Review of I Thank You

The old Music Hall stars knew something about community spirit. There was always a singalong section with hugely enthusiastic audience participation be it "Daisy,Daisy" or "My old man said follow the van"with its cockney undertones of a couple moving one step ahead of the bailiffs. Doing a moonlight,they called it. In the rough working class areas where Music Hall flourished best there was a feeling that performer and audience had a common bond. So in the much mooted " Spirit of the blitz" Miss Lily Morris a superstar of the gaslight age owns - as they say nowadays - that audience in the London Underground bomb shelter. In the wireless programme "Bandwaggon" Mr A.Askey and Mr R.Murdoch did their bit for the BBC from a putative hut on the roof of Broadcasting House. They were extremely popular and teamed up often during and after the war. Here they play "Resting" entertainers desperate to put a show on and not particularly bothered about how they achieve it. This is an excuse for Mr Askey to do his "Charley's Aunt" routine which was a showstopper on stages round the country. He and Mr Murdoch con their way into the employ of a retired Music Hall star and former "angel" and persuade her to help them out. Nothing much for sophisticates here. But as a prime example of how the English liked to present themselves as a "We never closed" society in a time of total war when there was serious doubt as to whether the country would survive the German onslaught "There was I,waiting at the church" is one of the very best films arising from the early years of the conflict.