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Britannia of Billingsgate

The owner of a fish-and-chips shop in the Billingsgate area of London harbors a secret ambition: to become a movie star. It turns out that she has a beautiful singing voice, and when that fact comes to the attention of a movie studio, it begins to turn her and her family's lives upside down.

Top Cast

  • Violet Loraine

    Violet Loraine

    Bessie Bolton

  • Gordon Harker

    Gordon Harker

    Bert Bolton

  • Kay Hammond

    Kay Hammond

    Pearl Bolton

  • John Mills

    John Mills

    Fred Bolton

  • Drusilla Wills

    Drusilla Wills

    Mrs. Wigglesworth

  • Walter Sondes

    Walter Sondes

    Harold Hogarth

  • Glennis Lorimer

    Glennis Lorimer

    Maud

  • Anthony Holles

    Anthony Holles

    Guidobaldi

  • Joyce Kirby

    Joyce Kirby

    Joan

Overview

The owner of a fish-and-chips shop in the Billingsgate area of London harbors a secret ambition: to become a movie star. It turns out that she has a beautiful singing voice, and when that fact comes to the attention of a movie studio, it begins to turn her and her family's lives upside down.

Rating

7.0 / 10
3 Reviews
0 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    6 Aug 29, 2022

    This is actually quite a cheery little feature that sees fish and chip shop owner "Bessie" (established theatre star Violet Loraine) aspire to become a film star. Fat chance thinks you! Well, as it happens she has a decent enough singing voice and when she is "discovered" by a local studio, her life with family "Bert" (Gordon Harker), "Pearl" (Kay Hammond) and "Fred" (John Mills) is suddenly all topsy-turvy. What makes this a little more memorable is that it demonstrates to an audience just how films were put together then - the filming, audio, lighting - and film was expensive stuff so much of this was live! Harker and Loraine have a conviviality to their characters that lends well to the gentle comedy very much of it's time: an amiable English combination of stoicism and opportunity - with a solid supporting cast. It has a charm to it this. That doesn't make it memorable or really even very good, but it had a job to do in 1930s Britain and I suspect it did it well enough to pack out the houses for eighty minutes on a Saturday afternoon.

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