This’ll Make You Whistle *** (1936, Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph, Jean Gillie) – Classic Movie Review 12,688

Herbert Wilcox’s daft, carefree, breathless 1936 British black and white musical comedy film This’ll Make You Whistle stars the likeable and talented team of Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph and Jean Gillie.

Director Herbert Wilcox’s daft, carefree, breathless 1936 British black and white film This’ll Make You Whistle stars the likeable and talented team of Jack Buchanan, Elsie Randolph and Jean Gillie.

The delightfully debonair Jack Buchanan sure can make you whistle, forming a great partnership with the tremendous Elsie Randolph, in this enjoyable British musical comedy taken from Buchanan’s theatre hit.

It motors on one of those silly plots about a rich London man-about-town, Bill Hoppings, who accidentally finds himself engaged to two women at the same time, the horse-mad Laura Buxton (Marjorie Brooks) and the sweet-natured Joan Longhurst (Jean Gillie), who is dominated by her disapproving mother, Mrs Longhurst (Maidie Hope).

Poor Bill Hoppings then finds himself masquerading as a petty thief in the French northern resort of Le Touquet in order to be able to scare off his fiancée Laura by convincing her guardian that he is unsuited to marriage, while meanwhile trying to persuade Mrs Longhurst that he is suited to marry Joan. Then his pal’s wife, an attractive life model named Bobbie Rivers (Elsie Randolph). turns up.

This’ll Make You Whistle is infectious, harmless, entertaining Thirties escapist entertainment, the old-style songs are a lot of fun, and Buchanan and Randolph’s spirited performances are the making of it.

Unusually, Guy Bolton’s and Paul Thompson’s stage show and the film ran simultaneously in London. The show was first performed at Southsea in December 1935, before a long run at the Palace Theatre and then Daly’s in London’s West End. The cast included Jack Buchanan as Bill Hoppings, Jean Gillie as Joan Longhurst, and Elsie Randolph as Bobbie Rivers.

Terry-Thomas has an uncredited early bit part, with a long false moustache and falling into a water tank.

Eleven songs are written by Al Goodhart, Al Hoffman and Maurice Sigler, notably ‘I’m in a Dancing Mood’ performed by Jack Buchanan and Elsie Randolph. and ‘You’ve Got the Wrong Rhumba’ performed by Elsie Randolph.

Jack Buchanan and Elsie Randolph reunited for Smash and Grab (1937).

The cast are Jack Buchanan as Bill Hoppings, Elsie Randolph as Bobbie Rivers, Jean Gillie as Joan Longhurst, William Kendall as Reggie Benson, David Hutcheson as Archie Codrington, Maidie Hope as Mrs Longhurst, Anthony Holles as Sebastian Venables, Marjorie Brooks as Laura Buxton, Bunty Payne as Betty, Miki Hood as Clarice, Scott Harrold as Gendarme, Irene Vere as Mrs Crimp, and Frederick Burtwell as Hotel Manager.

The magnificent Daly’s Theatre was located at the top of Leicester Square. It opened on 27 June 1893, but was sold to Warner Brothers who demolished it in 1937 and erected the large Warner cinema on the site. This building was demolished, but the beautiful marble façade sculpted by Bainbridge Copnall, featuring a large relief panel in two corners depicting the spirits of sight and sound, was retained, and the site was rebuilt and then redeveloped as the Warner Village cinema complex (now Vue).

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,688

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