Young Man’s Fancy (1939)

Young Man’s Fancy (Dir: Robert Stevenson, 1939). 

Young Man’s Fancy is a very early comedy from the Ealing Studios. Released in what was producer Michael Balcon’s second year as studio head, the movie has few of the hallmarks later associated with Ealing. 

Griffith Jones stars as aristocrat Lord Albarn who is to be wed to a brewery heiress. Unhappy with the marriage of convenience he rebels, visiting a music hall and falling for human cannonball Ada (Anna Lee). Ada agrees to help Albarn out of the forthcoming wedding but soon the pair are caught up in the Siege of Paris and the events of the Franco-Prussian War. 

Such an odd dramatic turn in an otherwise frothy rom-com is slightly jarring but don’t let that put you off of this surprisingly entertaining movie. Not only are there plenty of laughs but it also has a social conscious rare in 1930s British cinema outside of the Documentary Movement. 

The talented Robot Stevenson only directed three films at Ealing before decamping to Hollywood where he gained critical and commercial success with Jane Eyre (1943). Late in his career he worked almost exclusively for Walt Disney Productions where he was responsible for number of excellent family drama and fantasy films including Old Yeller (1957)  and Mary Poppins (1964). Young Man’s Fancy is probably the best of Stevenson’s Ealing output, a somewhat frivolous but enjoyable ‘B’ picture from his and the studio’s formative years.