THE GOOD COMPANIONS (1933)
starring
Jessie
Matthews, Edmund Gwenn
with
John
Gielgud
Dir.
Victor Saville (113 min)
|
A musical comedy film which Max
makes his debut. He appears as Millbrau, a music publisher's agent in a 3
minutes long scene with a songwriter (John Gielgud) who is seated at the
piano. John Gielgud had a high regard for Max and, in an acting master class
years later, advised his students to go and watch Miller to learn the art of
timing. |
FRIDAY
THE THIRTEENTH (1933)
Jessie
Matthews
Ursula
Jeans, Frank Lawton, Ralph Richardson, OB Clarence, Emlyn Williams,
Sonnie Hale
Dir. Victor Saville (89 Min)
|
A rather melodramatic
film containing a wealth of stars from the English stage and films. Max's
role is small. He plays Joe of the Caledonian market, a very fast speaking
vendor who is trailed by a detective and two Americans. |
CHANNEL
CROSSING (1933)
Constance
Cummings
Matheson
Lang
Dir. Milton Rosmer (67 min)
|
In the film credits,
Max is the only actor listed not to have a character beside his name. So
is he playing himself? Max's part is small and the film itself takes place
on a train and cross channel steamer. It has wonderful location shots and
a melodramatic plot lightened by Max's quick-fire gags during his
occasional appearances. |
 PRINCESS
CHARMING (1934)
starring
Evelyn
Laye
with
George
Grossmith,Yvonne Arnaud,
Max Miller, Finlay Currie
Dir. Maurice Elvey (74 min)
|
Max plays Walter
Chuff, an insurance salesman caught up in a revolution in Aufland, but
talks himself out of tricky situations. Evelyn Laye as the princess is
wonderful. She sings a number of unmemorable songs. Ray Noble, the
songwriter and bandleader, also born in Brighton, composed the music and
the words are by Max Kester. The plot is thin and most of Max Miller’s
jokes are quick firing but without the double entendre for which he is
famous. |
Cicely
Courtneidge
THINGS ARE LOOKING
UP (1934)
with
Max
Miller
and
William Gargan
Musical
numbers: Noel Gay, Clifford Grey
Dir. Albert de Courville (76 min)
|
Things are looking up
for Max, as he is given support billing. Cicely Courtneidge stars. The
film is really hers. She saves a weak plot playing two roles and sustains
a corny story. Max playing Joey, fools around as a circus hand and comes
to the rescue of the leading lady who sings a few songs. It is Vivien
Leigh's feature film debut. |
 GET
OFF MY FOOT (1935)
Max
Miller
Jane
Carr
Dir. William Beaudine (82 min)
|
Max's first starring
role. He plays Herbert Cronk, a Smithfield market porter who believes he
was responsible for his friend's death. He escapes and becomes a butler to
a family, falling for the maid. |
Max
Miller
in
EDUCATED EVANS (1936)
Dir. William Beaudine (86 min)
|
 Max plays Evans, a
horseracing tipster who takes on a job as a trainer for a new owner of a
horse stable. He bets on the wrong horse that wins. |
Max
Miller
in
TAKE IT FROM ME (1937)
Dir. William Beaudine (78 min)
|
Max plays Albert Hall,
a boxing manager. The film, a comedy is about a young boxer being taken
under the wing of Lady Foxham. They sail to England where Albert Hall is
pursued by a gold digger who thinks he is a millionaire. When she
discovers he is not, she sets her sights on the kid. |
 Max Miller
in
DON'T GET ME WRONG (1937)
Clive
Blakeney, George E. Stone, Glen Alyn, Clifford Heatherley, Wallace
Evenett, Alexander Field
Dir.
Reginald Purdell, Arthur B Woods (80 min)
|
Max stars as
Wellington Lincoln The Human Dynamo a sideshow performer in a
fairground. He meets a nutty professor who claims to have invented a
substitute for petrol. Max helps the professor to promote his discovery
but there are others who want to steal the idea. This leads to a number of
twists, chases and slapstick. The film is rather dated. |
 Max Miller
in
THANK EVANS (1938)
Dir. Roy William Neill
(78 min)
|
The sequel to Educated
Evans in which Max once again plays Evans, an unlucky tipster. A comedy
based on an Edgar Wallace story, a gambler down on his luck, is assisted
by a kindly lord at the races. Later the gambler helps the lord realise
that he is being conned by a wicked horse trainer. |
EVERYTHING
HAPPENS TO ME (1938)
Dir. Roy William Neill (82 min) |
Max plays Charles
Cromwell, a vacuum cleaner salesman and electioneers. When he discovers
that the candidate he is supporting is defrauding an orphanage, he deserts
to the other side to assist the good. |
 Max
Miller
in
THE
GOOD OLD DAYS (1939)
Dir. Roy William Neil
|
Set in London in the
1840s, the attempts of a group of actors led by Max as Alexander the
Great, the theatre manager, to crash into high society keeps failing. They
land in jail. Afterwards, they save a nobleman's son who was kidnapped by
gypsies. The nobleman finally helps the group out. |
|
Max
Miller and Florence Desmond
in
HOOTS MON! (1939)
Dir. Roy William Neill (74 min)
|
Max appears as Harry
Hawkins, who is billed as England's Funniest Comedian. Florence
Desmond plays Jenny McTavish, the Bluebell of Scotland, a male
impersonator. There is rivalry between the two. Harry Hawkins's stage act
is, coincidentally, identical to Max's. The tune Mary from the Dairy
can be heard as Harry Hawkins's makes his entrance. |
|
 Max
Miller
in
ASKING FOR TROUBLE (1942)
Carol
Lynne, Mark Lester, Wilfred Hyde-White
Dir. Oswald Mitchell (81 min)
|
Max Miller's singing
of Mary from the Dairy precedes his appearance on the screen. He
plays Dick Smith, the owner of a fishmonger and poultry conveyor. His shop
is full of customers and these provide the basis of an audience at which
he can aim his quick-fire jokes. A bookmaker on the side, he gets
arrested, escapes from the police and disguises himself as an explorer
returning from Africa complete with an elephant. As well as Mary from
the Dairy, he sings two more songs Just You and Me? (Showing with
Love for You?) and Turn on the Heat. His co-star is Carole Lynn
who he woos. |
Max made 14 feature films between 1932 and
1942.