Spare a Copper (1940)
December 2, 1940Release Date
Plot.
Where to Watch.
Cast & Crew.
George Formby
George Carter
Bernard Lee
Jake
Dorothy Hyson
Jane Gray
George Merritt
Brewster
John Warwick
Shaw
Bryan Herbert
Williams
John Paddy Carstairs
Director
Warburton Gamble
Sir Robert
Roger MacDougall
Writer
John Turnbull
Inspector Richards
Basil Dearden
Writer
James Woodburn
Macdermott
Austin Melford
Writer
Michael Balcon
Producer
Eliot Makeham
Fuller
Ellen Pollock
Lady Hardstaff
Ray Pitt
Editor
Charles Carson
Admiral
Aubrey Mallalieu
Manager Of Music Store
Edward Lexy
Night Watchman
Grace Arnold
Music Shop Customer
Cyril Chamberlain
Policeman
Jimmy Godden
Manager
Hal Gordon
Sergeant
Details.
Wiki.
Spare a Copper is a 1940 British black-and-white musical comedy war film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring George Formby, Dorothy Hyson and Bernard Lee. It was produced by Associated Talking Pictures. It is also known as Call a Cop. The film features the songs, "I'm the Ukulele Man", "On the Beat", "I Wish I Was Back on the Farm" and "I'm Shy". Beryl Reid makes her film debut in an uncredited role, while Ronald Shiner appears similarly uncredited, in the role of the Piano Mover and Tuner.Working on the film as associate producer and writer, this production was an early assignment for director Basil Dearden: "it was relatively easy to fit the Formby films into the new demands thrown up by the war: whereas George had typically had to overcome rogues and villains in his 1930s films, these were now simply replaced by spies and saboteurs".The film title is a pun, using the colloquial term "copper" meaning a policeman, with the longer phrase "spare a copper" used by beggars - meaning can you spare a penny (which I might have).