I Didn’t Do It **½ (1945, George Formby, Dennis Wyndham, Hilda Mundy, Gaston Palmer, Jack Daly, Carl Jaffe) – Classic Movie Review 3822

For this British comedy crime film, Marcel Varnel directs George Formby in 1945 – and fairly well and amusingly too, especially for a comedy from Formby’s period of decline.

Formby stars as entertainer George Trotter who is the number one suspect when an Australian acrobat is bumped off in the theatrical boarding house he is staying at. George has been framed – but then the real murderer decides to make George his next target.

Formby started out touring as George Hoy.

Formby’s penultimate movie was released only as part of a double bill. The public had begun to go off the charms of gormless George, even when he could still make them laugh.

Also in the cast are Hilda Mundy, Gaston Palmer, Jack Daly, Carl Jaffe, Marjorie Browne, Wally Patch, Vincent Holman, Dennis Wyndham, Jack Raine, Boswell Twins, Georgina Cookson, Merle Tottenham and Gordon McLeod.

Formby sings She’s Got Two Of Everything, I’d Like A Dream Like That and The Daring Young Man.

Thanks to a violent murder scene, it became the only Formby film to get an A certificate in Britain, so unaccompanied children under 16 were refused admission.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3822

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George and his wife Beryl Formby in 1934.