Public Nuisance No. 1

The stand out section of this musical movie is Frances Day's song about a lost dog. A scene which has nothing to do with the plot such as it is but that is in keeping with the somewhat wacky atmosphere. The whole piece is studio bound although it supposedly takes place in London and Nice. There is no exterior filming and even a couple of transitional establishing shots are toy cars in front of what looks like picture postcards which adds to the theatricality. There are a number of gags when the Arthur Riscoe character directs the camera to move and refers to the watching audience and finally speaks "The End" credit an effect that predates Orson Welles use of spoken credits for "Ambersons" by many years.

All in all Marcel Varnel's direction keeps up a good pace and it's a pleasant way to pass the time savouring the more innocent era of pre-war Britain.