Rent Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937)
3.9 of 5 from 70 ratings
1h 21min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- One of the funniest British comedies in the music hall tradition of the thirties. Comedian will hay stars as Mr. Porter. A railway attendant whose boss has been wanting to fire him for 30 years. He has been unable to because porter is a relative of the managing director and is determined to become a station master. Somewhere! He is eventually commissioned to a near-decrepit station in Ireland. Where he organises a train for a sinister man to board. To his surprise. The train vanishes. The villagers believe that ghosts are responsible, but porter may yet prove otherwise, even if by accident!
- Actors:
- Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt, Sebastian Smith, Agnes Lauchlan, Percy Walsh, Dennis Wyndham, Dave O'Toole, Frank Atkinson, Wilson Coleman, Bryan Herbert, Harry Hutchinson, Betty Jardine, Frederick Lloyd, Frederick Piper, Charles Rolfe, Beatrice Varley
- Directors:
- Marcel Varnel
- Producers:
- Edward Black
- Writers:
- Frank Launder, J.O.C. Orton, Val Guest, Marriott Edgar
- Studio:
- ITV
- Genres:
- Classics, Comedy
- Collections:
- A Brief History of Hammer Horror, A Brief History of Film..., Topping the Music Hall Bill
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Reviews (1) of Oh, Mr. Porter!
Comedy Classic. - Oh, Mr. Porter! review by Steve
British comedy in the thirties was dominated by acts who progressed from the music hall to the big screen. And Will Hay made this transition better than anyone. His trademark was the officious incompetent who takes charge and spreads calamity while blaming everyone else. He was the boss of this archetype.
In Oh, Mr. Porter he is a station master sent to Northern Ireland so he would at least cause mayhem as far away from head office as possible. There he finds the station under the wily local rules of Hay's usual sidekicks, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. The best, funniest aspect of the film is the three comedians riffing off each other.
There are many great gags in this inspired bickering (Val Guest was among the writers). As so often with comedy films, the laughs thin out when the plot gets going. And this wouldn't be the first (or last) film where stories of a haunting are spread to hide the activities of a criminal gang. But the fight and chase sequences are more imaginative than most.
Hay was the finest pre-war comedy actor in British films and Moore Marriott a brilliant foil, who gets too little recognition. Neither quite reached the same heights in other partnerships. Oh, Mr. Porter is their masterpiece, and among the greatest ever British comedies.
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