Directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey, Richard Murdoch, Patricia Kirkwood and Moore Marriott, Band Waggon is based on the hugely popular BBC radio show of the same name. Band Waggon is very much a British throwback to a time when comedy was almost chaotic in execution, where malarkey ruled the wave. To that end the film is a sure fire hit, performances are hitting the right notes and direction from the fabulous Varnel is suitably breezy. Within the running time of under 85 minutes, film is chocked full of enough set-ups to fill out another movie as well, there is no doubting the value for money given to British cinema goers back in 1940. Sample songs, shenanigans, spies and spirits along the way, and film closes with an elongated song and show routine as a time bomb cheerily ticks down to potential detonation.
It's hardly great comedy and it's far from being Askey's best film, but it has some solid laughs and it remains eternally silly for all the right cinematic reasons. 6/10
It's hardly great comedy and it's far from being Askey's best film, but it has some solid laughs and it remains eternally silly for all the right cinematic reasons. 6/10