No Lady

A very early British talkie (hence poor sound quality but on the version I saw on TPTV there is sound all the way through). Starring the talented Lupino Lane - a master of timing and slapstick. What elevates it above many comedies of the period is the amount of external shots (of Blackpool) at the beginning of the 1930's - not just a lot of cheap interior sets with two dimensional acting. The actors show carryover influence of both silent movies and theatrical stage. The baddies are stereotypical in the extreme and come from a fictional European country with silly hand signals as greetings - two years before Hitler came to power. There must have been a reasonable budget given the number of actors and dancers involved even if some were roped in holidaymakers. It isn't very sophisticated, especially the dance routines, but you can see why audiences enjoyed it at the time. Basically a comedy with some good touches, not to be taken too seriously and in context, and a fascinating view of Blackpool.

There just may be some (very) senior citizens still alive in Blackpool who remember the film crew at large on the front making this zany comedy (described by Rachel Low as a "badly directed, under-rehearsed and distasteful film") that for much of it's running time looks like (and probably is) a silent film with an effects track rather than a true talkie.

The enemy agents our hero tangles with come from a foreign country called Ptomania, pronounced the same way as the country Adenoid Hynkel later became the great dictator of.

"Pog" (Lupino Lane) is the rather hen-pecked patriarch of a family who heads off to the seaside with his wife and offspring for their annual summer holiday. Once there, he is mistaken for a criminal mastermind and is soon embroiled in the nefarious activities of a gang of spies and crooks. Can he extricate himself from their dastardly schemes? Essentially, this is vehicle for a stage and silent film star who looks completely ill-at-ease in front of a camera into which, this time, he is expected to speak. The drama itself is the thinnest and the familial malarkey with wife (Lola Hunt) and the celebration of Britons on deckchairs wearing bowler hats eating ice cream comes across more scathing than ridiculous. There's some room for a bit of uncomplicated drag, and even some aeronautical antics at the end but this is really only watchable now as a curio of what we watched almost a century ago, what made us laugh and who tickled our fancy.

Just watched No Lady on Talking Pictures and I must confess that I enjoyed it. True the story is silly but the film was far better than I expected. There was little evidence that it was made just four years into the talkies and Lupino Lane was a superb acrobatic comedian. This production did him justice.

The movie itself is really only about a 5, but for me, when Lupino Lane really gets going, he can do no wrong.

For several years now, I have found myself bored to death over movies that are directed to be more concerned with presenting their "story" than with what they DO with the narrative. Most movies are written by a bunch of hack writers anyway, and few stories have any depth or value to them that can keep me engaged. RATHER, I am interested in any movie that allows truly talented actors to show off their skills.

Now it turns out that Lupino Lane is as good an acrobat as Buster Keaton, and probably as good a pantomimist and dancer as Chaplin or Lloyd. So here I am delighted to find a featurette that really displays his talents—and in a talking picture while the actor is still at his prime, no less.

Not that it couldn't have been even better, but... you can't have everything (although I'll never know why).

Fortunately, there is enough innocent silliness, cartoonishness, pantomime, acrobatics and else at play here, and briskly moving along at a pace to keep my interest.

If you don't know Lupino Lane, you might want to start with a wonderful compilation of clips from his movies, with super music, on the DVD "SlapHappy: Vol 1 (3 Funnymen...)".

If you find those clips amazing, astounding and hilarious, then you should try out some complete silents. After that, if you, like I, cannot possibly get too much Lupino Lane, then you should check out this movie (you can buy it at Amazon UK).