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The Goose Steps Out

13 votes

Schoolteacher William Potts is the double of a captured German spy, so he is sent to Germany by British Intelligence to obtain the plans of a new secret weapon, causing chaos in a Hitler Youth school in the process.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1942-08-01

Runtime: 79 mins

Director: Basil Dearden, Will Hay

Spoken language: English

Genres: Comedy, War

Original title: The Goose Steps Out

Production Companies: Ealing Studios

Production Countries: United Kingdom

Cast

William Potts / Muller

Will Hay

Frank Pettingell

Julien Mitchell

Charles Hawtrey

Barry Morse

Peter Ustinov

Peter Croft

Anne Firth

Leslie Harcourt

Jeremy Hawk

Raymond Lovell

Aubrey Mallalieu

John Williams

Lawrence O'Madden

Reviews

Geronimo1967

Will Hay delivers quite well in this wartime pick-me-up of a film. He is discovered to be the spitting image for a Nazi general who happens to be in charge of a prestigious Hitler Youth establishment. As you'd expect, his character "Potts" is the least like a general you can imagine, but soon he has been dispatched as a sort of doppelgänger and is causing the predictable havoc amongst the aspirational young men of the great Arian race. Hay always had solid entertainment skills, good comedy timing and a very expressive face - he easily raises a few chuckles here. Charles Hawtrey is also quite good fun as "Max" and there's even some Peter Ustinov faffing about as "Krauss" in this amiable farce that had a pretty clear propagandist purpose which I suspect would have worked well with audiences in Britain at the time. It's maybe a little long, but it does what it set out to do and as an example of the star's ability to chivvy up the viewers, it's a fair effort.

2023-06-18

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