John Loder and

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 ...

. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley. Considered by many to be British

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

star Gracie Fields' finest vehicle, this film was written for her by leading novelist J. B. Priestley. In this morale-boosting depression movie, set in the industrial north of England, Fields stars as a resourceful, determined working class heroine, laid off from her job in a clothing mill, who has to seek work in the seaside resort of

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. This gives her the opportunity both to fall into many misadventures and, of course, to sing. The decision to film on location brings the film a life and immediacy all too absent from most films of the period. The film provides us with a snapshot of life in a seaside resort in the 1930s. The final scene of the millworkers returning to the re-opened mill while Fields leads them in the rousing title song has become an almost iconic film cliché.

Main cast

as Gracie Platt * John Loder as Hugh Phillips * Dorothy Hyson as Phyllis Logan *

as Policeman * Frank Pettingell as Uncle Murgatroyd Platt * Lawrence Grossmith as Sir William Upton * Morris Harvey as The Cowboy * Arthur Sinclair as The Great Maestro *

Maire O'Neill Maire O'Neill (born Mary Agnes Allgood; 11 January 1886 – 2 November 1952) was an Irish actress of stage and film. She holds a place in theatre history as the first actress to interpret the lead character of Pegeen Mike Flaherty in John Mill ...

as Madame Osiris * Ben Field as Nobby *

Olive Sloane Olive Sloane (16 December 1896 – 28 June 1963) was an English actress whose film career spanned over 40 years from the silent era through to her death. Sloane's career trajectory was unusual in that for most of her professional life she was e ...

as Violet – The Song-Plugger's Girlfriend * Margaret Yarde as Mrs. Clotty *

Evelyn Roberts Evelyn Roberts (28 August 1886 – 30 November 1962) was an English stage and film actor. He made his stage debut in 1918 after serving in WW I; and his theatre work included the original Broadway production of R.C. Sherriff's '' Journey's E ...

as Parkinson * Norman Walker as Hezekiah Crabtree * Florence Gregson as Aunt Alice

Critical reception

''The

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

Guide to Film'' gave the film three stars out of five and described ''Sing As We Go'' as a "dated but spirited musical comedy...amusing and politically astute".''The Radio Times Guide to Films 2014''. London, 2013 (p. 1104) By contrast, in '' The Making of Modern Britain'',

Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist, author, broadcaster and presenter. Beginning his career as a political commentator at ''The Scotsman,'' he subsequently edited ''The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to ...

singled out ''Sing As We Go'' as an icon of British pop culture of the 1930s, concluding: "Fairy tale or not, this is probably the worst film I have ever seen."

In popular culture

*The main theme of this movie, the song "Sing As We Go" (written by Harry Parr Davies), is one of two signature songs of The Kampen Janitsjarorkester Symphonic Band of Kampen, Oslo, Norway. * The melody of the song was used by the comedy group

Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...

in a parody song called "

Sit on My Face "Sit on My Face" is a short song written by Eric Idle and performed by the members of the comedy troupe Monty Python, which originally appeared on the album ''Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album'' and later appeared on the compilation '' M ...

References

External links

* 1934 films British musical comedy-drama films British black-and-white films 1930s musical comedy-drama films Films with screenplays by J. B. Priestley Films directed by Basil Dean Films set in Blackpool Associated Talking Pictures 1934 comedy films 1934 drama films 1930s English-language films 1930s British films Films scored by Ernest Irving English-language musical comedy-drama films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub