Looking on the Bright Side ** (1931, Gracie Fields, Richard Dolman) – Classic Movie Review 13,616

The 1931 British musical comedy film Looking on the Bright Side stars Gracie Fields and Richard Dolman as lovers who form a musical act, but he runs off with a glamorous actress.

Directors Basil Dean and Graham Cutts’s 1931 British musical comedy film Looking on the Bright Side stars Gracie Fields and Richard Dolman.

Manicurist Gracie (Gracie Fields) loves songsmith Laurie (Richard Dolman) and they form a musical act with Gracie singing and Laurie writing the songs. But Laurie leaves her and runs off after a glamorous actress when his career takes off. Gracie is then fired, gets a job as a fair cop, before showbiz success calls her too.

This dawn-of-sound musical comedy is an early, mild Fields vehicle (only her second film, following her huge success in Sally in Our Alley), lifted with a few pleasant songs and its jolly performances.

Fields is vivacious and engaging, but Dolman is a bit on the drippy side. But then it’s Fields’s show and she makes the most of it.

Fields made only 15 films between 1931 and 1945. But in 1956, she was the first actress to play Miss Marple on screen, in a US tv production of Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced for Goodyear Playhouse.

The cast are Gracie Fields, Richard Dolman, Julian Rose, Wyn Richmond, Tony De Lungo, Betty Shale, Viola Compton, Charles Farrell, and Bettina Montahners.

Looking on the Bright Side is released on the four-disc, seven-film Gracie Fields collector’s edition DVD with Sally in Our Alley (1931), Love, Life and Laughter (1934), Sing As We Go (1934), Look Up and Laugh (1935), Queen of Hearts (1936) and The Show Goes On (1937).

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,616

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