Sing As We Go

Sing As We Go is a 1934 British musical film starring Gracie Fields and Stanley Holloway. The script was written by Gordon Wellesley and J. B. Priestley; it was directed by Basil Dean.

Considered by many to be British music hall star Gracie Fields' finest vehicle, this film was written for her by leading novelist J.B. Priestley. A morale-boosting depression movie, set in the industrial north of England, Fields stars as a resourceful, spunky working class heroine, laid off from her job in a clothing mill, who has to seek work in the seaside resort of Blackpool. This gives her the opportunity both to fall into many misadventures, and of course, to sing.

The decision to film on location brings the film a life and immediacy all too absent from most films of the period. The film provides us with a snapshot of life in a seaside resort in the 1930s. The final scene of the millworkers returning to the re-opened mill while Fields leads them in the rousing title song, has become an almost iconic film cliché.

In his History of Modern Britain, Andrew Marr summarized Sing As We Go as an icon of British pop culture of the 1930s, concluding: "Fairy tale or not, this is probably the worst film I have ever seen."

In popular culture

• The main theme of this movie, the song "Sing As We Go" (written by Harry Parr Davies), was used by the comedy group Monty Python in a song that had the same melody but different lyrics, called "Sit on My Face".
• The main theme of this movie, the song "Sing As We Go" (written by Harry Parr Davies), is one of two signature songs of The Kampen Janitsjarorkester Symphonic Band (The Kampen Band) of Oslo Norway.

External links

Sing As We Go at the Internet Movie Database