Will Fyffe Movies
- 1948
Director David McDonald adapted the screenplay of The Brothers from a novel by L. A. G. Strong. Set at the turn-of-the-century, the story concerns the feud between two farming families on a remote Western Scottish island. Patricia Roc plays Mary, a serving girl who goes to work for the Macrae clan. This not only causes renewed hostility between the Macrae and the rival McFarish family, but also foments dissension between Macrae brothers Fergus (Maxwell Reed) and John (Duncan Macrae). In a break from tradition, the film substitutes the novel's unhappy ending with an even unhappier one. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Patricia Roc, Will Fyffe, (more)
- 1944
The special appeal of Scots comedian Will Fyffe might be lost to American viewers unable to fathom Fyffe's bog-thick accent. Nonetheless, his "regional" British films of the 1930s and 1940s were extremely popular, and Heaven is Round the Corner is no exception. Fyffe plays a farmhand who, with several of his mates and a handful of opera singers and music-hall performers, show up in newly liberated Paris. When the group "invades" the British Embassy, an impromptu musical programme commences. The title song of Heaven is Round the Corner is rendered by Vera Lynn, the sweetheart of the British army during World War II, whose signature tune "We'll Meet Again" has entered into folklore (not to mention the apocalyptic closing scenes of Dr. Strangelove). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leni Lynn, Will Fyffe, (more)
- 1944
Give Me the Stars is a British comedy aimed squarely at the regional audiences of the 1940s. Lenni Lynn plays an American girl (complete with a line of unconvincing slang) who heads to Scotland on family business. She appoints herself protector of her cranky Scots grandfather (Will Fyffe), who of course is not nearly as helpless as she believes. While tolerably produced, Give Me the Stars rather resembles an elongated music hall sketch. But Will Fyffe was enormously popular, and the film brought in the shillings. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1941
Scottish stage, radio and film favorite Will Fyffe heads the cast of Neutral Port. The star is cast as crusty Captain Ferguson, who is forced to dry-dock his torpedoed ship at the mythical port of Esperanto. Anxious not to injure its neutrality, the country refuses to allow Ferguson to seize a Nazi supply ship as compensation for the loss of his own vessel. But the good captain takes matters into his own hands by stealing not one but two German ships. When these are shot from under him, the captain returns to Esperanto to face the consequences, but chances are he'll be back in business again before the sun sets. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Fyffe, Leslie Banks, (more)
- 1941
Produced by Britain's Teddington Studios on behalf of Hollywood's Warner Bros., the morale-boosting The Prime Minister details the career of 19th century political wizard Benjamin Disraeli, here played by John Gielgud. Filmed in the early months of WW2, the screenplay parallels the diplomatic cunning of Disraeli with the more recent maneuvers of Sir Winston Churchill. This is especially obvious when Disraeli takes on the Prussian Empire during the 1878 Berlin conference, emerging triumphant over a flock of stock-company crypto-fascists. In the role of Queen Victoria, Fay Compton proves a worthy sparring partner for "Dizzy", while Stephen Murray is equally effective as the Prime Minister's principal parliamentary antagonist Gladstone. Other minor roles are vividly realized by actors ranging from venerable Will Fyffe to teenager Glynis Johns. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gielgud, Diana Wynyard, (more)
- 1940
Will Fyffe makes another appearance as Mr. Reeder, the seemingly absent-minded Scotland Yard sleuth created by Edgar Wallace. This time, the canny Reeder is hot on the trail of a counterfeiting gang. In his own disshevelled fashion, he puts the criminals off guard long enough to swoop in for the kill in the final reel. Among the suspects is George Curzon, the eye-twitching murderer from Hitchcock's Young and Innocent. In keeping with his character's essential Britishness, Will Fyffe dispenses with his trademarked Scottish accent in this outing. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Fyffe, Kay Walsh, (more)
- 1940
In this drama, the owner of a newsreel company and his son decide to make a documentary that pays tribute to human accomplishment. Then Hitler conquers Czechoslovakia. After that, the father decides to make a movie about the terrible Nazis. The son refuses to assist and instead escapes to Uruguay. There he films the sabotage and sinking of the German battleship Graf Spee at Montevideo. The movie includes actual war footage. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1940
Based on a play by Barre Lyndon, They Came by Night stars beloved Scottish actor Will Fyffe as jeweler James Fothergill. When a valuable ruby is stolen right from under his nose, Fothergill offers to help Scotland Yard capture the crooks. To do this, he pretends to go crooked himself, the better to join the gang. For a while, it seems as though Fothergill really has gone over to the "other side", but this illusion is dispelled in the pulse-pounding bank-robbery finale. They Came by Night was released in the US by 20th Century-Fox, and directed by one of that studio's most talented contractees, Harry Lachman. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phyllis Calvert, Anthony Hulme, (more)
- 1939
Long after the company went out of business in the US, Grand National Pictures thrived in England, turning out such bread-and-butter features as The Missing People. Scottish comedian Will Fyffe once again plays Mr. Reeder, the seemingly bucolic Scotland Yard detective who's a lot shrewder than he appears. In this one, Mr. Reeder tackles the case of 27 missing persons, all of whom had been receiving remittance checks from their wealthy families. With beefy, bushy-eyebrowed Lyn Harding in the cast, it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out who's behind the disappearances. Future star Patricia Roc has a key supporting role in this easygoing who- and why-dunit. The Missing People was based on a story by Edgar Wallace, who despite the fact that he died in 1932 was well represented on the British screen for the next four decades. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Fyffe, Kay Walsh, (more)
- 1939
In the 1830s, despite the development of the steamboat at the outset of the 19th century, all trans-Atlantic travel was still done by sailing ships. David Gillespie (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) is first mate on one of the fastest of such ships, commanded by Captain Oliver (George Bancroft), but he is sickened and wary of the loss of life of sailing men caused by the limitations of sail. He meets John Shaw (Will Fyffe), a Liverpool-based machinist who insists that he has a design for an engine and a ship that will allow safe trans-Atlantic travel by steam power, and the two go into partnership -- but Gillespie must contend with the resistance of Shaw's headstrong and skeptical daughter, Mary (Margaret Lockwood), as well as the resistance of bankers and other shipbuilders to the new ideas he represents. All of this pleases Mary, who, despite her love of her father and attraction to Gillespie, regards herself as practical-minded and wants her father safely back working for his old employer on a steady salary, instead of pursuing what she regards as impossible goals. Gillespie gets the backing and Shaw builds his engine, but his ship is burned in an accidental fire, and all looks lost until a sympathetic backer proposes fitting the engine to an existing vessel, and suddenly Shaw is a real threat to the shipping establishment. They try to stop him in the courts, and when that fails, the race is on from Liverpool to New York, between Shaw's steam-powered ship and Gillespie's sail-driven former ship, with Mary aboard to look out for her father and Gillespie, and the future of ocean travel in the balance. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Margaret Lockwood, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., (more)
- 1938
Owd Bob is a remake of the silent film of the same name, which in turn was based on a story by Alfred Olivant. Dominating the storyline is crusty Scottish farmer McAdam (Will Fyffe), who carries on several simultaneous feuds with his neighbors. McAdam is particularly antagonistic towards young David Moore (John Loder), newly arrived from Derbyshire. It's bad enough that Moore is sweet on McAdam's pretty daughter Jeannie (Margaret Lockwood); but when Moore enters his sheep dog Owd Bob in an annual contest that has always been won by McAdam's prize pooch Black Wull, it's too much to bear. An unexpected tragedy softens McAdam to the extent that he finally accepts Moore as a worthy son-in-law. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Fyffe, John Loder, (more)
- 1937
In this comedy, an American businessman gets into trouble and heads for England to stay out of jail. He and his faithful secretary end up in a Scottish mansion where the owner and the businessman try to outdo one another. In the end, the American's son ends up marrying the mansion owner's daughter. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Fyffe
- 1937
The daughter of a mill-owner (Mary Lawson) is sent undercover to the mill of a rival, where she gets mixed up in romantic antics. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1936
In this anti-war drama, set in England during its Depression, a demobilized major from WW I, tries to a veteran's reunion that is to include soldiers from all sides of the conflict. To do this, the major loses everything to no avail. Just as the despairing pacifist is about to end his life, an old army orderly, now a noncommissioned officer appears, cheers him up, and helps make his dream become reality. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
A robbery committed by gambler Fitzgerald is claimed by his friend Banks while the two are stationed at an African outpost. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1936
Annie Laurie bears little resemblance to the old Scottish ballad, but does serve as a suitable vehicle for Scots character actor Will Fyffe. Burr-accented Fyffe plays Will Laurie, a humble merchant who is the adoptive father of attractive Annie (Annie Laurie). She wants to escape her near-poverty environs and find success on the stage. Annie becomes a star dancer in London musical reviews, but fame means nothing without dead old Dad by her side. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1936
When a king suddenly abdicates, his subjects are lead to believe that it is for the love of a foreigner in this romance. In reality, he is stepping down so avaricious businessmen can crown their own man king. The deposed monarch spends his exile on the Riviera, while the woman, filled with guilt because he stepped down for her, lives in Holland. Interestingly enough, Edward VIII the King of England abdicated for the love of American woman Wallis Simpson a few weeks after this British film was released. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clive Brook, Helen Vinson, (more)
- 1936
In this comedy, an aristocratic fellow encounters opposition from his mother after he falls in love with a lowly waitress. To stop the affair, the meddlesome matriarch gets the girl fired, and then tries bribing her father into helping her bust up the happy couple. Unfortunately, the woman's wealth and power do not interest the simple stevedore. He cares only for his daughter's happiness and therefore helps them in every way he can. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1934
Too expensive for a "quota quickie" but not quite costly enough to qualify as an "A" picture, Happy is a shapeless but generally satisfying vehicle for several of England's top music-hall attractions. Stanley Lupino (Ida's dad) and Laddie Cliff star as Frank and George, a pair of nightclub musicians living in an attic owned by irascible Scotsman Simmy (Will Fyffe). Hoping to get rich quick, Frank invents a device that, when attached to an automobile, will immediately alert the police if the car is stolen. A millionaire car manufacturer is interested in the device, but agrees to purchase it only after his pretty daughter falls in love with Frank. Balking at the idea of marrying the girl for her money and influence, Frank nearly throws away his chance for true happiness, but it's all smiles and happy songs at the end. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Stanley Lupino, Laddie Cliff, (more)
