Look Up and Laugh *** (1935, Gracie Fields, Douglas Wakefield, Harry Tate, Alfred Drayton, Robb Wilton, Tommy Fields, Vivien Leigh) – Classic Movie Review 13,618

The 1935 British comedy film Look Up and Laugh is based on a screenplay by J B Priestley, one of England’s greatest writers, and stars Gracie Fields, Douglas Wakefield and Alfred Drayton.

Producer/ director Basil Dean’s 1935 British comedy film Look Up and Laugh is based on an original screenplay by J B Priestley, one of England’s greatest writers, and stars Gracie Fields, Douglas Wakefield, Harry Tate, Alfred Drayton, Robb Wilton, Tommy Fields, and Vivien Leigh.

Our Gracie gets to chew on a very nice J B Priestley tale about local little market people taking on the might of the big shop chain which wants to shut them down for demolition to make way for a department store. Luckily Gracie’s character Gracie Pearson is a singer comedian music hall star so she gets to trill some tunes. Gracie is offered a London West End singing job, but instead decides to fight to save the market, rallying the market stall keepers.

Amusing comics Alfred Drayton (as shop boss baddie Belfer) and Robb Wilton (as the mayor) are especially worth noticing among the cast.

Notably also there is also Gracie’s brother, pantomime star Tommy Fields, who gets the romantic interest, as Sidney Pearson, with an unimpressive Vivien Leigh (aged 22 and in her second year in the movies), as Marjorie Belfer. And, there is also Kenneth More in his film debut in an uncredited bit part.

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

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,618

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