Displaying items by tag: Marcel Varnel

THE GHOST OF ST MICHAELS

UK, 1941, 82 minutes, Black-and-white.

Will Hay, Charles Hawtrey, Claude Hulbert, Felix Aylmer, Raymond Huntley, John Laurie, Hay Petrie, Brefni O'Rourke.

Directed by Marcel Varnel.

An example of popular comedy produced in the UK in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Will A, the scientist and astronomer in training and hobby, was popular as a comedian in a series of small-budget films at the time. He was revered and audiences now watching his films will be interested in his status and impact at that time. But, it seems quite dated.

This is a wartime story, an indication of spies operating in England and Scotland. It is a story of a transfer of school students to an old Castle in Scotland, travelling by ferry to an island, and the old Castle reputed to have ghosts. (Those interested in screenwriting might note that one of the contributors here, John Dighton, made the school comedy, The Happiest Days of Your Life almost 10 years later.)

The comedy is very broad, farcical, the suggestion of ghosts and eerie music, especially agitated by the Scots staff member, John Laurie. And, in fact, there are two deaths, not by ghost but by a spy. In the two deaths are of the serious characters in the film, two headmasters, Felix Aylmer and Raymond Huntley, playing straight rather than comic roles.

However, in retrospect, the surprise of the film is the presence of Charles Hawtrey at the age of 26, already a strong career in film and radio, really the commanding presence of the film even over Will Pay. He portrays a very precocious student, shrewd, mischievous, a touch self-righteous, the contributing strongly to the solution of the mysteries. It would be another 15 or 16 years before he made his first Carry on film, starring in 23 of the series. And, his style in 1941 certainly prefigured his comic abilities in his Carry on career.

One for the historical record and for film history buffs.