Miss London Ltd.

I really enjoyed this World War 2 musical comedy. Arthur Askey is at his most engaging as the singing head of a declining escort service in London. Evelyn Dall is a beautiful and business-savvy American who immediately takes charges by seeking beautiful women to work for the agency. These ladies are sexy, funny and can sing and dance as well. The highlight of the film is when Arthur does a wonderful take on Harpo Marx while Jack Train (who also does W.C Fields and Rochester) is a pitch perfect Chico and Evelyn does a turn a blond Groucho. It is a fun movie to watch on a lovely spring night. These old British comedies of the Thirties and Forties have a great deal of spirit and heart to them.

Is it a musical, is it a comedy, is it a play, the answer is all three. In the Vaudeville tradition this movie has a little bit of everything. A few scenes with clever word play and jokes. A few scenes with a physical comedy sketch. A couple of dance acts, and a few unmemorable songs. The fascinating thing about this movie is that this film would have appealed to older audiences of the time, people in their 50s & 60s longing for a simpler happier time. Mums and dads left behind to hold the fort and raise the grand-kids as all the young people went off to war.

The plot is quite light and unimaginative so as not to distract from the vaudeville routines inserted into it. An American lady arrives in London to claim her half of a failing escort business, with her enthusiasm and a new staff of good looking girls she brings it back to life. Best scene in this film is where the leading man does a comedy routine with a piano. "Ladies cloak room" Ho Ho Ho how very mildly ribald (just the right sort of humour for an audience of older people born in the 1890s)

If you like witty dialogue, fine comic acting, 1940s songs and dances, and lots of beautiful girls, this is a film for you.

Arthur Askey can be a bit wearing on his own but here he has to share the limelight with other talented performers and is possibly outshone by the two leading ladies, the sophisticated American Evelyn Dall and the naïve English Anne Shelton. Anybody who has had to wait at Waterloo Station will enjoy Shelton's role as the announcer.

Full of brief spoofs and some prolonged parodies. We get Askey and Dall doing a routine as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and, with Ronald Shiner in addition, as the three Marx Brothers. Crazier still, to get into a smart hotel the Askey character pretends to be the real-life Arthur Askey, complete with catchphrases and mannerisms.

Miss London, Ltd, is a respectable escort service which provides proper female dates for British and American servicemen stationed in London. The profits are used to support the prisoner of war fund. Arthur Boden (Arthur Askey) is half owner, joined by his new American partner, Terry Arden (Evelyn Dall). But, the company has fallen on hard times financially and must recruit new girls to survive. They do so but must jump through numerous hilarious hoops to keep the business afloat. The key is getting railway PA announcer Gail Martin (Anne Shelton) to attend a party so that Captain Rory O'Moore (Peter Graves) can spend some time with her. But will she attend?

The singing and dancing are all first rate. Watch for the opening scenes at Waterloo Station where three uniformed female porters push luggage carts around while singing. One of the girls is 18-year old Patricia Owens in her first credited movie role. She and the other girls display fine soprano voices.

Jean Kent has a role written especially for her as "The Encyclopedia Girl" who keeps selling Arthur more encyclopedias each time she sees him.

Richard Hearne is Commodore Wellington, whose slapstick dancing style is a real hoot.

The funniest bit is the Marx Brothers scene with Evelyn Dall hilarious as Groucho.

Miss London, Ltd. Is a Gainsborough Studios production. It is a real classic and well worth watching. The movie is available on DVD and is a fine addition to any collection.

I was born in the wrong century. Watching this movie is like flipping through a FHM 100 sexiest models. OK enough about the girls, what's the movie like.

Quite funny, actually.

The man male lead, Arthur Bowman (Arthur Askey) has to save his escort business. Arthur's humor is greatly inspired from Groucho Marx and word play. Many excellent quick wit remarks, that if you blink you'll miss, such as:

Terry: He's a wealthy bachelor. Arthur: That's why he's wealthy.

And my favorite, when Arthur attempts to propose: Arthur: Oh, I wish I was Clark Gable for 15 minutes Terry: Why, so you could boast about it for the rest of your life? Arthur: No, so you could.

Perve, comedy, singing. That's right it is still a musical, but some of the songs themselves are quite funny. Terry (Evelyne Dall, a beauty) sings "Cool, Calm, and Collect" about taking money (the collect in the title) from older gentlemen visiting the escort business that just want to jive.

All round very cool.