
Director: Alfred Hitchcock et.al.
At a time when Hollywood was churning out colourful lavish feather in the hat type of 'Copacabana' styled performance, 'Elstree Calling' was London's premiere studio's
1930 answer to their trans-Atlantic cousins. This one of the earlier talkies was made at a time when the British Empire was on the decline, but its culture was the envy of the world over. Trouble was already brewing over the Empire as the fall had started at the turn of the century.
The movie at best can be referred to a collection of songs, dances and sketches ala-Donny and Marie (a variety show) of the 70s! There is a bumbling master of ceremony who gets all his scripts mixed up but manages to introduce the performers. He goes on to give announcements out of context, like a child looking for her father who left her 22years previously and so on. There is a funny running sketch of a man fiddling with his primitive temperamental TV set which only works when the compere bade farewell! This script was apparently choreographed by Hitchcock. One can see the influence of Hitchcockian humour in a few of the skits. In one, an enraged man shoots a couple embraced in passionate kiss only to realise that he is in the wrong flat!
Tuning in J L Baird's invention Need much tinkering like our set in RRF! |
Moving talkies were its infancy, and they were experimenting with colour. Dances ala-can-can were shot in monochromatic yellow hue (Pathecolor stencil).
This presentation is of historical value and is only for die-hard Hitchcock fans.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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