Trouble in the Air (1948) User Reviews

Comedy At Speed

[boblipton · 5/10 · 3 September 2019]

Stock characters, stock situations, stock shtick performed at top speed, resulting in random results, except for journeys ending in lovers meeting. That's what we have here as Freddy Frinton, lone remaining manservant to broke baronet Malcolm Russell, helps his master not be swindled by crooked real estate agent Laurence Naismith and two smarmy City types who sings sentimental songs in swing time at random moments. There's also Jimmy Edwards to set off a subplot in involving a bell-ringing team; Joyce Golding, reciting "The Charge of the Light Brigade" with a stammer, stutter and Tourette's syndrome.

It's the stage humor of eighty years ago, transferred here to screen, that had become as stylized -- I'm tempted to write "ossified" -- as Noh drama or the B western. Audiences came to see Freddie Frinton playing the comic retainer, just as they came to hear Gracie Fields singing "The Biggest Aspidistra in the World", Abbott & Costello do "Who's on First," or the Rolling Stones sing "Satisfaction." I am told that to this day, you can't turn on German or Austrian TV on New Year's and watch anything but Frinton in TABLE FOR ONE. Of course, you'd like to hear them do it on stage, but the farceurs are dead. Except, of course, on film and on German TV on New Year's Day, where you can still admire the expert timing and pratfalls.

Average Post-War British Quota Quickee

[sep1051 · 4/10 · 30 October 2001]

This comedy centers on the aging butler (Freddie Frinton as Fred Somers)to a poor somewhat befuddled country squire (Malcolm Russell as Sir Charles Newdigate). The butler must beg, borrow or steal to keep food on the table and the bailiff from the door. On the scene comes a BBC producer (Jimmy Edwards as B. Barrington Crockett) who wants to feature local bell ringers, including the butler and squire, on his radio program. A local wheeler dealer (Laurence Naismith as Tom Hunt) schemes to buy the squire's land before a roadway increases its value tenfold. Naturally, the butler's garage owning son (Dennis Vance as Larry Somers) falls in love with the squire's visiting niece from Australia (Stella Henderson as April Newdigate).

This is enough plot to fill the hour or so running time. However the plot is extremely predictable and the characters are strictly one dimensional. The relationship between the butler and the squire is more maudlin than the intended heart warming. Presumably the film was intended to exploit local fame of comic Frinton and post war popularity of Edwards. Unfortunately neither is a good actor, with Frinton mugging through his role and Edwards, despite a more showy and entertaining role, is essentially "one note" (when you hear his high giggle for the tenth time it begins to lose its charm).

Overall this is a modestly entertaining British quota quickee intended for local viewers more familiar with the principals. It is perhaps most suited for those of us with a soft spot for English comedy and its assortment of character people.

Forgotten stats in a forgotten film

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 29 November 2019]

Jimmy Edwards and Freddie Frinton both had successful tv shows in the early years of tv.Frinton played drunks,which he also plays here.This is one of the Rank charm school films and has little to recommend it.

Enough laughs to pass the brief running time in this frenetic comedy.

[mark.waltz · 4/10 · 9 May 2020]

In what is essentially a live-action cartoon, this British farce is enjoyable but unbelievable and overly concentrating on laughs rather than story and characterization.

This is for people who want to see a voice that is a combination of Inspector Clouseau and Porky Pig, hysterically voiced by Joe Pertwee. The story focuses on the penniless aristocrat Jimmy Edwards and his frustrated butler, Freddie Frinton, determine to hide from their creditors and utilize every opportunity they have to make some money.

Frinton goes out of his way at every turn to keep Edwards from getting into bad deals, and at a fancy dinner party where Edwards nearly signs away the property he owns, Frinton gets constantly kicked in the head as tries to had his boss a note indicating not to sign. Above him, one of the guests keeps getting slapped because Frinton keeps accidentally touching a woman's leg and the dinner party ends in complete disaster. Later on, an attempt to record a BBC radio broadcast also results in humerus disaster where everything that can go wrong will go wrong.

A romantic subplot is boring, but there are some amusing character performances, particularly by Joyce Goldoling, a local shopkeeper who tries to recite"The Charge of the Light Brigade" even though she has a hideous stutter. This is basically an extended short, containing very little serious plot yeti filled with gags that will provide a few laughs here and there, particularly for those who have any interest in old fashioned farce.

Hilarious farce!

[JohnHowardReid · 8/10 · 21 November 2011]

A slapstick farce rendered quite agreeable by some particularly personable acting. Freddie Frinton is an absolute howl, his run-ins with Malcolm Russell's impoverished employer really hilarious. Many of the situations and characters in the movie are remarkably similar to "Don't Take It To Heart". Lawrence Naismith does effectively by the Alfred Drayton role, whilst Stella Hamilton is attractive in the Patricia Medina spot.

By Highbury's humble standards, production values are quite lavish. Technical credits are more than capable too. One wonders how the studio hoped to get back their money on a "B" feature of this extravagance. (P.S. They didn't).

Although billed as the star, Jimmy Edwards is not the main attraction in this delightful farce. Yes, Jimmy is amusing certainly, but he is both upstaged and outclassed by the fantastically funny Freddie Frinton who manages to excel even Edward Rigby's brilliant portrait in "Don't Take It To Heart". In the Brefni O'Rorke role, Malcolm Russell is very sharp indeed. And there are some wonderfully bucolic support characterizations by such as Joyce Golding. In a small guest spot, Bill Owen partners Sam Costa as a spiv.