| Come Up Smiling | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | William Freshman |
| Produced by | Ken G. Hall |
| Written by | William Freshman Ken G. Hall (story) |
| Starring | Will Mahoney Shirley Ann Richards |
| Cinematography | George Heath |
| Editing by | William Shepherd |
| Studio | Cinesound Productions |
| Release date(s) | November 1939 |
| Running time | 77 minutes (Australia) 65 mins (UK) |
| Country | Australia |
| Language | English |
| Budget | ₤22,000[1] |
Come Up Smiling is a 1939 Australian comedy starring popular US stage comedian Will Mahoney.
Contents |
Barney O'Hara (Will Mahoney) is a performer in a touring carnival who tries to raise money to save the voice of his talented singer daughter Pat (Jean Hatton). To do this he agrees to fight a boxer known as 'The Killer' (Alec Kellaway), and is helped in his training by dancer Kitty Katkin (Evie Hayes). Barney defeats the Killer and wins the money to enable Pat to have her operation.
It was the only film from Cinesound Productions not directed by Ken G. Hall. The writer-director, William Freshman, was born in Australia but had been working in the British film industry. Freshman was hired to give Hall time to prepare for other projects.
"We are now planning bigger things, as we are well able to do, by reason of the additional time at my disposal," said Hall at the time. "Opportunity will be taken to find big subjects from which to make big pictures — like Robbery Under Arms, which I expect to direct personally, Overland Telegraph, Eureka Stockade, and others of that calibre, though not all necessarily historic."[2]. (NB None of these movies ended up being made.)
Hall later wrote that Freshman "seemed to lack the vital comedy sense we needed, but he was a good constructor in a general way of screenplay writing. The boxing ring sequence was, I think, one of the funniest things we did at Cinesound."[3]
The lead role was played by American vaudevillian Will Mahoney who was very popular in Australia. `During filming, Mahoney said, "I think I'll be a big success in this film, but don't get me wrong. It's only because I'm playing myself and I feel I know me pretty well."[4] He was joined in the film with his wife and regular stage co-star Evie Hayes.
The romantic leads were played by Shirley Ann Richards and John Fleeting. Fleeting had previously appeared in Gone to the Dogs (1939).
During filming, Jean Hatton was injured falling down two flights of stairs but managed to recover.[5]
The film was not an immediate success at the box office so Hall had it re-cut and re-released as Ants in His Pants, adding a new song to explain the title. The movie performed much better on re-release.[6] [7]