Elstree Calling

1930 1h 23m EN

😐

5.0

MID

★5.0TMDB · 23

MusicComedy

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A series of 19 musical and comedy "vaudeville" sketches presented in the form of a live television broadcast hosted by Tommy Handley (as himself).

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Tommy Handley
The Host
Teddy Brown
Himself
Donald Calthrop
Himself / Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew
Jack Hulbert
Himself
Helen Burnell
Herself
The Three Eddies
Themselves
Lily Morris
Herself
Will Fyffe
Himself

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writers: Val Valentine, Walter C. Mycroft, Adrian Brunel
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

RUNTIME

Did you know

83 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

ERA

Did you know

96 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, shot by Claude Friese-Greene. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor A.C. Hammond shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Tommy Handley and Teddy Brown and Donald Calthrop carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0020852 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Alfred Hitchcock directs. Claude Friese-Greene behind the camera. A.C. Hammond cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

183 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
296 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, shot by Claude Friese-Greene. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Editor A.C. Hammond shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Tommy Handley and Teddy Brown and Donald Calthrop carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt0020852 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
8Classified under 10 themes, including "tap dancing", "black and white", "vaudeville", "blackface".

The technical file

Cinematography: Claude Friese-Greene
Editing: A.C. Hammond
Runtime: 83 min · 1h 23m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): U
IMDB: Elstree Calling (1930)

Also by

Alfred Hitchcock

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-08-29
★ 5/10
A distinctly off-form Tommy Handley introduces this rather curious piece of cinematic entertainment that features a variety of stars from the British stage at the end of the 1920s. The mixture of musical, comedy and magical turns illustrates well just quite how a real pot-pourri of acts took to the stage in theatres up and down the UK - but there is no audience. Without the engagement, even applause, from those watching the whole thing comes across as a rather sterile collection of concert performances, as if filmed in an empty television studio. It has a couple of rather tenuous continuing threads that try to hold it together - one features a fellow with an elementary television trying, unsuccessfully usually, to catch some of the performance on his set. The other, has a more contrived Shakesperian theme to it that coupled with a lot of Handley's equally over-cooked links make this all rather a disjointed, and frankly rather staccato film to watch. As a curiosity, it is certainly worth a watch - but mainly just as a bit of nostalgia.

Production companies