''While Parents Sleep'' is a 1935 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 Adrian Brunel and starring

Jean Gillie A ''femme fatale'' ( or ; ), sometimes called a maneater 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 ...

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. When war broke out Lunge joined the Royal Navy, ending up in Ceylon working on sonar detection. On one occas ...

. 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 N ...

, which had been a popular success on the

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

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, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, shops, businesses, government buil ...

. Unlike many of Brunel's 1930s

quota quickie The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 ('' 17 & 18 Geo. V'') was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry. It received Royal Assent on 20 December 1927 and came into force on 1 April 1928. De ...

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 Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

by Transatlantic Film Corporation and British & Dominions Film Corporation.

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 humor; the use of deliberate absurdity or ...

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. Filmography Bibliography * Low, Rachael. ''History of the British Film: Filmmaking in 1930s Britain''. George Allen & Unwin, 1985 . References Externa ...

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 Ambassad ...

as Colonel Hammond * Ellis Jeffreys as Mrs. Hammond *

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

as Lord Cattering *

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the first incarnation of the Doctor in '' Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, Hartnell notably appeared in '' Bri ...

as George *

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

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. Career Early life and career When he was seventeen, Shiner joined the Royal Nor ...

as the Mechanic

References

External links

* * * 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 {{1930s-UK-comedy-film-stub