Look Up and Laugh

The inimitable Gracie Fields illuminates the screen in her sole 1935 vehicle Look Up and Laugh. The Lancashire-born comedienne is cast as Gracie Pearson, one of several clerks in a small-town market. When Gracie and her co-workers are threatened with dismissal by a chain-store takeover, they manage to save their jobs by digging up a Royal Charter, declaring their store an autonomous nation. The film was based on a story by J. B. Priestley, who undoubtedly didn't include Gracie's traditional cheer-up songs in his original synopsis. Billed 15th in Look Up and Laugh is 22-year-old Vivien Leigh, whose third film this was. (Verleiher-Text)