Fiddlers Three

Tommy Trinder - Tommy
Frances Day - Poppaea
Sonnie Hale - Professor
Francis L. Sullivan - Nero
Elisabeth Welch - Thora
Frederick Piper - Auctioneer
Russell Thorndike - High Priest
James Robertson - Justice Centurion
Robert Wyndham - Lionkeeper

An attempt to break out of the wartime rut, Fiddlers Three, starred Tommy Trinder, this time teamed with Sonnie Hale, not seen in a film since Ealing's Let's Be Famous in 1939. They played two servicemen on leave who take shelter during a thunderstorm under the altarstone of Stonehenge, accompanied by a Wren (Diana Decker). In a flash they are transported back to Ancient Rome where they undergo numerous absurd adventures and fall foul of Nero (Francis L. Sullivan) who throws them to the lions. Fortunately for them, at this juncture they return to modern times. Essentially a comedy fantasy for Trinder, the film is not of great consequence. The script, by Harry Watt and Diana Morgan, was thick with laboured gags likening aspects of Roman times to wartime Britain. There were also several songs, sung by Frances Day and Elizabeth Welch.

In format it was a British equivalent of the Abbott and Costello films of the Forties. A strange place in which to find Harry Watt, perhaps, but he had endeavoured to move away from the sincere war films for which he was known. His associate producer Robert Hamer shot many scenes and, although it was not well-regarded at the studio, its box-office performance was satisfactory, and it was even reissued in 1949 in a double bill with Kind Hearts and Coronets.
Extract© George Perry: Forever Ealing.