Spare a Copper
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.
| Spare a Copper | |
|---|---|
Song sheet | |
| Directed by | John Paddy Carstairs |
| Written by | Basil Dearden Roger MacDougall Austin Melford |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon Basil Dearden |
| Starring | George Formby Dorothy Hyson Bernard Lee John Warwick |
| Cinematography | Bryan Langley |
| Edited by | Ray Pitt |
| Music by | Louis Levy |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | ABFD |
Release dates | December 1940 (London, UK) 14 April 1941 (UK general release) |
Running time | 77 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
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).