Let George Do It! (1940)

Director:

Marcel Varnel

Writers:

Basil Dearden (writer)
John Dighton (writer)

Release Date:

13 October 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Shortly after the start of World War II, a ukelele player (George) takes the wrong boat and finds himself in (still uninvaded) Norway...

Plot Keywords:

Ealing | Character Name In Title | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Cast

George Formby	...	George Hepplewhite
Phyllis Calvert	...	Mary Wilson
Garry Marsh	...	Mendez
Romney Brent	...	Slim Selwyn
Bernard Lee	...	Oscar
Coral Browne	...	Iris
Helena Pickard	...	Oscar's Wife
Percy Walsh	...	Schwartz, spy chieftain
Diana Beaumont	...	Greta, hotel receptionist
Torin Thatcher	...	U-Boat commander
Donald Calthrop	...	Frederick Strickland
Hal Gordon	...	Alf Arbuckle, Dinky Do
Johnnie Schofield	...	Solicitous steward
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Albert Lieven	...	German radio operator
Bill Shine	...	Untipped steward
Ronald Shiner	...	Musician

Runtime:

82 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:Unrated (certificate #02917 withdrawn) | Sweden:(Banned) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Soundtrack:

Mr. Wu Is a Window Cleaner Now

George Formby's funniest film

In wartime England, the #1 box-office attraction was George Formby, a chirpy little comedian with a Lancashire accent who sang comic songs while strumming his "banjolele" (a ukelele-sized banjo). His on screen character was a virginal simpleton who always caused disasters (through his own incompetence) and then solved them through sheer dumb luck. At the end of each movie, George always got the girl ... but he never kissed her, since his real-life wife Beryl was usually present on the movie set to make sure that no hanky-panky transpired.

"Let George Do It" is Formby's funniest film. He portrays a banjo-player who stumbles into a wartime espionage plot. There's some genuine suspense when the bad guys show up during his nightclub act, planning to murder George ... who (as always) is blissfully unaware of the danger he's in.

Formby's songs often featured double-entendre humour, just slightly smutty. In this film, he sings two of his best songs: "Count Your Blessings and Smile" and "Mister Wu's a Window-Washer Now".

There's a Hitchcock-like plot line, with plenty of action. In one scene, a U-boat full of Nazis rolls over and over underwater, and the film crew came up with a clever way to create this effect convincingly on a low budget. Compare this scene to a similar scene in Frank Capra's "State of the Union", in which Van Johnson is aboard a plane that's rolling in midair. The Capra film had a much larger budget, yet the effect looks completely fake.

Some of the wartime jokes in "Let George Do It" will escape Americans, such as the gag about Lord Haw Haw. (The G.I.s in the Pacific had Tokyo Rose; the British soldiers in wartime Europe had to deal with Lord Haw Haw.) There's also a joke about Formby's hometown Wigan. In the same way that Jack Benny (from Waukegan) and Lou Costello (from Paterson, New Jersey) often worked their hometowns into their material, George Formby never forgot his Wigan roots. "Let George Do It" features lots of slapstick comedy and some excellent songs; you'll enjoy it. I rate this film 8 out of 10. Turned out nice again!