Comedy Classics - Time Gentlemen Please [1952] [DVD]

Time Gentlemen Please released in 1952 was a starring vehicle for Irish actor Eddie Byrne. (So why is his name not on the front of the box?) A satire of British life of the time this is another whimsical offering from Group 3 productions and was made at Southall Film studios. Look out for character actress Edie Martin making one of her bigger appearances. British film favourites Dora Bryan and Thora Hird appear too and the rest of the cast is so familiar.
Eddie Byrne a major theatre star in Ireland was a well known face and made plenty of films but this was a rare lead role and he was perfectly cast as Dan Dance and in character led the whole village on a merry dance.
The picture quality and sound are both good and Slam Dunk have delivered a now rarely seen Lewis Gilbert film that more than passes the time. Chuckles are many but you cannot help but think what we miss today.

This film is from the era before every house had a television, films were put out with regularity to give an audience something new to watch each week, They were possibly not expected to last throughout the decades, However , as they have become dated they have gained a charm. a character and have almost become a historical comment on life as it was.
This film has a wonderful cast, is full of humour, and although the plot will not make you hold your breath, if you like black and white films from the 1950's, this will not disappoint you, a perfect evening filler or a wet sunday afternoon in front of the fire distraction.

Time, Gentlemen, Please! is now part of a collection of British comedies called the Long Lost Comedy Classics. A collection of films that disappeared off the radar but now having been re-found, have been transfered to DVD courtesy of Hollywood Classics LTD. Others in the collection are The Love Match, Orders Are Orders, Make Me An Offer, John & Julie and Miss Robin Hood.

The Prime Minister is due a celebration visit to the idyllic village of Little Hayhoe, where a Utopian state of employment exists on account of its very productive factory. However, there is one fly in the ointment, the local tramp, Dan Dance. A free spirited man, Dan likes to sleep out in the fields and booze in his ample free time. This is something of an embarrassment to the village dignitaries, who quickly hatch a plan that sees him become the sole resident of the antiquated almshouse. But when the old Reverend suddenly passes away, a new and more radical one takes his place. And thru his reading of the ancient almshouse rule book he finds that Dan is entitled to considerable financial gain. Financial gain that will turn Little Hayhoe upside down.

At the time of writing this review, only two other IMDb reviews exist, both users have rated this film as a 10/10 movie. You can add me to their number wholesale. Quite simply this is possibly the finest British comedy not to have come out of Ealing Studios or to have been written by the supreme Boulting brothers. Directed by Lewis Gilbert {Sink the Bismarck!) the film is adapted from an R.J. Minney {Carve Her Name with Pride} novel called "Nothing To Lose" and Produced by Herbert Mason out of Southall Studios.

So you have your quintessential English village setting with the usual array of quirky characters. The political types are as usual a shifty bunch, and the rest are happily going about their business accepting the normality of their safe existence. Enter Eddie Byrne as Dan Dance. Eddie Byrne would go on to have a long and fruitful career in TV and Cinema, starring in such pieces as Reach for the Sky, Dunkirk, The Mummy & Star Wars, he was always working and always value for money. He was also from my home city of Birmingham, something that makes me doubly proud after witnessing his turn in this gem of Britania cinema. His Dan Dance is someone who we all can identify with, even someone we secretly admire and yearn to be as his carefree approach gives him stress factor zero. At first we think Dan is an Irish character to have the PC brigade going full tilt with their complaint Biro's, but it's quickly checked as Dan, courtesy of the excellent Byrne, shows himself to be the most sharpest and aware tool in the box. With joyous results.

The script positively crackles with deft humour, wry digs at political snobs are plenty, the greedy are given short and humorous shrift. And some scenes, I kid you not, are laugh out loud funny. I rewound it to watch a second time straight after and caught even more craftiness within it. If you are like me and you adore the likes of Whiskey Galore! and The Titfield Thunderbolt, then it's pretty much a sure thing you will love this one too. Supporting Byrne are Hermione Baddeley, Dora Bryan, Sid James, Raymond Lovell, Marjorie Rhodes, Thora Hird and Sydney Tafler. With Anthony Hopkins' lovely and uplifting score rounding out the tip top production.

The DVD transfer is excellent, practically scratch free, so it's now hoped that with its new availability it will get a whole new audience. It deserves it because this one can blow away your troubles for a day at least, and, more importantly I feel, can serve as a reminder of just how great old time cinema really was. 10/10