Bob Hoskins and Frances de La Tour join forces as Arnold Cole and his new wife Maud in the early days of moving pictures, aka the ‘flickers’.
With a motley crew of actors, directors, and crew (including a short and ageing comedian, a singing family with an permanently juvenile daughter, a foppish director, and a love-struck cameraman) they attempt to make money in a business they don’t quite understand.
A chirpy comedy written by Roy Clarke, this sits on the ability of its well-known lead performers and those further down the cast (Philip Madoc and Sheila Reid, Granville Saxton (the director), Jim Hooper (the cameraman), Dickie Arnold (the comedian), Patrick Gordon, Maxine Audley, and Teresa Codling (the juvenile)) to give a flavour of what it might have been like to work on the lowest rung of Poverty Row.
Those who like the earliest films, and who like a bit of gentle comedy without too much conflict, might want to give this a go.