Time, Gentlemen, Please! ** (1952, Eddie Byrne, Jane Barrett, Robert Brown, Raymond Lovell, Sidney James, Marjorie Rhodes, Hermione Baddeley, Dora Bryan, Thora Hird, Sydney Tafler, Peter Jones) – Classic Movie Review 11,733

Director Lewis Gilbert’s 1952 film Time, Gentlemen, Please! is a terribly British satirical comedy about a perfect English village, where the council is trying to clean up its image by sweeping away an Irish tramp, well-liked homeless person Dan Dance (Eddie Byrne).

The UK Ministry of Industrial Co-ordination is studying employment rates in British towns, and the best will win a visit from the Prime Minister. Little Hayhoe, a small town in Essex with a population of 2,000, has only the one unemployed person. The council wants him out of the way before the PM arrives.

Time, Gentlemen, Please! is forced and predictable, but nevertheless sometimes amusing and certainly worth it for the lovely cast, eg Sidney James as pub landlord Eric Hace.

Gilbert directs this low-budget (£25,000) black and white B-movie hit confidently and sprightly.

The screenplay by Peter Blackmore and Val Guest (adaptation) is based on R J Minney’s novel Nothing to Lose.

Also notable in the lovely cast are Hermione Baddeley, Jane Barrett, Robert Brown, Raymond Lovell, Dora Bryan, Thora Hird, Sidney James, Sydney Tafler, Peter Jones, Ian Carmichael, Marjorie Rhodes, Edie Martin and Ivor Barnard.

Location filming took place in Thaxted, Essex.

It had a DVD release in 2007 as part of the Long Lost Comedy Classics collection.

Sidney James plays pub landlord Eric Hace.

The cast are Eddie Byrne as Dan Dance, Jane Barrett as Sally, Robert Brown as Bill Jordan, Raymond Lovell as Sir Digby Montague, Sidney James as pub landlord Eric Hace, Marjorie Rhodes as Miss Mouncey, Hermione Baddeley as Emma Stebbins, Dora Bryan as Peggy Stebbins, Thora Hird as Alice Crouch, Ivor Barnard as Timothy Crouch, Edie Martin as Mary Wade, Sydney Tafler as Joseph Spink, Joan Young as Mrs. Round, Marianne Stone as Mrs. Pincer, Patrick McAlinney as the Rev. Soater, Julian D’Albie as George Burton, Nigel Clarke as the Rev. Simpson, Henry Longhurst as P.C. Tumball, Peter Jones as Lionel Batts, Peter Swanwick as Jeremiah Higgins, Thomas Gallagher as Bob Cannon, Freda Bamford as Mabel, Ian Carmichael as the Prime Minister’s Public Relations Officer, Brian Roper as Cyril, Harry Herbert as Tramp, Jack May as man with ear trumpet, Toke Townley as postman, Tristan Rawson as Dr. Hawkes, and Donovan Winter as Hairdresser.

Sydney Tafler’s sister Hylda married Lewis Gilbert. Tafler was married to the actress Joy Shelton from 1941 until his death on 8 November 1979. Tafler appeared with Sid James in Citizen James on British TV from 1960 to 1962. His last film was Lewis Gilbert’s James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), as the captain of the supertanker Liparus.

 © Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,733

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