Off the Dole is a 1935 British film starring George Formby. He plays the character John Willie, a stage personna originally developed by his father, George Formby, Sr. Formby Jnr’s wife Beryl also appears in the film.[1]Dole is the colloquial term in the UK for unemployment benefit, now known as Jobseeker’s Allowance; to be “on the dole” is to be unemployed.[2][a]The original meaning of dole was a donation to charity.[3]
After John Willie has his unemployment benefit withdrawn for moonlighting and not trying to find legitimate work, he takes over his uncle’s detective agency. After various mishaps, Willie succeeds in apprehending a local criminal.[1]
John Willie being told that his unemployment benefit has been stopped YouTube
Cast
George Formby as John Willie
Beryl Formby as Grace, Charm and Ability
Constance Shotter as Irene
Dan Crisp as The Inimitable Dude
James Plant as Crisp and Debonaire
Stan Pell as The Most Inoffensive Parson
Stan Little as Little Jack
Tully Comber as Measured for his Part
Clifford McLaglen as A Villain and Proud of It
Wally Patch as Revels in his Part
Production
Directed by Arthur Mertz and produced by the Mancunian Film CorporationBritish film production company founded in 1934, notable for establishing the only feature film studio outside of Greater London.,[1]Off the Dole cost £3,000 to make, and earned £80,000 at the box office.[4] As with Formby’s previous film, Boots! Boots! (1934) it adopted a revue format encompassing music, dance and sketches, and showed Formby playing the role of John Willie on stage.[5] According to Formby’s biographer, the cultural historian Jeffrey Richards, the two films “are an invaluable record of the pre-cinematic Formby at work”.[6]
Critical reception
The film critic Leslie Halliwell has described Off the Dole as an “artless comedy shot on a minuscule budget”, but it nevertheless helped to make George Formby a star. Another has described it as a “string of quite disparate sketches”, lacking any cohesion, but despite its “crudeness” offering many enjoyable moments, particularly the songs, notably “With my Little Ukele in my Hand”.[7]
Richards, Jeffrey. “Formby, George [Real Name George Hoy Booth] (1904–1961).” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Online, Oxford University Press, 2004, https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/33205.
Richards, Jeffrey. The Age of the Dream Palace: Cinema and Society in 1930s Britain. I. B. Tauris, 2010.
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