Those Were the Days: A total mess, but a fun one

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, it depends on how much you love watching people run in circles. If you have a soft spot for 1930s British comedy and don't mind a plot that feels like it was stapled together in a hurry, you'll probably get a kick out of Those Were the Days. If you need your movies to make logical sense or have a quiet, contemplative tone, you are going to be checking your watch every five minutes.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Those Were the Days (1934) through its definitive frames.

The whole movie feels like a stage play that someone forgot to take off the stage. People are constantly popping in and out of rooms, and there’s this weird, frantic energy where everyone is just barely missing each other. It’s exhausting, but in a way that feels intentional.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Those Were the Days (1934) through its definitive frames.

Will Hay is doing his thing here, and honestly, he carries a lot of the weight. He’s got that specific look of someone who is perpetually about two seconds away from total social ruin. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in The Fourflusher, just with more top hats and less actual composure.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Those Were the Days (1934) through its definitive frames.

Oddly specific observations

• There’s a moment in the music hall scene where an extra in the background is clearly just standing there waiting for his cue. He looks like he’d rather be literally anywhere else.
• The sound mixing is… well, it’s vintage. Sometimes you can hear the floorboards creaking louder than the dialogue. It actually adds to the charm, I think.
• I’m still not entirely sure why the Magistrate needed to go to the music hall in the first place, but the movie doesn't really care, so I stopped caring too.

The pacing is all over the place. It starts off slow, like a dusty lecture, and then suddenly hits 100 miles per hour once the characters arrive at the venue. It’s jarring. It’s almost like the director realized halfway through that they were running out of film stock and decided to just sprint to the finish line.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Those Were the Days (1934) through its definitive frames.

It’s not as polished or as dark as something like (Broken Blossoms), but it isn't trying to be. It’s just a bit of light, noisy fluff. Sometimes that’s enough. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything. 🎩