Jack's the Boy

Jack's the Boy
Jack's the Boy lobby card
Directed by	Walter Forde
Written by	W. P. Lipscomb Sidney Gilliat
Based on	a story by Jack Hulbert Douglas Furber
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Jack Hulbert Cicely Courtneidge Peter Gawthorne
Cinematography	Leslie Rowson
Edited by	Ian Dalrymple John Goldman
Music by	Vivian Ellis Jack Beaver Lyrics: Douglas Furber Musical director: Louis Levy
Production company	Gainsborough Pictures
Distributed by	Gaumont British
Release date	June 1932
Running time	91 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Jack's the Boy is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Francis Lister and Peter Gawthorne. It became well known for its song "The Flies Crawled Up the Window", sung by Hulbert, which was released as a record and proved a major hit. The film was released in the U.S. as Night and Day.

Plot

Policeman Jack (Jack Hulbert) attempts to track down a gang responsible for a smash and grab raid, thereby proving his worth to his disapproving father (Peter Gawthorne), a Scotland Yard detective.

Cast

• Jack Hulbert as Jack Brown
• Cicely Courtneidge as Mrs Bobday
• Winifred Shotter as Ivy
• Francis Lister as Jules Martin
• Peter Gawthorne as Mr Brown
• Ben Field as Mr Bobday
• Charles Farrell as Martin
• O. B. Clarence as Tompkins
• Hal Gordon as Man with scarf at accident
• Arthur Rigby as Police Constable

Reception

The film was voted the fourth best British movie of 1932.

British Pictures wrote, "As entertainment, it's curious. Hulbert and Courtneidge clown about nicely but it's hard to see how this film was one of the biggest hits of its year (big enough to be the punchline of a comic song in the following year's The Good Companions). Opportunities for them to "do their stuff" are poked into the narrative in the oddest places. They search a thief's flat and spontaneously break into a silly dance. It would be charming if it wasn't so bloody irritating. Perhaps the most interesting bits of the film now are the sequences filmed on location both on the streets of London and in Madame Tussauds (though you have to doubt the effectiveness of any film chase sequence in which you get more interested in the passing billboards than the action). All in all, it's a film which has dated badly and which doesn't show off the stars to their best advantage"; while TV Guide wrote that though the "Dialog drags a bit, as though it's being read for the stage. Hulbert saves his performance with a lot of likable charm"; and AllMovie called it a "breezy quota quickie", concluding that "Matching Jack Hulbert laugh for laugh is his wife and longtime stage partner Cicely Courteneidge"; and Screenonline noted that "Jack's the Boy is acknowledged as one of the team's best films."

External links

• Jack's the Boy at IMDb
• Jack's the Boy at the BFI's Screenonline