Hey! Hey! USA

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Hey! Hey! USA

| image = "Hey!_Hey!_USA"_(1938).jpg

| caption =

| director = Marcel Varnel

| producer = Michael Balcon

| writer = J. O. C. Orton

| narrator =

| starring = Will Hay
Edgar Kennedy
Edmon Ryan
David Burns

| music = Charles Williams

| cinematography = Arthur Crabtree

| editing = R. E. Dearing

| distributor = Gainsborough Pictures

| released = {{film date|df=yes|1938|10}}

| runtime = 88 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Hey! Hey! USA is a 1938 British comedy film starring comedian Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy and Eddie Ryan.{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7261ef47 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711234709/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b7261ef47 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-11 |title=Hey! Hey! U.S.A.! | Bfi | Bfi |publisher=Explore.bfi.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2014-02-26}} Hay appears as Benjamin Twist, a porter who accidentally finds himself on a ship bound for the United States. The film features an early appearance by child actor Roddy McDowall, before he went to live in America.{{cite web|url=http://skymovies.sky.com/hey-hey-usa/review |title=Hey! Hey! USA - Sky Movies HD |publisher=Skymovies.sky.com |date=2002-05-23 |accessdate=2014-02-25 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140301171852/http://skymovies.sky.com/hey-hey-usa/review |archivedate=1 March 2014 |df=dmy-all }}

Plot outline

Benjamin Twist, a teacher working during school holidays as a ship's porter ends up on a ship bound for America and impersonating a professor, Phineas Tavistock. Along with American gangster and stowaway Bugs Leary (Edgar Kennedy), Twist finds himself entangled in a plot to kidnap the son of a millionaire whom 'Professor' Tavistock is teaching. Things are further complicated by the fact that two sets of gangsters are attempting to get their hands on the ransom money, which Twist is given to hand over.

Cast

Production

The film was one of several Ted Black produced with Will Hay at Gainsborough.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-moguls-ted-black/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=1 December 2024|access-date=1 December 2024|title=Forgotten British Film Moguls: Ted Black}}

Critical reception

Sky Movies wrote, "incomparable Will Hay reprises his splendidly shifty Dr Benjamin Twist character (the incompetent headmaster of St Michael's) in this breezy British comedy set in a quaintly observed America full of gun-toting gangsters. Comic stalwart Edgar Kennedy provides slow-burning support under the direction of Marcel Varnel, the dapper Frenchman who made most of Hay's biggest successes. "

Bibliography

  • Slide, Anthony. 'Banned in the USA': British Films in the United States and their Censorship, 1933-1960. I.B. Tauris & Co, 1998.

References