''While Parents Sleep'' is a 1935 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

Adrian Brunel Adrian Brunel (4 September 1892 – 18 February 1958) was an English film director and screenwriter. Brunel's directorial career started in the Silent film, silent era, and reached its peak in the latter half of the 1920s. His surviving work fr ...

and starring

Jean Gillie A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype of litera ...

Enid Stamp Taylor Enid Georgiana Stamp Taylor (12 June 1904 – 13 January 1946) was an English actress. Her childhood home was 17, Percy Avenue, in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, in what is now Tyne and Wear. Taylor first became known when she won a beauty pa ...

and

Romilly Lunge Romilly Lunge (1904–1994) was a British film actor. He made a total of 15 films and appeared in many stage plays between 1933 and 1940. Career When war broke out Lunge joined the Royal Navy, ending up in Ceylon working on sonar detection. O ...

. The film is a screen adaptation of a 1932 play of the same name by

Anthony Kimmins Anthony Martin Kimmins, Order of the British Empire, OBE (10 November 1901 – 19 May 1964) was an English Film director, director, playwright, screenwriter, Film producer, producer, and actor. Biography Kimmins was born in Harrow, London, on 10 ...

, which had been a popular success on the West End stage in the

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

. Unlike many of Brunel's 1930s

quota quickie The Cinematograph Films Act 1927 ( 17 & 18 Geo. 5. c. 29) was an act of the UK Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received royal assent on 22 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928. Description T ...

films, ''While Parents Sleep'' has survived and is regarded as an example of his ability to produce a worthwhile film under the most straitened of financial conditions. The ''Time Out Film Guide'' notes: "With a couple of tatty sets and a bunch of unknown actors, he produces a witty, sharply-paced, economical essay on class and manners in inter-war Britain." It was produced by Transatlantic Film Corporation and

British & Dominions Film Corporation Imperial Studios were the studios of the British and Dominions Film Corporation, a short-lived British film production company located at Imperial Place, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The studios (one of several facilities historical ...

Premise

The film is a

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

about the romantic adventures of two young men with women of differing social backgrounds and the revelation of their true worth.

Cast

as Bubbles Thompson *

as Lady Cattering *

as Neville Hammond *

Mackenzie Ward Mackenzie Ward (20 February 1903 – January 1976) was a British stage and film actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the ...

as Jerry Hammond *

Athole Stewart Athole Chalmers Stewart (25 June 1879 – 18 October 1940) was a British stage and latterly film actor, often in authoritarian or aristocratic roles. On stage, he played in the original production of Noël Coward's ''Hay Fever'' at the Ambassa ...

as Colonel Hammond *

Ellis Jeffreys Minnie Gertrude Ellis Jeffreys (12 May 1868(?) – 21 January 1943) was an English actress, best known for her comedy roles. Jeffreys was born in Ceylon and made her stage debut in London in 1889. She quickly became a leading West End theatre, W ...

as Mrs. Hammond *

Davy Burnaby George Davy Burnaby (7 April 1881 – 18 April 1949) was a UK, British actor who appeared in more than thirty films between 1929 and 1948. He was born in Buckland, Hertfordshire, Buckland, Hertfordshire and made his screen debut in the 1929 film ...

as Lord Cattering *

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (; 8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor, who is best known for portraying the first incarnation of the Doctor, in the long-running British science-fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1963 t ...

as George *

Wally Patch Walter Sydney Vinnicombe (26 September 1888 – 27 October 1970), known as Wally Patch, was an English actor and comedian. He worked in film, television and theatre. Biography Vinnicombe was born in Willesden, Middlesex and began working on th ...

as Taxi Driver *

Ronald Shiner Ronald Alfred Shiner (8 June 1903 – 29 June 1966) was a British stand-up comedian and comedy actor whose career encompassed film, West End theatre and music hall. Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal North-Wes ...

as the Mechanic

References

External links

''While Parents Sleep''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

* 1935 films 1935 comedy films British black-and-white films Films directed by Adrian Brunel British films based on plays British comedy films British and Dominions Studios films Films shot at Imperial Studios, Elstree Films produced by Paul Soskin Films with screenplays by John Paddy Carstairs Films scored by Percival Mackey 1930s English-language films 1930s British films English-language comedy films {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub