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This unsophisticated little film has no story line.
George as the hotel boots does various comedy routines with the manager,
the chef, a couple of guests and the scullery maid. When the manager
becomes aware of his prowess on the ukulele and the maid's (Beryl)
talent for dancing, he puts them into the hotel cabaret.
Of great historical interest, the film was made in 14 days for £3,000
in a 'studio' above the Albany Garage, off Regent Street, London.
Brendan Ryan.
Actually this film must be well known (if not well
thought of) by Coronation Street star Betty Driver. Betty auditioned
for a part in the film and was accepted - until Beryl Formby realised
that there was another female involved - then Betty Driver was immediately
written out of the plot! Strangely enough, nobody bothered to remove
Betty's name from the film credits and even though there is not one
frame of Betty in the film, her name roles up the credits to this
day!
This of course was George's first film (apart from
the long lost silent "The Shortest Of Heads" which he was
involved in when he was 10 years old). The early films are important
because they show George playing the ukulele 'live' and the camera
stays with George rather than drifting away when the magical uke solo
arrives. Peter Pollard
BOOTS! BOOTS!
In 1960 George referred to Boots! Boots! as "a lousy picture".
But his jocular comment can't be taken at face value.
It's true that the film is lacking in technical quality but this is
explained by the shoe-string budget and though the film - when placed
alongside George's pictures for Ealing and
Columbia - may appear to lack coherence, the comparison is hardly
a fair one.
The content and style of George's best pictures followed a successful
comedy formula tailor-made for him at Ealing.
What "Boots!" represents is almost a different genre: it
is a direct transfer from stage to screen of the type of sketch comedy
with which George and Beryl had been touring the provinces throughout
the late 20s and early 30s in Revue.
As such, the film today is an invaluable historical record of George's
early style, and it's a treat to see him (and Beryl) performing in
a more "theatrical" mode than the King of Celluloid we know
from his later successes.
Andy Eastwood
Boots! Boots!
Blakeley's Film Productions/Butchers Film Service
Produced by: John E. Blakeley
Writers: George Formby & Jack Cottrell
Photographer: James S. Hodgson
(In a BBC interview in 1971 Tom Blakeley claimed that the film
was photographed by Roy Fogwell who shot two of George's later Columbia
films)
Directer: Bert Tracy
Trade Show: February 8 1934; Released on: July 30 1934
Cast: George Formby, Beryl Formby, Arthur Kingsley, Eileen Keyes,
Ronald Reid, Harry Hudson Orchestra, Betty Driver (see above)
Songs: Baby (Cottrell)
Why Don't Women Like Me? (Cottrell/Bennett/Formby)
Sitting On The Ice In The Ice Rink (Cottrell)
I Could Make A Good Living At That (Cottrell/Lawton)
The music only of "Chinese Laundry Blues" to the tap dancing
of Beryl Formby
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