Midshipman Easy (1935)

This film was shown as part of the Carol Reed centenary season at the NFT.Hughie Green plays the eponymous hero.Well overplays actually.He doesn't so much chew as devour the scenery.Roger Livesey is very acceptable as the Captain.The well known music hall star Harry Tate also has a penchant at overplaying but maybe more understandable when you have to play to a noisy theatre most of your life.Intersetingly enough the hero's best friend on board ship is portrayed by black actor Robert Adam.He in my view is the standout performer.It is interesting to contrast the way black actors were used in the British and American cinemas at this time.If you think of Paul Robeson and Nina Mae McKenny and Adelaide Hall and you compare their roles with the depressing and distressing stereotypes in American films of the same period.There is a small role for a young Margaret Lockwood.