Time, Gentlemen, Please! – 1952 | 85mins | Comedy | B&W

Plot Synopsis

In Time, Gentlemen, Please, the Prime Minister visits the rural village of Little Hayhoe because a new factory has given the village the highest employment rate in the country; as the newsreel voice-over puts it, ‘once a sleepy rural retreat, now a hive of industry.’ The village is picturesque with its ancient church, guildhall and almshouses and is populated by a number of ancient characters who flock to the pub and the square when informed on the village grapevine of important events such as the possibility of free beer. The resistance is led by an ‘Irish rebel’, Dan Dance (Eddie Byrne), a tramp who refuses the regime of work and likes to be free, sleeping under the stars and hearing the birds sing in the early morning.

This important occasion is preceded by a visit from a ministerial envoy. So the local councillors, magistrates and general keepers of law and order punish Dan from preventing the village having total employment by confining him in the 400-year-old almshouse. Thanks to an archaic law, rules are imposed that restrict Dan to a 9p.m. curfew, a bath once a day, poor food and a hard bed – are imposed by the will of the sixteenth-century founder, whose malevolent picture looks down on Dan as he sleeps. Moreover, it emerges that the ancient rules have been exploited by the members of the council, who are using the funds improperly to restore the ancient buildings of the village which they just happen to own – the manor house, the church, the weaving barn.

With the help of a new vicar and the rest of the community, Dan continually evades and subverts his punishment. Dan and the new vicar turn the rules to Dan’s financial advantage, this involves an alliance between Dan’s generous democratic instincts and the work and prosperity offered by the modern factory. Mr Spinks (Sydney Tafler), the owner of the factory, who has been patronised and looked down on by the local dignitaries, suggests to Dan that they unite to oust the village hierarchy. They stand in the council elections and, supported by the village people and with the help of a group of local tramps, they sweep the board on election night. Outside the guildhall, the crowds in the square celebrate both Dance’s victory and Sir Digby’s (Raymond Lovell) ignominious tally of one vote.

Dan and the vicar have already agreed that the money from the almshouse should be put to a ‘use more in keeping with the times’, and on the night of his election Dan deliberately breaks his curfew rules and promises that the ‘money will go somewhere more useful’ – the almshouse will be turned into a day nursery for workers at the factory. But Dan and the factory owner both have to compromise to achieve this unifying victory. Dan has to get a job, but the factory regimes are adapted to give him one that suits his desire to sleep all day – that of mattress tester. The prime minister visits the village, and rural Little Hayhoe is clearly and productively established as part of the modern state.