Sign In / Sign Up

Elstree Calling

Elstree Calling
Release date: 1930-02-06
Rating: 5.1
Votes: 20
Genres: Music, Comedy
A series of 19 musical and comedy "vaudeville" sketches presented in the form of a live television broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself).

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

A distinctly off-form Tommy Handley introduces this rather curious piece of cinematic entertainment that features a variety of stars from the British stage at the end of the 1920s. The mixture of musical, comedy and magical turns illustrates well just quite how a real pot-pourri of acts took to the stage in theatres up and down the UK - but there is no audience. Without the engagement, even applause, from those watching the whole thing comes across as a rather sterile collection of concert performances, as if filmed in an empty television studio. It has a couple of rather tenuous continuing threads that try to hold it together - one features a fellow with an elementary television trying, unsuccessfully usually, to catch some of the performance on his set. The other, has a more contrived Shakesperian theme to it that coupled with a lot of Handley's equally over-cooked links make this all rather a disjointed, and frankly rather staccato film to watch. As a curiosity, it is certainly worth a watch - but mainly just as a bit of nostalgia.

Movie Recommendation

  • Juno and the Paycock
    Juno and the Paycock
    1930-06-29
    During the Irish revolution, a family earns a big inheritance. They start leading a rich life, forgetting what the most important values of life really are. At the end, they discover they will not receive that inheritance; the family is destroyed and penniless. They must sell their home and start living like vagabonds.
    More...
  • My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies
    My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies
    1999-12-01
    On Sept. 28, 1998, some of the greatest divas in musical theater -- including Marin Mazzie, Judy Kuhn and Audra McDonald -- took the stage at New York City's Carnegie Hall to belt out songs that made them famous. Julie Andrews hosted the event. Showstoppers include Liza Minnelli performing "Some People"; Andrea McArdle singing "Look for the Silver Lining" and "Tomorrow"; and Bebe Neuwirth and Karen Ziemba teaming for "Nowadays/Hot Honey Rag." Originally broadcast on PBS's "Great Performances" (season 28, episode 4).
    More...
  • Gunner
    Gunner
    2024-08-16
    While on a camping trip in order to reconnect, war veteran Colonel Lee Gunner must save his two sons from a gang of violent bikers when they're kidnapped after accidentally stumbling upon to a massive drug operation.
    More...
  • The Voyagers
    The Voyagers
    2022-11-21
    Time jump to 1939 with teenager Max and his friends as they try to navigate Mussolini's Rome and find Max's missing brother.
    More...
  • Re - The God of Sun
    Re - The God of Sun
    1970-01-01
    A swarm of slaves in ancient Egypt moves massive boulders to erect a statue of Re, the god of the sun. Erecting impressive structures required knowledge and exact measurements. However, the statue's massive hand falls down and crushes the builders. The statue has been awe-inspiring for many centuries. Meditations on the religious nature of man.
    More...
  • Dune
    Dune
    2020-06-15
    Sounds as witnesses. They blurr into memories, half-dreams, it is undecided if they are real or not. A fluctuation between imagination and reality.
    More...
  • Gone Mom: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos
    Gone Mom: The Disappearance of Jennifer Dulos
    2021-06-05
    Jennifer Dulos, the wealthy, Connecticut mother-of-five who mysteriously vanished.
    More...
  • Cosmic Chaos
    Cosmic Chaos
    2023-08-03
    Battles in virtual reality, survival in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a Soviet spaceship giving a distress signal - Fantastic stories created with advanced special effects and passion.
    More...
  • Unstoppable
    Unstoppable
    2024-12-06
    With the unwavering love and support of his devoted mother Judy and the encouragement of his coaches, Anthony Robles fights through adversity to earn a spot on the Arizona State Wrestling team. But it will demand everything he has, physically and mentally, to achieve his ultimate quest to become an NCAA Champion.
    More...
  • Killing Blues
    Killing Blues
    2023-04-12
    Max, a ruthless fifty-year-old hitman, discovers he has a problem: he now faints at the drop of blood. With his future in the profession in jeopardy, he's going to have to retrain... But not so simple when his only professional skill is to kill people... They are helped by a couple of young neighbors, Karim and Stéphanie, who do not imagine for a moment who they are dealing with... Max becomes attached, in spite of himself, to the young couple, until his past catches up with him.
    More...
  • Terror of Mechagodzilla
    Terror of Mechagodzilla
    1975-03-15
    A submarine expedition to salvage the remains of Mechagodzilla is thwarted by a massive dinosaur named Titanosaurus. An Interpol investigation leads biologist Ichinose to uncover the work of Dr. Mafune and his mysterious daughter Katsura. Aligned with the Black Hole Aliens, Katsura's life becomes entwined with the resurrected machine.
    More...
  • The House on the Dune
    The House on the Dune
    1934-08-03
    In a village on the French-Belgian border, a smuggler named Sylvain falls in love with the pretty Pascaline, which infuriates Germaine, his mistress. The jealous woman reports Sylvain to the police. As a result, the young man gets hurt during a night chase. Fortunately Pascaline offers him hospitality and looks after him.
    More...
  • Re-Cut
    Re-Cut
    2010-01-04
    When twin girls are found dead in their family’s barn, reality star turned TV-reporter Meredith Phillips and her de-facto camera crew are dispatched to rural Wisconsin to investigate the gruesome deaths. In their relentless drive to break the story, the reporters become entangled in a deadly mystery and uncover the small town’s shocking secret. Edited together from the crew’s multiple cameras, the film documents their struggle to survive the most terrifying night of their lives and becomes the only evidence of a crime too horrific to imagine.
    More...
  • The Spy
    The Spy
    2019-10-18
    Sonja Wigert, Scandinavia's most acclaimed female movie star, enlists as a spy for Swedish intelligence but ends up becoming entangled with the German Reichskommissar Terboven.
    More...
  • Consequences
    Consequences
    2018-10-18
    After being sent to a youth detention centre, 18-year-old Andrej has to fight for his place within the group of inmates while getting closer to Željko, their informal leader, and struggling to keep his repressed secret in the dark.
    More...
  • New Beginnings
    New Beginnings
    2023-09-27
    Alain and Diane have been together for 30 years. In his mind, Alain is still 30 years old. But the equation 30 years of routine feelings, empty nest (and incidentally a job where being 50 is like an incurable disease) creates a much less euphoric effect for Diane. She oscillates between depression and free fall - and the first one who says "hormonal" she smokes. Alain loves Diane like crazy and love is proof. He's going to do something crazy for her, something to make her feel vital again, to make her heart beat and youthfulness pulsate. The crazy thing? Leave her. The risk with electroshock ? Unknown: either it wakes up or it burns. They will take it, with their eyes closed.
    More...
  • In a Violent Nature
    In a Violent Nature
    2024-05-31
    The enigmatic resurrection, rampage, and retribution of an undead monster in a remote wilderness unleashes an iconic new killer after a locket is removed from a collapsed fire tower that entombed its rotting corpse.
    More...
  • War
    War
    2023-05-13
    Mini-gladiators locked in an epic battle.
    More...
  • Joy
    Joy
    2024-11-15
    A young nurse, a visionary scientist and an innovative surgeon face opposition from the church, state, media and medical establishment, in their pursuit of the world’s first ‘test tube baby’, Louise Joy Brown.
    More...
  • Son of a Rich 2
    Son of a Rich 2
    2024-01-01
    Grigory, the son of an oligarch, is fully rehabilitated after his humbling experience as a 19th-century serf. Moreover, he develops a strong sense of moral justice. When he meets a pampered young socialite named Katya, he is abhorred by her insolent escapades. Grigory transports Katya “back in time” to teach her a valuable lesson about humility.
    More...

Similar Movies