It’s in the Air **½ (1938, George Formby, Polly Ward, Garry Marsh, Jack Hobbs) – Classic Movie Review 10,497

Director Anthony Kimmins’s 1938 British black and white slapstick comedy It’s in the Air [George Takes the Air] stars George Formby as George Brown, the disaster-struck, motorbike-crazed rookie who joins the RAF as a message deliverer to impersonate his sister’s boyfriend after he forgets a vital message.

It’s in the Air is a reasonably bright star comedy with entertaining performances and some amusing slapstick highlights. Fans of Formby will smile as gormless George finds himself the butt of practical jokes by the other airmen, tries to get out of the airdrome again, ends up in bed with the sergeant major, loops the loop in an incredible display of stunt flying for the bigwigs, sings a song or two in his familiar wacky way and, of course, gets the girl in the end.

Kimmins writes the screenplay and story and directs pleasantly, but perhaps he could have managed a sharper look at service life, particularly as World War Two was imminent.

Polly Ward plays Formby’s girl Peggy and Garry Marsh plays his CO, Commanding Officer Hill.

Three hit songs are performed by George Formby: ‘It’s in the Air’, ‘Our Sergeant Major’, and ‘They Can’t Fool Me’.

Also in the cast are Julien Mitchell, Jack Hobbs, Jack Melford, C Denier Warren, Hal Gordon, Michael Shepley, Frank Leighton, O B Clarence, Esma Cannon, Eliot Makeham, Ilena Sylva, Joe Cunningham, Bryan Herbert, John Salew, Philip Godfrey, Philip Ray, and Jack Vyvyan.

It’s in the Air [George Takes the Air] is directed by Anthony Kimmins, runs 87 minutes, is made by Associated Talking Pictures, is released by Associated British Film Distributors (1938) (UK) and Select Attractions (1940) (US), is written by Anthony Kimmins (screenplay and story), is shot in black and white by Gordon Dines and Ronald Neame, is produced by Basil Dean, is scored by Ernest Irving and is designed by Wilfred Shingleton.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,497

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