Fiddlers Three | |
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![]() UK theatrical poster
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Directed by | Harry Watt |
Produced by | Michael Balcon |
Screenplay by |
Angus MacPhail, Diana Morgan |
Starring |
Tommy Trinder, Sonnie Hale, Frances Day, Francis L. Sullivan, Diana Decker, Elisabeth Welch James Robertson Justice |
Music by | Spike Hughes |
Cinematography | Wilkie Cooper |
Edited by | Eily Boland |
Production
company |
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Distributed by | Ealing Distribution |
Release date
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Running time
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88 minutes (65 minutes USA edit) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Fiddlers Three is a 1944 British black-and-white comedy with music. The film was produced by Michael Balcon and directed by Harry Watt. The cast included Tommy Trinder, Sonnie Hale, Frances Day, Francis L. Sullivan, Diana Decker and Elisabeth Welch. Making their film debuts were James Robertson Justice, and Kay Kendall near the bottom of the cast list, as the "Girl Who Asks About Her Future At Orgy". The film follows the adventures of two sailors and a Wren who are struck by lightning and transported back to Ancient Rome, where they are accepted as seers.
The film was called While Nero Fiddled on its USA release. It is a loose sequel to the 1940 film Sailors Three which had also starred Trinder. The film was only moderately successful at the British Box Office but proved to be a major hit in Australia.
Tommy Taylor and "The Professor", two sailors returning from leave to Portsmouth, pick up Lydia, a Wren, on the road but get a puncture as they reach Stonehenge. The professor tells them of an old legend that those caught at Stonehenge at midnight on midsummer's night are transported back in time. Moments later the area is struck by lightning. Nearby a group of Roman soldiers have suddenly appeared whom they initially mistake for members of ENSA. However, they swiftly prove to be genuine Romans who arrest them and threaten instant death unless they can prove they are Druids.