Look Up and Laugh

Look Up and Laugh is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Basil Dean and starring Gracie Fields, Alfred Drayton and Douglas Wakefield.^[1] The film is notable for featuring an appearance by Vivien Leigh in an early supporting role.^[2]

Look Up and Laugh
Directed by	Basil Dean
Written by	J. B. Priestley Gordon Wellesley
Produced by	Basil Dean
Starring	Gracie Fields Alfred Drayton Douglas Wakefield Vivien Leigh
Cinematography	Robert Martin
Edited by	Jack Kitchin
Music by	Ernest Irving
Production company	Associated Talking Pictures
Distributed by	ABFD (UK)
Release date	June 1935 (1935-06)
Running time	80 minutes
Language	English

Plot

Gracie Pearson (Fields) is a singer/comedian who returns home to enjoy a little holiday, but there is trouble brewing. First, she has to use all of her hard-earned money to pay for part of what her brother owes to a money lender. Then when they go to see their father, they find he has collapsed due to the Plumborough Market (where he has a stall) is threatened with demolition to make way for a department store. She receives a telegram offering a West End singing job, but decides to try to save the market instead.

As time runs out, Gracie rallies the stall keepers together through a series of ever more hilarious schemes in their attempts to save their livelihoods.

Cast

• Gracie Fields as Gracie Pearson
• Vivien Leigh as Marjorie Belfer
• Douglas Wakefield as Joe Chirk
• Alfred Drayton as Belfer
• Billy Nelson as Alf Chirk
• Harry Tate as Turnpenny
• Huntley Wright as Ketley
• Robb Wilton as Mayor
• Morris Harvey as Rosenbloom
• Maud Gill as Miss Canvey
• Norman Walker as Brierley
• Tommy Fields as Sidney Pearson
• Helen Ferrers as Lady Buster
• Kenneth Kove as Piano Assistant
• D. J. Williams as Malpas

Uncredited:

• Frank Atkinson as Debt Collector
• Florence Gregson as Mr. Pearson's Housekeeper
• Arthur Hambling as Sam
• James Harcourt as Mr. Pearson
• Anthony Holles as Store Manager
• Mike Johnson as Man Outside Market
• Jack Melford as Journalist
• Kenneth More as Bit Part
• Ernest Sefton as Borough Engineer

Reception

Writing for The Spectator, Graham Greene described the film as "light [with] a pleasant local flavour" the plot of which is "genuinely provincial". Greene praised Priestley's writing and opined that the film distinguishes itself "by the sense that a man's observation and experience, as well as his invention, has gone into its making".^[3]

Home media

This film was released as part of the Gracie Fields collector's edition which also includes the films Sally in Our Alley (1931), Looking on the Bright Side (1932), Love, Life and Laughter (1934), Sing As We Go (1934), Queen of Hearts and The Show Goes On (1937), these are on 4 discs. Two films each on three of the discs with the other film on disc four.^[4]