Lascia fare a Giorgio

Mistaken for a spy, a ukulele musician unwittingly becomes instrumental in foiling a Nazi plot in this lively British comedy. The star of the film is George Formby (perhaps best known for 'Keep Your Seats, Please!'), a comedian whose dimwitted mannerisms take some getting used to, however, as the espionage angle of the film begins to ignite, Formby becomes more and more likable with his genuine desire to be a war hero. Not all of the gags work, but with Marcel Varnel (of 'Oh, Mr. Porter!' and 'Ask a Policeman' fame) at the helm, the film is frequently well paced with excellent comic timing in the sequences that do work. The very best of these is an extended sequence in which Formby tries to recover a camera that has fallen out of a window. There is also a superbly edited dream sequence in which all of Formby's memories of his adventures until then play out in a dream he has of flying to Germany and punching Hitler during a propaganda speech! The antagonists here are a little too bumbling for Formby to ever seem in any real danger, but the film remains an entertaining ride with several memorable songs from Formby to cap it all off. 'North by Northwest' it may not be, but it is still easy to appreciate 'Let George Do It!' alongside other such films about ordinary men becoming the super spies they are mistaken for being.