Some of the best British Music Hall ( Vaudeville ) acts get a chance to perform in this nostalgic trip down memory lane. The Sherman Fisher girls dance to a lively tune. Pat Hyde, radio's schoolgirl sweetheart and talented accordionist, treats us to a jolly version of A Shanty in Old Shanty Town, and Pat O'Brien ( not the Hollywood actor ) is the singer who delights us with a few bars of That Old Fashioned Mother of Mine, guaranteed to bring a tear to the eye. Worth a mention is The Act Superb, specialists in tableaux vivants. The motionless representations by living persons in costume is all the more remarkable because this act has, in addition to the two humans, two very well trained dogs and a horse no less, all made up in white powder so as to appear like porcelain statues in various poses, each lasting 20 seconds. Sadly, not all the turns are at their best. The Mother Riley bit of business is drawn out and only mildly amusing. Here Robb Wilton does his perplexed policeman, but can be much funnier as the frustrated fireman. Nevertheless the film has a quaint charm and is an excellent insight into what was popular entertainment for the working class folk at their local Empire theatre before the days of television.
Review of Stars on Parade
