It Isn't Done (1937)

Hubert Blaydon (Cecil Kellaway),a simple Australian farmer inherits a castle and a title in England, and moves his family from the farm to the castle. He also inherits a very stuffy, prim-and-proper butler who constantly reprimands Blaydon whenever he disobeys aristocratic protocol...which he often does.

Date of release
1937-02-24
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (1)
Runtime
1h 30m
Director
Ken G. Hall

Casting

Interesting facts

It Isn't Done is a 1937 Australian comedy film about a grazier who inherits a barony in England.

Production

The film was based on an original story by Cecil Kellaway which he had written in between acts while performing in White Horse Inn on stage. Hall liked the basic idea but said Kellaway was unable to put it down to paper.

Hall originally imported American writer Carl Dudley from Los Angeles to adapt it into a feature film script. Dudley intended to stay in Australia for 12 months.

Hall had the script worked on by playwright and actor Frank Harvey, who had recently joined Cinesound as a dialogue director. Hall later said "Harvey and I got together and worked it [Kellaway's idea] into a script, retaining all his basic ideas, and the basic theme, because the original idea appealed to both of us. Harvey was very English, educated at Winchester where ‘Manners maketh the man’ was the motto, you know.

"If anything, the English will get more knocks than the Australians", said Hall at the time. "But there will be hits at both sides-nothing malicious; just a good-humoured conflict of ideas." He later elaborated, "Gently rubbishing the British. Gently rubbishing Australians too. That’s why the film succeeded in both England and Australia. There was no dirt thrown at any time.

Cecil Kellaway later claimed the lead character was based on a real grazier from New South Wales:

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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