Convict 99 *** (1938, Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Basil Radford, Googie Withers) – Classic Movie Review 8391

Will Hay gets to do his priceless tatty teacher turn again as disgraced school master Dr Benjamin Twist, in director Marcel Varnel’s pleasant and mildly amusing 1938 vintage British black and white comedy Convict 99, with just the right team of marvellous old-timer performers to make it work.

Mistaken-identity chance makes Hay’s Dr Benjamin Twist governor of a prison, where mutinous convicts Jerry the Mole (Moore Marriott) and Albert (Graham Moffatt) take charge when Twist’s drunkenness lands him behind bars.

Hay is on good nutty form, and his crazy gang are present and correct, and they are backed by Basil Radford as the Deputy Governor and Googie Withers as Lottie, a fake countess.

The inspiration in the script is fairly low though, and there are too many dull stretches, but still Convict 99 always amuses and occasionally delights with some priceless humour.

The screenplay is by Marriott Edgar (scenario), Val Guest (scenario), Ralph Smart (adaptation) and Jack Davis Jr (adaptation), based on a story by Cyril Campion.

Also in the cast are Garry Marsh, Peter Gawthorne, Kathleen Harrison, Dennis [Denis] Wyndham, Wilfred [Wilfrid] Walter, Alf Goddard, Teddy Brown, Roy Emerton, Basil McGrail, Graham Soutten [Ben Soutten], Charles Paton, George Merritt, Harry Terry, Bernard Miles, Bertha Belmore, Dick Francis, Noel Dainton, Leonard Sharp and Roddy McDowall.

Convict 99 is directed  by Marcel Varnel, runs 91 minutes, is made by Gainsborough Pictures and Gaumont British Picture Corporation, is released by General Film Distributors, is written by Marriott Edgar (scenario), Val Guest (scenario), Ralph Smart (adaptation) and Jack Davis Jr (adaptation), based on a story by Cyril Campion, is shot in black and white by Arthur Crabtree, is produced by Maurice Ostrer (producer) and Edward Black (associate producer), is scored by Louis Levy and Charles Williams and is designed by Alex Vetchinsky.

Convict 99 is on DVD in A Will Hay double bill with Oh, Mr Porter!

Dr Twist is dismissed from his job as headmaster at St Michael’s School, which returns in the later Will Hay film The Ghost of St Michael’s (1941).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8391

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com