In Town Tonight (1935) review: A dusty, weird British time capsule

If you have an hour to spare and a weird obsession with dusty 1930s British culture, In Town Tonight is a fun little time machine. Anyone expecting a real story with actual character development is going to absolutely hate this thing. 🎬

It is not really a movie. It is more like a variety show that some producers decided to film because they had some leftover celluloid and time.

The whole setup is based on an old BBC radio program. They basically just bring out different acts, one after another, and some of them are incredibly strange.

For instance, there is a segment with street performers that feels like it was filmed in another dimension. One guy is just making noises with his mouth and the camera just stares at him for way too long.

I did love seeing a young Finlay Currie. He has this massive presence even when the material is paper thin, though his role here is basically just being a face in the crowd.

It has that chaotic, early-sound-era energy you also find in Blue Bottles. Everything feels a bit experimental and very clunky.

The pacing is totally wild. Some acts get about thirty seconds of screen time, while others seem to last for three years.

There is this one musical number where the singer keeps staring directly at the camera lens. It is super awkward and made me feel like I was being watched in my own living room. 😳

Stuff that made me squint:

• The crowd scenes have about ten people who look like they were kidnapped and forced to clap.
• A gentleman playing a very sad tune on a literal hand-saw.
• The audio quality is so scratchy it sounds like someone is frying bacon next to the microphone.

If you like old British music halls, you might find some charm here. But if you want a plot, go watch something like The Close Shave instead.

It is a relic. A weird, slightly boring, but totally fascinating relic of a time when nobody quite knew what they were doing with talking pictures yet.

I actually fell asleep for about five minutes in the middle. I do not think I missed anything important, which tells you everything you need to know about the plot.