Penny Paradise

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.

Cynthiahost (a reviewer from the States) can be forgiven for saying at the end of her review "Betty Diver only did a few films.", which is true but Betty DRIVER went on to become one of the major stalwarts of the long running (still going!)soap Coronation Street where she played Betty Turpin.

I've just watched this film from my set of The Ealing Studios Rarities Collection DVDs and have to admit I didn't recognise her at all – shame on me! Very good film though, which I thoroughly enjoyed albeit I don't think there was one Scouse accent in it, which was surprising as it was set in Liverpool and most of the actors had Mancunian accents.

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.

I saw this film at the NFT where it was showing as part of the Carol Reed centenary season.The film is set in Liverpool but Edmund Gwenn and Betty Driver speak with thick Lancashire accents more appropriate to Manchester than Liverpool.I found it difficult to understand what they were saying at times.This film emanates from a period when films would actually be made for the Northern part of the UK.The best example being Mancunian Films.It is quite clear from both the story and the budget that this film was not meant for showing in the South of the country.If it did get a showing it was probably in the morning when the cinema was being cleaned,in order to comply with the quota requirements of the Cinematograph Acts.This like many other Ealing films had musical numbers dotted at regular intervals in the story.It would appear from the programme notes that accompanied the screening that most reviewers of the day thought that Betty Driver was doing a Gracie Fields impersonation.Maybe because Gracie had come to the end of her contract with Ealing and Basil Dean was looking for a replacement.I actually found the numbers quite a bright spark in what was rather a simple minded farce.Jimmy O'Dea is in the middle of his brief flirtation with UK films.his acting leaves a lot to be desired.Even the marvellous Edmund Gwenn can do little to breath life into this.

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.