Could have been done as a short subject in and of itself. Lots of laughs in this one and check out the scene where the dogs invade Parker's house. But the ending couldn't have been better done by Frank Capra himself. Of course being the oaf he is with his ego out of joint, Parker keeps escalating this storm in a teacup until it's a nationwide issue. This was an early film for both and the megastardom that was destined for both is apparent. Harrison who was going to do a puff piece as we would now call it, is outraged enough to write what occurred.Ĭomplicating things is the fact that Harrison's fallen big time for Parker's daughter, Vivien Leigh. As she's begging, he throws her into the street. While being interviewed by reporter Rex Harrison, Sara Allgood who's a poor widow who can't afford the money for a dog license has her dog taken by Parker's police to be put to death as a stray. Parker is also a fatuous, arrogant oaf with the public relations sense of an ostrich. Parker's an efficient manager who's come to the attention of party bigwigs who want to run him in a bi-election for an open seat in Parliament. Rex Harrison could easily be James Stewart, standing up for good.Ĭecil Parker is the provost (Mayor?) of a small Scottish town called Baikie way in the rural north. Certainly Cecil Parker as the town provost could easily have fit into a Capra film, a Mr. I agree with the previous reviewer that this British film is an attempt by them to produce a Frank Capra like populist comedy. Reviewed by bkoganbing 8 / 10 Very Amusing Indeed The likeness of the two characters is amazing. *Speaking of Parker, he looked, sounded and acted almost exactly like David Horton (David Waldhorn). It also helped that Cecil Parker was WONDERFUL as the buffoon politician. The dialog is GREAT and Harrison is at his best. Another problem is that Burdon soon falls in love with the Provost's daughter (Vivian Leigh)-and this relationship is surely doomed! This is a delightful film-sort of like a droll and British version of a screwball comedy. Instead of helping, Provost Gow is completely unsympathetic and cruel-and vows to have the old lady's dog put to sleep!! Burdon is horrified and angry-how dare this local political boss mistreat his constituents like this! So he does what any honest reporter would do-he publishes the truth! This is a serious problem, though, as the paper was backing the Provost AND the Provost wasn't about to back down. This is because during the interview, Gow and Burden are interrupted by a local woman (Sara Allgood) who is begging the Provost to help her. Although Provost Gow (Cecil Parker)* wants to run for parliament, he does a horrible job of impressing the reporter. When a young reporter, Frank Burdon (Rex Harrison), is given an assignment to interview a rather nasty and self-important local politician, it turns out to be very unpleasant. But at the same time, Burdon and Gow's daughter Victoria (Vivien Leigh) are falling in love. Both are decent men, but a little too proud to back down, and the battle escalates into a criminal case. He sees Gow being high-handed to a woman who can't afford to license her dog, and decides to run that story instead of the expected puff piece. He's told to interview local politician William Gow (Cecil Parker), then left in charge of the paper overnight. Frank Burdon (Sir Rex Harrison) is a new reporter on a small-town Scottish paper.
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