Gainsborough must have looked at the grosses being racked up by 20th Century Fox with their period musicals starring Betty Grable/Alice Faye and decided to have a crack at it themselves. The result is surprisingly fun - I'd never heard about this movie but it has a lot of energy and pep, plus an actual point.
Michael Rennie, at the beginning of his career, is in the John Payne/George Montgomery role as an aspiring song plugger who wants to bring sheet music to the people. He falls for singer Margaret Lockwood, in the Betty Grable/Alice Faye part. Peter Graves pops up as a rival for him in business and love.
The kicker is that the real plot of this is about copyright. Turn of the century apparently music piracy was rife, making it hard for industry people to make a living - something with incredible resonance today. The climax of the film involves a copyright bill getting passed through the act of Parliament - including Rennie leading a mob to smash up the printing presses of music pirates.
Someone called Vic Oliver is billed about the title, just below Lockwood, but his role is small. It's really Rennie's film with Lockwood having a key role. I think more could have been done with Grave's part.
It's not in colour but there is plenty of songs and production value - good costumes. There's a lot of brawling - Rennie punching out Graves and leading a mob to smash up the pirates printing press. This is where the influence of Hollywood was most felt for me. But it was a lot of fun and incredibly fascinating. The cast all get into it - Rennie and Lockwood are a pleasing lead couple and the support players are strong. British film musicals get a bad wrap but I liked this.
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