GB
1931
1hr 10mins
Dir: Lupino Lane
Starring: Lupino Lane and Lola Hunt
A mild-mannered man on holiday in Blackpool with his family is mistaken for an international criminal
No Lady is a 1931 early talkie featuring Lupino Lane (father of Ida Lupino, actress and film director in the 40s and 50s). It is largely music-hall slapstick and still very much in the silent era in both story and acting. Today, it makes for a rather excruciating 70 minutes but it was popular enough at the time for it to be re-released in 1943. While possibly originally intended to top the bill, it was released as a second feature and is classified as a quota quickie. The family’s journey to Blackpool shows them boarding LMS third class coaching stock at an unknown station, before a shot of the wheels of a passing train depicts the actual journey. The arrival scene features a shot of coaching stock arriving into Blackpool Central station behind an unidentified tank engine. The scenes at Blackpool feature many trams, but the majority appear in the background, either largely obscured or as reflections in shop windows. However, we do get a couple of decent shots of early Blackpool Corporation ‘Standard’ Trams and rare glimpses of an open top ‘toastrack’ and ‘Dreadnought’ tram.