Davy (1957)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Michael Relph

Writer:

William Rose (story)

Release Date:

December 1957 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

The Mad Morgans are a family song and dance act touring the British Music Halls. Young Davy is the star of the act but should he stay with his family or strike out on his own ? |

Plot Keywords:

Ealing | Beautiful Woman | Character Name In Title

Cast

Harry Secombe	...	Davy Morgan
Alexander Knox	...	Sir Giles Manning
Ron Randell	...	George
George Relph	...	Uncle Pat Morgan
Susan Shaw	...	Gwen
Bill Owen	...	Eric
Isabel Dean	...	Miss Helen Carstairs
Adele Leigh	...	Joanna Reeves
Peter Frampton	...	Tim
Joan Sims	...	Tea Lady
Gladys Henson	...	Beatrice, Tea Lady
George Moon	...	Jerry
Clarkson Rose	...	Mrs. Magillicuddy
Kenneth Connor	...	Herbie
Liz Fraser	...	Tea Lady (as Elizabeth Fraser)

Runtime:

83 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Ealing Studios, Ealing, London, England, UK

Company:

Ealing Studios

Ealing's Last Gasp

The famous Ealing Studio's last comedy isn't a very good one, a far cry from such as Passport to Pimlico, Whisky Galore and the sublime Kind Hearts and Coronets. These classics as well as brilliant dramas like Dead of Night and It Always Rains on Sunday were all in black & white and perhaps it was with colour that the rot set in. Yes, I know The Ladykillers (recently remade) was in colour but wasn't it the worst colour you ever saw? Davy looks pretty muddy too, at least it did on my TV screen.

Davy, set in the world of the Music Hall, must have seemed like a good vehicle for Welsh entertainer Harry Secombe with opportunities for manic clowning and a chance to show off his beautiful baritone voice. But the film is unconvincing, and the characters not well enough developed to be sympathetic.

The story concerns Davy Morgan, a member of a third-rate comic family variety company, who has a try-out for the Covent Garden Opera but doesn't want to break up the act. This despite the fact that one performer is a hopeless alcoholic and another an obnoxious womaniser. But so long as Davy stays in the fold all will be well. Or so we are expected to believe.

There are a couple of lovely arias in the audition sequence (where did the orchestra come from when Harry sang Nessum Dorma?) otherwise Davy is hardly worth the effort.

By the way, on this evidence it wasn't television that killed the Music Hall (Vaudeville), it was live theatre consisting of old jokes, bad puns, embarrassingly unfunny slapstick and songs that are sentimental tripe.