A Political Party

Wasn't the 1930s a simpler time? Sure, there are plenty of thinly-veiled political motifs running through this brilliant black and white comedy yet the general uncomplicated nature of the film is endearing from the opening scene of a baker and chimney sweep not-so-hard at work. If you're into your slapstick comedy then I can't recommend this enough, it has all the charm of the Marx Brothers with a distinctly British outlook.

There's the time-old tale of the class war and the brash stereotypes are exactly the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a film such as this, as are the poor attempt at a Yorkshire (or general Northern) accent. Seriously, Bill's wife is considerably posher in real life and I couldn't help but get fussy about this when she was on a screen. Moving swiftly on, though times may have considerably changed since the film was originally released it still bears a significant cultural resemblance to our current political system – if you're so inclined to look at it as a case of 'us vs them'.

The final few throws of the dice seem a little rushed yet I'm actually quite fond of the swift resolution as anyone that's ever seen a film before can guess how this one is going to end, therefore not spending any higher percentage of time sway to and fro about who's going to win the election probably means that they were able to add in a few more gags and scenes that were purely for entertainment purposes as opposed to furthering the plot. 

Leslie Fuller has you eating out of the palm of his hand as he commands every scene and plays a more honest, humourous politician than we're ever likely to see in the real world. He's right you know…

'A Political Party' is out now on DVD as part of Network’s ‘The British Film’ collection.