Carry On Faces in Different Places: Davy

Here we go with a brand new series of blogs looking at some of the cream of British comedy film making from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Although this blog is all about the Carry Ons, believe it or not, there were some other joyous comedy films made away from Peter Rogers Productions. However, given the quality of the actors Peter employed to make his series, it's no wonder that most of them popped up elsewhere.

So far I've looked at the wonderful 1959 crime caper Too Many Crooks , the 1954 domestic comedy starring Dirk Bogarde, For Better For Worse , the big screen spin off Please Sir! and the wonderful Up Pompeii and the brilliant John Gregson and Diana Dors vehicle, Value for Money.
  
More recently I blogged about the Sid James and Kenneth Connor comedy horror What A Carve Up! and just last week I blogged about the Gordon Jackson drama, Floodtide

Today I'm going to blog about the 1958 comedy film, Davy.

 

Who's in it?

Davy stars Goon Show legend Harry Secombe as the title character, Davy Morgan, with able support from Alexander Knox as Sir Giles Manning, Ron Randell as George and Isabel Dean as Helen Carstairs.

Carry On Faces?

Several! Carry On original Bill Owen has a starring role as Eric while future fellow Carry On Nurse actress Susan Shaw also stars as Gwen. Carry On favourites and lifelong best friends Joan Sims and Liz Fraser (here billed as Elizabeth Fraser) play a couple of tea ladies alongside reliable character actress Gladys Henson.

Also look out for Carry On great Kenneth Connor in the role of Herbie and George Moon (who played small roles in Carry On Camping and Carry On Dick and is the father of actress Georgia Moon - Camping and Behind) plays Jerry. And keep your eyes peeled for an uncredited appearance from future national treasure Bernard Cribbins as a stage hand at the Collins Music Hall!

What's it about?

A young entertainer is conflicted over the chance of a big break. He has to decide whether to remain with his family's music hall act or to go solo. An audition scene at Covent Garden includes an especially fine rendition of Puccini's Nessun Dorma by Secombe, who, while known mainly as a comedian, had a fine tenor voice, and Mozart's Voi Che Sapete performed by opera singer Adele Leigh.

Did you know?

Davy was the very last comedy film to be made by the legendary Ealing Film Studios.

It was also the first British film to be made using Technirama, an alternative to Cinemascope.

The film was an attempt to turn Harry Secombe into a movie star, however it was only a modest success despite its sterling supporting cast and failed to perform well overseas.

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram