Diggers in Blighty

Diggers in Blighty (1933)

The diggers and their officer, who has fallen for a nurse at the hospital, are subtly manipulated by a British intelligence officer to assist in passing false battle plans to the Germans. Given leave in England, they end up billeted at a country house and offered barley water instead of the home-brew they anticipated.

Date of release
1933-02-10
TMDB
7.0 / 10 (2)
Runtime
1h 12m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Pat Hanna

Casting

Interesting facts

Diggers in Blighty is a 1933 Australian film starring and directed by Pat Hanna. Hanna decided to direct this film himself after being unhappy with how F. W. Thring had handled Diggers (1931).

Production

Pat Hanna was a stage comic whose stage show Diggers was turned into a popular 1931 film by Efftee Productions. Hanna decided to make a sequel. However since he clashed with F.W. Thring of Efftee during the making of Diggers, Hanna formed his own company to make Diggers in Blighty.

The script was based on material Hanna had performed on stage for years. Among the writers who contributed material was Edmund Warrington, a British actor who toured in a "digger" company.

Although Hanna did not make the film under the Efftee umbrella, he hired Efftee Studios facilities and technical staff. The film was announced in September 1932 with Raymond Longford to be "associate director".

The film was shot over six weeks commencing in October 1932. Many of the cast had appeared on stage, including Hanna, Valli and Moon. They were joined by comedian Alfred Firth in his film debut. Old Melbourne Gaol stood in for a medieval castle. Filming ended 15 November 1932.

The cast included two Aboriginal Australians and Cass Mahomet, a Hindu soldier in the Australian army.

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

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