"Calling All Cars" is an interesting and unusual little film. There is little by way of a plot as it was actually a promotional film for the Dover Harbour Board's new ferry terminal, and as such, the film is merely, if you will excuse the pun, a vehicle for publicising the introduction of roll-on, roll-off ferries, or RO RO ferries, but don't let that put you off.
It is actually a pleasant bit of light comedy, not hilariously funny, but light-hearted and jolly enough with some witty dialogue. One or two of the jokes are rather corny ("Liechtenstein, how the heck do you spell that?", "Ten licks and a stein") but it's not trying to be sophisticated, it's just fun.
The plot, what there is of a plot, can be told in a few words. Reggie and Freddie, trying to make the acquaintance of two attractive women, follow them as they drive down to Dover and board the ferry to France.
So it falls into the category of a "road" film, with some of the events along the way being an unusual stop at a petrol station where the pals are attended to by what certain newspapers today would refer to as "a bevy of beauties".
Reggie and Freddie foil an attempted robbery at a jewellers and then they pull a bit of a prank to delay the women in the hope that it will give them the chance to talk to them.
So with not much of a plot to analyse, let's take a look at its plus points to see what makes it worth watching.
Since it is basically a "road" film, let's talk about the roads - and what a contrast with today's crowded highways. Today's drivers can watch this and dream of the open road with very little traffic. With so few vehicles on the road, motoring was surely a more pleasurable experience back then.
Stopping for petrol also had a sort-of elegance and ease that it lacks today. These were the days before self-service petrol stations and drivers didn't even need to get out of the car to put petrol in - an attendant would do it - but I doubt that you would have had the attention of half a dozen young ladies as we see in this mirth-making scene. Had this been a musical comedy, the chorus line would have provided the chance to bring on the showgirls to delight the eye, and this scene is a rather clever way of slotting them in here. It's played for laughs, but I suspect that whoever wrote that scene was indulging in a little fantasy and expressing his desire of how he'd like it to be.
The next attraction of this film must be the Jaguar cars. The stunning designs with sleek curves that are unmistakably Jaguar certainly turned heads, and not only the heads of sports car enthusiasts. Anyone with an eye for beauty and classic style can understand why they made Jaguar a world famous name and why the makers of this film chose Jaguar over other brands.
Next comes the the acting of
Adrienne Scott and
Pauline Olsen. Their natural, authentic and unpretentious style of acting, plus good looks, adds greatly to the charm of this film. Unfortunately we don't see enough of them. They don't have a lot of dialogue, which is why I gave them second billing after the Jaguars.
I'll give a brief mention to
Margot Bryant as Mrs Flit. She would later go on to be a star of Coronation Street, appearing in many episodes.
As well as the attractions of this film, the negative aspects need to be discussed. What might put off some people?
I'll begin with the fact that it has a few short documentary sections which are very much like the old public information films, the Railway Transport Films or the Rank Organisation's "Look At Life" series of short films which cinema-goers of the 1960s will remember very well, as they were shown before the main feature.
Hopefully it will be a very small minority who are put off by these short documentary sections. They make up only a few short parts of the film and don't take up a lot of time and perhaps the majority will be fascinated to see the old method of cars being hoisted on to the ferry by means of a crane and will marvel at the construction scenes. In its day, the new RO RO terminal was an impressive piece of engineering and worthy of publicity. For a better view of cars being loaded on to the ferry by a crane, see
Diplomatic Passport (1954).
I found the scene with the boy causing a hold up on the zebra crossing rather dull and I wonder how today's audiences would take the scene with Reggie and Freddie dressed as schoolboys, but that schoolboy outfit was part of Cardew Robinson's stage act and audiences of the 1950s would have laughed on seeing it just as audiences do on hearing a comedian's catchphrase.
There is a bit of narration by Spike Milligan talking, in one of his silly voices, as the voice of the car. Milligan was one of a team of comedians known as "The Goons", very popular in their day and the addition of Milligan to "Calling All Cars" was to attract bigger audiences, but this is another aspect that has me wondering about the reaction of modern audiences. Still though, modern audiences flock to see
Joe Pasquale with his silly voice, so perhaps Milligan's buffoonery won't put them off.
In terms of cinematic production it borders on cinéma-vérité or direct cinema, so although some might see it as amateurish, others will see it as refreshing and having the "spontaneity and flavour of the real event" to quote
Karel Reisz.
To sum up, it is stylistically different, quirky if you like, but fun and full of jollity, somewhat reminiscent of a saucy seaside postcard, not too taxing on the intellect, but with a few witty wisecracks dropped in, so be on the alert for them.
It is ideal for winding down after a hard day, delightful for its charming innocence. Just sit back and enjoy the clowning around, the scenes of a country that once was England and the sophisticated curves of the Jaguar cars.
