Con man local mayor gambles municipal treasury in a poker game and wins a broken down theatre.Con man local mayor gambles municipal treasury in a poker game and wins a broken down theatre.Con man local mayor gambles municipal treasury in a poker game and wins a broken down theatre.
Photos
Leonard Sharp
- Claude
- (as Leonard Sharpe)
Franklyn Bennett
- Hilary Craven
- (as Franklin Bennett)
Sheila Bligh
- Undetermined role
- (uncredited)
Raymond Glendenning
- Self - Announcer
- (uncredited)
Vincent Holman
- Opposition Leader
- (uncredited)
Jean Kent
- Kitty Kent
- (uncredited)
Peter Noble
- Head boy of acting school
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film received its USA premiere when it was telecast in New York City Thursday 13 September 1951 on WCBS (Channel 2).
- Crazy creditsFollowing the credit for Jack Train in the opening credits, the remainder of the cast are preceded by 'and the Itma Company playing their radio characters'.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The World's End (2013)
- SoundtracksHill-Billy Song
Music by Clive Richardson
Lyrics by Ted Kavanagh and Max Kester (uncredited)
Performed by Tommy Handley (uncredited)
Featured review
Radio is not film is not TV. Interesting record of a great artist...
Tommy Handley was supremely talented in rapid fire delivery and in making scripted humour sound spontaneous. Listening to his work on the Radio in ITMA or his work on record with Ronald Frankau (Murgatroyd and Winterbottom, or in earlier days North and South) you will marvel at the sheer speed of delivery matched to clarity of diction. He was a broadcast comedian who had started with the BBC as early as 1922 but it was with ITMA that he truly became a national icon. The problem with ITMA is that like most really good comedy it was very topical and what was recognised in 1943 might need research by 1948 to even understand. When translated to film radio comedy is doubly hampered by the need for a plot which a show that depended on catchphrases fast delivery and topical humour simply didn't need on its home turf. This applies to most radio comedy, as has been remarked on with the Goons, and films like Bandwaggon (where Big and Stinker... Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch.... end up running a pirate TV station). Yet ITMA holds up. Handley's character as the rascally mayor of Foaming at the Mouth is a joy to watch as he keeps extracting himself from trouble only to get caught with his own trick at the very end of the film. Don't like ancient radio comedy actors? Go watch something modern! But comparing the verbal dexterity of Tommy Handley to the slapstick antics of the Three Stooges? That's like comparing steak to sea bass... both delicious but nothing like each other.
helpful•50
- r_caton
- Dec 1, 2016
Details
- Runtime1 hour 24 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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