Gasbags is a 1941 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde and Marcel Varnel and starring The Crazy Gang and Moore Marriott. It was written by Marriott Edgar and Val Guest. The film was a morale-booster in the early part of the Second World War.
Contents
Plot
The Crazy Gang's mobile fish and chip shop is tethered to a barrage balloon which lifts the shop into the air and the gang is carried to Nazi Germany. They are captured but break out of prison, impersonate Adolf Hitler and return to England in a stolen secret weapon.
Cast
Bud Flanagan as Bud
Chesney Allen as "Ches"
Jimmy Nervo as Cecil
Teddy Knox as "Knoxy"
Charlie Naughton as Charlie
Jimmy Gold as "Goldy"
Moore Marriott as Jerry Jenkins
Wally Patch as Sergeant-Major
Peter Gawthorne as Commanding Officer
Frederick Valk as Sturmfuehrer
Eric Clavering as Scharffuehrer
Anthony Eustrel as Gestapo Officer
Carl Jaffe as Gestapo Chief
Manning Whiley as Colonel
Torin Thatcher as SS Man
George Merritt as German General
Irene Handl as Burgomaster's Wife
Leonard Sharp as Chip Shop Customer
Mavis Villiers as Woman
Henry Longhurst as Woodcutter
Theodore Zichy as 2nd-in-Command
Production
It was shot at the Lime Grove Studios in London. The film's sets were designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky. It was the fourth and final film starring the comedians at Gainsborough Pictures. Flanagan and Allen subsequently moved to British National where they made a further four films over the next few years.
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An amusing and effective production with so much nonsense by "the Kings of Nonsense" that perhaps "a crazy film" would more aptly describe Gasbags. Moore Marriott gives a beautifully crazy performance as old Jerry and the rest of the cast should be congratulated on keeping its countenance."
TV Guide called it "An exhilarating comedy."
The Radio Times called it "the best film ever made by the Crazy Gang ... Director Marcel Varnel has just the right surreal touch to make it work and leave audiences laughing."
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "good", writing: "Crazy is the word."
Soundtrack
Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen, "Yesterday's Dreams" (written by Michael Carr and Dorothy Day)