ianlouisiana After a brilliant start satirising innumerable Britsh war films,"Follow a star" settles down to a more orthodox path with the highly - talented Mr Wisdom using bits of his Palladium act which first brought him fame and fortune in an era which coincided with the birth - pangs of post - war British television. He is teamed with the sublime Mr Jerry Desmonde the capo di capo of stooges,a man who,like Mr Wisdom was seldom off our flickering black and white tellies. Mr Desmonde plays a fading singer who is thrown a much - needed lifeline when he records Norman's voice(on a "Grundig",no less,about 75 guineas at the time) and mimes to his self - penned ballads. With a wheelchair - bound girlfriend needing an operation(the lovely Miss June Laverick)Norman agrees to work with his erstwhile idol Mr Desmonde as a major - domo,all unknowing that his voice is being "sampled" as they would call it nowadays. He suffers from stage - fright and has to be hypnotised before he can perform in public,a ploy that offers excellent opportunities for Mr Wisdom to perform his idiot - savant act. Amidst the fairly anodyne songs there is a very fine and well - choreographed full blown musical number "You deserve a medal for that" which is good enough to be Lerner and Loewe.To top it all,the great Mr John le Mesurier get his face pushed into a cake.Sheer bliss. Miss Hattie Jacques is oustanding as Norman's elocution teacher. Co - writer of this and many other fine British comedies,Mr Henry Blythe lived near me in Sussex and was captain of the village cricket team. About the time "Follow a star" came out he arranged a game with Freddie Brown(ex England captain)and a select X1 of Test Players on a beautiful ground set in a dip in the downs. As Squire Henry went out to bat shielding his eyes from the sun a deep sigh of anticipation ran round the crowd.England's current fast - bowling hero thundered up to the crease and Henry glanced the first ball for four runs to leg."Life doesn't get any better than this", I thought,sipping my cold ginger beer...and it hasn't.

Aaron Hassard i'm just after watching this for the very first time, this film had it's highs, it's lows, it's good parts, it's bad, it's funny bits and it'unfunny bits, lets just say it not one of my favourite Norman Wisdom film....I'm not into a lot of singing so that is probably why i didn't enjoy as much as say "The Square Peg" or "On The Beat", funny i mentioned on the beat because during this film i heard the chase music from that film in the background, weird eh?I quite liked the bit where he acted like a baby though it was quite funny.Overall this is a good film to pass a typical Sunday afternoon but i'm not going to be rushing to watch it again lets just say....6/10

birddog-3 What a wonderful film this is,probably normans best,it has all the hallmarks of mr wisdom from the sad lonely fool to the mad fool!to the sentimental romantic fool that norman pulls off with such natural ease,the plot is good about an ageing pop star played by jerry desmonde trying to revive his flagging career,finds norman, hears his voice and decides to steal it.Hattie Jacques is brilliant as normans vocal teacher but Jerry Desmonde is outstanding in this film,especially when he sings the bath song contorting his body like elvis gone mad!it kept my interest from start to finish.The only slight thing that niggles sometimes, norman very occasionally acts a little too silly where it stops being funny and a little cringing,eg-when hes rolling about on the psychiatrist floor,but normally its kept to the right level.The song 'follow a star'is a enchanting song with a melody that grows on you,incidentally norman wrote this and other songs in this film which further enhances his considerable talents,if you like good comedy,good music and norman wisdom,then this the film to watch.

calvertfan Norman Wisdom plays a labourer who is also a big fan of singer Vernon Carew. He sees Carew perform live, and manages to annoy the singer from his place in the crowd more than once. The final straw comes when Norman stands up and is singing Carew's famous song, trying to get the crowd properly excited (Carew's stardom is definitely waning) - but what comes to pass is that some head honchos hear Norman's wonderful voice, singing Vernon's song, and get the idea for Norman to dub for Vernon on his up and coming record. The general idea is quite similar to that which was used in Singin' In The Rain, but Follow A Star is not quite that good a movie. Still, it is quite good, and the music isn't bad. 7 out of 10.