Betty Balfour Movies

The old H. V. Esmond stage play Eliza Comes to Stay proved a perfect vehicle for British screen sweetheart Betty Balfour. Wearing huge, owlish glasses, Balfour plays orphaned Eliza Vandan, who finds herself the ward of wealthy Sandy Verrall (Seymour Hicks). This comes as quite a jolt to old man Verrall, who'd been led to believe that Eliza was a little baby. Once the two protagonists have adjusted to one another, Eliza and Verrall find that they can't live without each other. Originally set during WWI, Eliza Comes to Stay has been updated to the 1930s, allowing for a brief nightclub number featuring popular entertainers Diana Ward and Nelson Keys. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This war movie is set on the high-seas during WWI. It chronicles the exploits of a brave English sailor who is captured by a German cruiser. The courageous sailor, the bastard of a RN officer, soon escapes from the German ship. He also steals a rifle. He hides on the shore and begins taking pot-shots at the Germans. Due to his marksmanship, the ship's journey is delayed. While the Germans are hunting for him, the British ships sneak up and sink the enemy boat. Unfortunately the brave sailor is killed. He becomes a hero and the British erect a cross on the highest point on the island to commemorate the young hero. The commander of the British ship is disturbed to discover that the dead hero was the son he denied having. This drama is considered to be a landmark British film; it is the first to utilize the actual Royal Navy and it's ships. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The old Ben W. Levy war-horse play Evergreen proved to be an excellent film vehicle from British music-comedy star Jessie Matthews. Our heroine plays a popular music hall thrush of the early 1900s, whose impending marriage into nobility is destroyed by the arrival of her long-thought-dead lover. When the latter demands "hush money," Matthews disappears from public view, but not before leaving her infant daughter in the care of her maid. Flash-forward to 1924: the daughter, also played by Matthews, is seeking work as a chorus dancer. An old associate of Matthews' mother, amazed at the resemblance between the two women, decides to pass her off as her long-lost parent, making a big publicity fuss over her "ageless" beauty. The younger Matthews confesses the ruse when she falls in love with a man who claims to be the older Matthews' son. Are you following all this, or do you need a road map? Anyway, if you catch a complete print of Evergreen, you'll be able to enjoy five songs performed by Jessie Matthews, one of them by no less than Rodgers and Hart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Betty Balfour, who seemingly starred in every third movie made in London during 1930, heads the cast of The Vagabond Queen. The diminutive heroine plays a serving girl who poses as a princess, a harmless deception that blossoms into big-time trouble when she's forced to go through the coronation. Adding to Balfour's travails is the presence of a comic-strip assassin who intends to bump off Her Royal Highness. Luckily, the heroine's boyfriend comes to the rescue, but for a while he's more hindrance than help. Many of the best gags, including a cute jibe at bargain-basement department stores, have next to nothing to do with the plot proper. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this musical, an amiable rich boy takes charge of a failing musical revue. His father disapproves of the venture and hires the show's star to ruin the production. Fortunately, another cast member is on the young man's side and convinces the fellow's manipulative father to let the boy give the show a go. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A wealthy man pretends he is bankrupt to teach his wayward daughter a lesson. An early, silent Hitchcock film which is wonderfully photographed. ~ All Movie Guide

Originally titled Croquette, Monkeynuts represents the one-time-only collaboration between British actress Betty Balfour and French director Louis Mercanton. Balfour plays the curiously named title character, a concessions girl with a travelling circus. "Monkeynuts" aspires to be a trapeze artist, but this will never happen so long as the troupe's jealous star aerialist has anything to say about it. Eventually, of course, the heroine does get her chance on the high wire -- a sequence that had to be extensively doubled because Balfour was recovering from a bout of pneumonia. Walter Butler provides the traditional romantic interest. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The final of four incredibly popular Squibs comedies produced in Great Britain and starring Betty Balfour, Squibs' Honeymoon is rather self-explanatory. Squibs and her longtime fiance, bobby Fred Groves, are honeymooning in Paris where the irrepressible Cockney flower girl is forced to masquerade as a boy in order to elude a gang of Apaches (gangsters, that is, not wild Indians!), British movie audiences were delighted with the down-to-earth Balfour, whose comedies were a refreshing change from the usual domestic fare of stuffy melodramas with literary aspirations. But when a group of influential critics began questioning the artistic merits of the Squibs comedies, producer-writer-director George Pearson unceremoniously ended the series, a reaction unthinkable in contemporary Hollywood. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

British screen comedienne Betty Balfour took a breather from her popular Squibs comedies to star in this slice-of-life melodrama opposite matinee-idol Stewart Rome. Reveille told a rather diffuse story of how World War I had affected a group of dissimilar people. Producer-director-writer George Pearson was more proud of this film than any of his other works, describing it as depicting the "victory of courage." Betty Balfour's immense popularity with British moviegoers ensured Reveille's success at the box-office. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

The second of four Squibs comedies starring Betty Balfour, the pre-eminent British screen comedienne of her generation, Squibs, MP. has the Cockney flower girl successfully running for a seat in Parliament -- much to the dismay of her boyfriend, police constable Fred Groves. As always, music hall veteran Hugh E. Wright played Squibs' addle-brained father. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide