Squibs *** (1935, Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker, Stanley Holloway) – Classic Movie Review 13,609

The 1935 British musical comedy film Squibs stars ‘Britain’s Queen of Happiness’ Betty Balfour in a sound remake of her 1921 silent movie, along with amusing Gordon Harker and Stanley Holloway.

Director Henry Edwards’s 1935 British musical comedy film Squibs stars the vivacious Betty Balfour in a sound remake of her 1921 silent movie, along with the always amusing Gordon Harker and Stanley Holloway.

Betty Balfour plays London Cockney flower seller Amelia ‘Squibs’ Hopkins, who plans to wed copper Constable Charley Lee (Stanley Holloway), but her dad Sam Hopkins (Gordon Harker) opposes the marriage because he is involved in crooked investing. He loses loadsamoney and then she gets lucky with the sweepstake fortune, winning the love lottery as well as the actual lottery.

This simple, good-natured entertainment is adapted from a stage play by Clifford Seyler and George Pearson, and 1920s silent films that also starred the popular Balfour. Three very entertaining star performances from the sweet cast keep the old-style laughs still fresh and lively in this 1930s heart-warmer comedy.

Squibs was first made with silent film star Betty Balfour in 1921, with three silent sequels to follow. Here in 1935, Betty Balfour returns to the title role once again a welcome sound remake of the 1921 film in this nice old musical comedy made by Twickenham Film Studios for release by Gaumont British Distributors.

Like it star, it is a throwback to an earlier era, but there are no damp squibs here. Balfour is vivacious and charming, and her popular co-stars are expertly, seemingly effortlessly amusing, all three giving good workouts of their long-practised turns.

The now forgotten Betty Balfour was the most successful British film actress of the 1920s. Known as ‘Britain’s Queen of Happiness’, she was thought of as the UK’s answer to Mary Pickford. Her 1923 lost silent film Love, Life and Laughter was discovered in November 2012 in a collection of film cans that belonged to a local cinema in the small town of Hattem, near Zwolle, Netherlands. She also starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s Champagne (1928) and supported Jessie Matthews in Evergreen (1934).

Cast: Betty Balfour as Amelia ‘Squibs’ Hopkins, Gordon Harker as Sam Hopkins, Stanley Holloway as Constable Charley Lee, Margaret Yarde as Mrs. Lee, Morris Harvey as Inspector Lee, Michael Shepley as Colin Barratt, Drusilla Wills as Mrs. Parker, O B Clarence as Sir John Barratt, Ronald Shiner as Bill, Thomas Weguelin as Alf, Henryetta Edwards as Susan, Olive Sloane as Barmaid, Vivienne Chatterton, William Daunt, Aubrey Fitzgerald.

Squibs is directed by Henry Edwards, runs 77 minutes, is made by Real Art Productions and Twickenham Film Studios, is released by Gaumont British Distributors, is written by Michael Hogan and H Fowler Mear, is shot in black and white by Sydney Blythe, is produced by Julius Hagen, is scored by W L Trytel, and is designed by James A. Carter.

Release: June 1935.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,609

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