Penny Paradise

The comparison was inevitable when I saw this movie the day after I saw Carol Reed's version of KIPPS. However, while KIPPS is a serious movie leavened with humor, this is a comedy leavened with a lot of tension, and eased by the occasional song: Jimmy O'Dea sings a typical comedy piece about 'The Pride of the Coombe' and Betty Driver sings a swingy number This working class comedy is clearly a quota quickie, but also, clearly, Reed has learned his craft and the result, while no classic, is an engaging bit of fluff. The performances are sterling and the scene between Edmund Gwenn and James Harcourt is beautifully played. The camera-work is, likewise, unimpeachable: classic camera movement to maintain composition.

In short, by the time he directed this movie, Reed had the ability to direct anything that came his way. The next decade would show that.

I admit I only saw this picture as second choice to "Of Human Bondage", which was booked out by the time I got to the cinema; but it turned out to be a thoroughly good-humoured and enjoyable little comedy that drew laughter from across the audience. Edmund Gwenn and Jimmy O'Dea shine as a double-act of the captain of a Liverpool tugboat with a wimpish whistle and his happy-go-lucky Irish first mate, and a selection of formidable womenfolk give them something to think about at home, from the captain's daughter (Betty Driver), to the widow he's courting and the sanctimonious Aunt Agnes. The humour is by and large undemanding without ever becoming crude, with the exception of a couple of pure slapstick moments; and there are many jokes made by sight gags alone without labouring the point, as when the embarrassed Captain Higgins encounters first the glare of a hostile child and then, turning away in confusion, the glassy stare of a large dead fish. It rarely puts a foot wrong or over-emphasises a joke for fear the audience might miss the point -- indeed, if anything it errs the other way, for the heavy local accents and tinny recording meant that some of the lines (and laughs) only came through belatedly when the wording became evident from the reply.

I'm not clear whether this was meant to be a musical or not; it features a number of fairly gratuitous musical numbers which I felt on balance to be a misjudgement, especially those sung (or lip-synched) by Betty Driver. A contemporary reviewer described the unfortunate Miss Driver as "a spirited young woman with a voice translated by either recording or reproduction into the accents of an electric saw", and while unkind, the description is a little too accurate for comfort. Her performance as an actress is competent without being outstanding, although again her voice can be difficult to follow.

Jimmy O'Dea as Pat, the little Irishman, also performs a song on demand, which comes across rather better due to the sentiment being so utterly at odds with the character's demeanour: it's played for laughs, whereas Betty Driver's ballads are apparently intended to be taken at face value. His was definitely the most memorable performance among the cast, although Edmund Gwenn in the lead role also gives good value.

"Penny Paradise" is not a big-budget production (although the period scenes of location work on the Mersey are nowadays fascinating), but it enjoys a good script and admirable actors, which generally counts for more, and the pacing is generally excellent. And everyone gets exactly what they deserve in the last reel, which is always a satisfying experience!

Carol 'The Third Man' Reed directed this, and there are very few hints here at his future greatness. Set in a time before good- looking people had been invented, and on the Liverpool docks where, bizarrely, all the characters but one have Yorkshire accents (the only other accent being a sort of cod Irish) it sets out to show the working class as sort of heroic and noble.

Does it succeed? Well sort of. The story is so very simple - a poor but happy man almost becomes rich and unhappy. It's the sort of chin-up, mustn't grumble, know-your-place-common-folk theme we see in so many British films, of any era. And it left me thinking: did these films merely reflect that British identity, or were they attempting to invent it? If the producers didn't know or care that Liverpool has it's own accent, distinct identity and sense of humour, what was the point of setting it there specifically? Also, it teeters on a edge of Kitchen sink realism at times (check out the little flat behind the chip shop, sad widow dreaming her dreams) but never dares question anything, big or small, not even light-heartedly.

Fans of Waking Ned Devine and The Jackpot might want to look up the very obscure, old British flick Penny Paradise. Edmund Gwenn, in a rare pre-Santa Claus role that showed no inkling of the jolly old elf, stars as a poor, low class fellow who wins the lottery. He spends most of his time in the bar with his pals, taking care of his daughter Betty Driver, and shyly wooing Marie O'Neill. When he gets his sudden windfall, everything changes - but is it all for the best?

Betty gets a number of suitors, but who are interested in her instead of her money? Everyone wants to get their hooks into Teddy's money, and he finds himself throwing parties and racking up bills before he can keep up with them. Marie is disgusted by his fortune, insisting that he's changed since he's become rich. Can poor Teddy and rich Teddy become one and the same? Check out this cute comedy to find out, and to hear Santa talking in a fun Liverpool accent.

A studio-bound but quietly effective early film from the up-and-coming Carol Reed praised by the not easily impressed Rachel Low as "Surprisingly realistic in it's atmosphere and with the usual good acting". An eighteen year-old Betty Driver is appealing as Edmund Gwenn's daughter and Ethel Coleridge memorably dour as his ghastly Aunt Agnes.