Forza Giorgio

A stableboy (George Formby) dreams of being a jockey and gets the opportunity when he tames a horse renowned for its bad temper.

A standard Formby vehicle enlivened by the fact that George was a former jockey himself when he was younger before turning to the music hall. He even appeared in a short film in 1915 as a racing jockey. The film has a few bright moments though the songs are far from the usual good 'uns you'd expect in a Formby film.

Another of my favourite Formby's, a perfect "book-end" to Trouble Brewing made in the same year. This time he swaps jobs from ice cream seller to steeplechase jockey through a series of accidents, involving being on the run from the Law for a crime he didn't commit. The horse they want him to ride is a killer, Maneater, but he doesn't know that so the two of them get along splendidly. Until George finds out, that is... There are of course similarities to the earlier Marx Bros Day at the Races here.

On the way he sings some pleasant songs, my favourite being I couldn't let the stable down - apparently the song he sang to Squib, Goodnight Little Fellow he used to sing to his dog in a 1925 revue! And he falls for Pat Kirkwood, then 18 but who didn't really have a good part except to decorate the landscape. I've always loved the trilby-hatted, shapeless overcoat, blue-chinned pre-War atmosphere in this one even though I'm not a fan of forcing horses to run and jump over objects in their way for love or money.

It was the centenary of the birth of Britain's most popular, highest paid star for 7 years on the trot to 1945 in 2004 and what did the BBC and all of the other TV channels in the UK do to mark the fact? Absolutely nothing. None of them, terrestrial or satellite showed so much as a clip of one of his 20 films. I call this burying the past, and solely because it suits the history-less 20 year olds who run all of these channels. Otoh it could be argued by them that as this is the first comment on the IMDb since its inception for this film that there's nearly no-one out there who appreciates Formby any more. Maybe they should check out www.georgeformby.co.uk.