HARMONY ROW

Australia, 1933, 78 minutes, Black and white.
George Wallace, John Dobbie, Marshall Crosby, Phyllis Baker, Willie Kerr.
Directed by F.W. Thring.

Harmony Row was the second film for Australian comedian George Wallace (pictured). He had appeared, under the direction of F.W. Thring (father of Frank Thring) in the previous year in His Royal Highness, the title of one of his vaudeville pieces, filmed in theatrical and vaudeville style. He was to make another film, this time with Ken G. Hall, Let George Do It, in 1938.

The film offers an opportunity to see George Wallace and the type of comedy that he made popular through vaudeville. His appearances were mainly on stage rather than film. It also gives an indication of what was popular with Australian audiences in the early part of the 1930s, during the Depression. Wallace appears with John Dobbie, with whom he was a partner in various acts. The cast includes veteran Marshall Crosby as well as the young boy, discovered by Wallace, Willie Kerr, who later became the veteran comedian and actor Bill Kerr.

The film is an urban comedy, the title referring to a place where thugs and criminals met. George Wallace portrays a policeman on this beat. His friendships include Molly, who plays music in the street, and Leonard (Willie Kerr) who sings in the street with Molly.

The film shows various comic turns in the city streets. However, the culmination is in a boxing match. The champion is Slogger. George Wallace performed this fight in front of a live audience, including comic antics and slapstick while he was doing the boxing. With Molly’s reassurance, he knocks out Slogger – and also knocks out the referee and several people in the audience.

The film is fairly basic – but it is a very interesting historical footnote to Australian film-making in the 1930s.

1. The work of George Wallace? The vaudeville background? Slapstick and comedy? Physical and verbal comedy? His work with F.W. Thring? Bringing this style to the cinema?

2. The theatrical style, the long takes, the style of acting, make-up, vaudeville?

3. Audience appreciation of the jokes, corny jokes, verbal humour, slapstick, music and songs, dance?

4. The Melbourne settings, Harmony Row, the streets and the buildings? The criminal atmosphere? The police? The jokes, the criminals? The world of the wealthy? The boxing world?

5. George Wallace as a comic screen presence, small, fat, corny, yet attractive, the little man, being able to be fooled, needing Molly’s support, finally winning? The knockout?

6. The variety of routines, the interviews, with the criminals, the boy and his sister, death? Ferret and the money? With the detective? The final boxing bout? His losing, Molly’s support, the knockouts?

7. Australian film-making in the 1930s, the images, the humour, the style, the Australian spirit?