Sally in Our Alley (1931 film)

A British soldier (Ian Hunter) goes off to fight in the First World War, with his girlfriend (Gracie Fields) waiting and worried at home. He is soon wounded in battle and crippled. He comes to the conclusion that she would be better off believing that he has been killed so she can get on with her life. She gets the news and is devastated. Several years later she is still grieving for him, but he has now been cured and goes looking for her.

• Gracie Fields as Sally Winch
• Ian Hunter as George Miles
• Florence Desmond as Florrie Small
• Ivor Barnard as Tod Small
• Fred Groves as Alf Cope
• Gibb McLaughlin as Jim Sears
• Ben Field as Sam Bilson
• Barbara Gott as Mrs Pool
• Renée Macready as Lady Daphne
• Helen Ferrers as Duchess of Wexford

Shooting for the film started on 23 March 1931 at Beaconsfield Studios by Associated Talking Pictures, who relocated to Ealing Studios the following year. Shooting lasted six weeks, concluding in early May. It marked the screen debut of Gracie Fields who was an established music hall star. Fields' husband, the screenwriter Archie Pitt was originally set to play the role of Alf Cope. However, after less than a week of filming, as Fields and Pitt were travelling back from shooting, their car crashed. Though Fields escaped injury, Pitt was forced to withdraw from the cast in order to recuperate. Due to his experience and availability, the role was quickly recast with Fred Groves.[1] The film incorporated Fields' hugely popular signature song, Sally, itself a reference to Henry Carey's 1725 song, Sally in Our Alley, which had long been a traditional English country dance. It included the first use of the Dunning Process in Britain.[2]

The film took £100,000 at the box office,[3] establishing Fields as a national film star.

The film's sets were designed by the art director Norman G. Arnold.

This film was released in the UK as part of the Gracie Fields collector's edition DVD box set in 2008, which in addition to this film includes Looking on the Bright Side (1932), Love, Life and Laughter (1934), Sing As We Go (1934), Look Up and Laugh (1935), Queen of Hearts (1936) and The Show Goes On (1937). A Blu-ray standalone version followed in 2020, restored from a 35mm fine grain master print.

• Low, Rachael. Filmmaking in 1930s Britain. George Allen & Unwin, 1985.
• Perry, George. Forever Ealing. Pavilion Books, 1994.
• Sweet, Matthew. Shepperton Babylon: The Lost Worlds of British Cinema. Faber and Faber, 2005.
• Wood, Linda. British Films, 1927-1939. British Film Institute, 1986.

• Sally in Our Alley at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Sally in Our Alley at IMDb