No Limit (1935) - film review

George Shuttleworth is a chimney sweep’s assistant from Wigan who has just one dream: to win the TT motorcycle race on the Isle of Man.  Unable to find sponsorship, he coerces his mother into borrowing some money from his tight-fisted grandfather and is soon on a boat heading for the Isle of Man with his beloved motorbike.  During the voyage, George meets Florrie Dibney, who works for one of motorbike manufacturers that he approached, unsuccessfully, for sponsorship.  Florrie takes a shine to George and helps him out when he loses his ticket and his money.  In a trial run, George manages to break the speed record, but only because his brakes fail.  A rival contestant gives George fifty pounds to pull out of the competition, an offer which the naive Lancashire lad accepts so that he can treat Florrie.  When George later changes his mind and re-enters the race, his rival decides to use more violent tactics to remove him from the competition...

With two moderately successful films under his belt, George Formby’s screen career took off with a vengeance when he made this, his first film for Associated Talking Pictures (later to be known as Ealing Studios).   Regarded by some as Formby’s best film, certainly one of his funniest, No Limit was a phenomenal success and capitalises on the comedian’s strengths - his natural flair for slapstick, his gauche everyman persona and his obvious musical talent (assisted by his ubiquitous ukulele).   Today, this film has great nostalgia value, looking back to the musical hall tradition, of which Formby was himself a part, whilst providing an illuminating visual record of life in Britain in the 1930s.

Filmed on location on the Isle of Man and featuring some impressive stunt work, No Limit feels like a lavish production in comparison with some of Formby’s other films.  This is in spite of some ludicrously cranky special effects, which add to the film’s appeal, giving it something of the quality of an old Mack Sennett film without totally losing its grip on reality.  The highlights include Formby singing his hit number Riding in the TT Races, the comedian busking as a blacked up minstrel on Douglas Beach and the utterly hilarious climactic chase, which feels like a cross between Spielberg’s Duel and an episode of Dastardly and Muttley.  No Limit is a superlative example of 1930s British film comedy, fast, frenzied and tirelessly funny – a film that still has the power to reduce a grown audience to hysterics.  Ee, they don’t mek ’em like they used ter.

© filmsdefrance.com 2010

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