The Arthur Askey Collection

Six classic Arthur Askey comedies. 'Back Room Boy' (1942) follows the antics of Askey and a timid meterologist who are packed off to an Orkney Island lighthouse. After a bit of mucking about they go off hot on the trail of a band of Nazi spies. 'Band Waggon' (1940) is a spin-off movie from Askey's popular BBC radio programme of the same name. After being evicted from Broadcasting House, Arthur and Richard 'Stinker' Murdoch move to a castle where they stumble upon television equipment which they use to put on a show. The show is of course the ideal vehicle for the variety acts from the radio show. In 'Bees in Paradise' (1944), Askey plays a pilot who bales out over Paradise Island, not knowing that he is about to land in a bee-worshipping colony of women and that he is about to become a drone for the queen bee. When he finds out that, as custom demands, he is due to be sacrificed two months after the honeymoon, he soon starts thinking about escape. The women of course have other ideas. In 'King Arthur Was a Gentleman' (1942), Askey is a newly recruited soldier who finds himself stationed in King Arthur County. Naturally when he unexpectedly chances upon a sword he is convinced it belonged to Arthur and that now he is indestructible. In 'Miss London Ltd.' (1943), Askey stars as a man trying to save his flagging escort agency. A new partner suggests getting some new girls in, just in time for the soldiers' leave. The film features English singing favourite of the 1940s, Anne Shelton. In 'I Thank You' (1941), the perils, humiliations and humour of trying to run a second-rate theatrical company are further compounded when financial aid, given by the former famous music-hall star Lady Randall (Lily Morris), is withdrawn. Not to be defeated, the stars decide the show must go on and devise a plan to persuade her to reinvest.