Story of movie The Goose Steps Out :
The Goose Steps Out is a British comedy film released in 1942. This film starred, and was co-directed by, the British comedian Will Hay. He shared directorial credit with Basil Dearden whose first film as a director this was. The film was a big box office hit in Britain, but not in the U.S., where audiences failed to respond to the humour of Hay's pathetic, bumbling persona. The Goose Steps Out is also noted as the film debut of a young Peter Ustinov.
| The Goose Steps Out | |
|---|---|
UK poster by Dudley Pout | |
| Directed by | Will Hay Basil Dearden |
| Produced by | Michael Balcon |
| Written by | Angus MacPhail John Dighton |
| Starring | Will Hay Frank Pettingell Julien Mitchell Charles Hawtrey Peter Ustinov |
| Music by | Bretton Byrd |
| Cinematography | Ernest Palmer |
| Edited by | Ray Pitt |
| Distributed by | Ealing Studios |
Release date | August 1942 |
Running time | 84 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The film's title refers to the Nazis' vigorous ceremonial marching, called "goose-stepping". It was the last appearance for Charles Hawtrey in a Will Hay films as Hay dropped him for wanting a bigger role, it was also Hay's last film on the subject of the Second World War.
Screenplay
Set during the Second World War, The Goose Steps Out recounts the adventures of William Potts (Will Hay) after it is discovered that he is an exact double of a German spy who the British have just captured. Potts is flown into Nazi Germany to impersonate the spy and instructed to seek out and bring back details of a new German secret weapon.
On arrival, however, Potts is placed in charge of a group of apparently rabidly-fascist young students who are being trained to work as spies in Britain. Potts attempts to undermine this by convincing the youngsters that the proper British way of saluting a great leader is to apply the V-sign, which they therefore do repeatedly and enthusiastically in the direction of a portrait of the Führer. At a function where he hopes to gather information about the weapon (a gasfire bomb), Potts succeeds only in getting blind drunk and admitting that he is a British agent. Luckily, some members of his class of Nazi youths turn out to be sympathetic Austrians and they help him obtain the secret he seeks. Potts and his new friends eventually commandeer a plane and fly back to Britain, crashing in a tree outside the War Office in London.
- Will Hay as William Potts/Muller
- Charles Hawtrey as Max
- Frank Pettingell as Professor Hoffman
- Julien Mitchell as General Von Glotz
- Peter Ustinov as Krauss
- Barry Morse as Kurt
- Leslie Harcourt as Vagel
- Peter Croft as Hans
- Ann Firth as Lena
- Ray Lovell as Schmidt
- Jeremy Hawk as ADC
- Aubrey Mallalieu as Rector
- John Williams as Major Bishop
- Lawrence O'Madden as Colonel Truscott
- William Hartnell as German officer at railway station (uncredited)
- Leslie Dwyer as German on train (uncredited)
- A current reviewer for TV Guide calls this film, "a funny programmer."
- In Forever Ealing, George Perry wrote, " In the climate of 1942, when British morale was at its lowest, what may now seem jingoistic acted as an innocent safety valve, and the film was popularly received."
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