‘Britannia of
Billingsgate’ (1933) was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. I have felt in the past that the earlier
films of the 1930s are a bit too naïve and clunky for my taste, but this one
proved me wrong. This is a very knowing
look at the early film industry itself, and I think that it is rather ahead of
its time.
It features
music hall star Violet Loraine as Bessie Bolton; while Bessie’s husband and
children are played by the now better known names of Gordon Harker, John Mills
and Kay Hammond. Bessie runs a fried
fish shop while her husband Bert works at nearby Billingsgate Market. Her
teenage son and daughter are both top-drawer dreamers. One wants to be a speedway star and the other
wants to marry a heartthrob actor. When
an Italian film director is filming a new picture nearby, he accidentally
stumbles across Bessie and her fabulous singing voice. Spurred on by Bert and
the pound signs popping out of his eyeballs, Bessie reluctantly agrees to make
a picture and the family are suddenly elevated to a new position in life.
Bessie’s
character would appear to be based wholly on Gracie Fields – the part could
have been written for her (and the surname Bolton adds to my suspicions here,
what with the Lancashire connection…) In fact, I would say that the film rather
pokes fun at a perhaps already hackneyed concept of the ordinary woman turned
into an overnight star. Because, for Bessie, this isn’t a case of dreams coming
true. She is fair sick of it all very quickly – and the whole situation shows
her husband up as a very silly man. He is easily swayed by money and fame but
he is unable to handle himself. Bessie’s daughter’s actions are the most
telling. With access to money and the right people, she starts stalking her heartthrob.
She gets to meet him, finds out where he lives and sneaks into his bedroom one
evening to wait for him. This results in
the very memorable scene of Bessie giving her daughter a thoroughly and
deservedly smacked bottom. The filmstar heartthrob himself is aloof and
disgusted…and very probably gay.
This is a film
which looks at its own industry and seems to declare it as a load of old
bunkum. Already the trappings of fame that we associate with modern life are
being held up to ridicule. What with all
this and the Hammersmith Odeon and telephone booths complete with underground
posters, it is certainly worth a look. It is available free to view on the BFI
website here - http://player.bfi.org.uk/film/watch-britannia-of-billingsgate-1933/
