Dir: Frank Launder
1955
***
Geordie is the sweet tale of a wee young boy who, suffering from a vertical disposition, longed to be as big as his contemporaries. After ordering a Body Building periodical from the mighty Samson, a correspondence self help muscle building guru (played brilliantly by the larger than life Francis de Wolff) he trains and grows just that little big bigger than anyone would guess. The early Geordie scenes are very sweet and lovely, the film grows less so as Geordie becomes Bill Travers (a lovely man but the most wooden actor of all time). Essential comedy support comes from the great Alastair Sims but unfortunately his role is limited and Travers struggles to lead the film on his own. Frank Launder was a great director and this is one of his best films and is only tarnished, unfortunately, by the lack of tall muscular actors.
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