Much Too Shy is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring George Formby, Kathleen Harrison, Hilda Bayley and Eileen Bennett.[2] The cast includes radio star Jimmy Clitheroe (as George's brother), later "Carry On'" star Charles Hawtrey, Peter Gawthorne and Joss Ambler.
| Much Too Shy | |
|---|---|
 Opening title card | |
| Directed by | Marcel Varnel |
| Written by | Walter Greenwood (screen adaptation) Michael Vaughan (additional scenes) John L. Arthur Jack S. Marks |
| Based on | original story by Ronald Frankau |
| Produced by | Marcel Varnel Ben Henry (associate producer) |
| Starring | George Formby Kathleen Harrison |
| Cinematography | Arthur Crabtree |
| Edited by | Max Brenner Kitty Spreckley |
| Music by | Harry Bidgood (uncredited) |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures Corporation (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 92 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £140,919 (UK)[1] |
Formby's featured songs are They Laughed When I Started to Play (Formby/Cliffe), Talking to the Moon About You (Day), Delivering the Morning Milk (Formby/Gifford/Cliffe) and Andy the Handy Man, written by Eddie Latta.[3]
Plot summary
editA simple handyman, who also is an amateur artist, gets into trouble when the head and shoulders portraits of some prominent local females are sold without his knowledge to an advertising agency and are published with nude bodies added to them.
Cast
edit- George Formby – George Andy
- Kathleen Harrison – Amelia Peabody
- Hilda Bayley – Lady Driscoll
- Eileen Bennett – Jackie Somers
- Joss Ambler – Sir George Driscoll
- Jimmy Clitheroe – Jimmy
- Frederick Burtwell – Harefield
- Brefni O'Rorke – Somers
- Eric Clavering – Robert Latimer
- Gibb McLaughlin – Reverend Sheepshanks
- Peter Gawthorne – Counsel
- Valentine Dyall - Defendant's Counsel
- Gus McNaughton - Manager of Commercial Art School
- Wally Patch - Police Man
- Charles Hawtrey - Osbert, the Art Student
Critical reception
editHalliwell's Film Guide called the film "a slightly vulgar and talkative farce which restricts the star".[3] A Radio Times reviewer commented, "although he was still Britain's biggest box office attraction, George Formby was already showing signs of the novelty fatigue that would result in the collapse of his screen career four years later...The cheeky wit that informed so many of Formby's songs is to the fore in this contrived comedy, but the storyline about the handyman with aspirations to become an artist simply isn't strong enough to sustain so much smutty innuendo".[4]
References
edit- ^ James Chapman ‘The Billings verdict’: Kine Weekly and the British Box Office, 1936–62' Journal of British Cinema and Television, Volume 20 Issue 2, Page 200-238, p 211
- ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | MUCH TOO SHY (1942)". Archived from the original on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ a b "Much Too Shy".
- ^ "Much Too Shy (1942)".
External links
edit- Much Too Shy at IMDb
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