Geoff Wooff Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 (edited) Watching the 1950 film Ha'penny Breeze yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to hear some very fine concertina playing on the soundtrack . Though I have so far not been able to ascertain who the player was, but it certainly sounds like Alf Edwards. Seen on Talking Pictures TV ( in the UK). They'll probably repeat it. Any thoughts ? Edited June 18, 2021 by Geoff Wooff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesJessop Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Having watched the film last night, I was going to make a post on the music, but you've beat me to it. The film isn't great but the music is very fine, orchestral with concertina as a lead instrument. Looking at the little information there is on the internet, the composer was an accordion player, and (given the whole thing was made on a shoestring budget) I wondered if he played the concertina too ?? Or, as you suggest, it could have been Alf Edwards. For those unfortunate people who don't have the joys of Talking Pictures TV, I see that there are DVDs of the film available on the internet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Laban Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 IMDb usually knows these things but at a quick glance doesn't list music credits: Ha'penny Breeze IMDb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene S. Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 You'll find your answer in these comments by Cyril Tawney 🙂 It was indeed Alf Edwardshttps://mainlynorfolk.info/cyril.tawney/songs/theballadofsammysbar.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene S. Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 More information - the music was written by Philip Green, a well know TV and film producer, and he used local tunes etc in the composition for the filmhttps://ipswichmaritimetrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Newsletter-28-Jan-2015.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Irene S. Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted June 18, 2021 Author Share Posted June 18, 2021 1 hour ago, Irene S. said: You'll find your answer in these comments by Cyril Tawney 🙂 It was indeed Alf Edwardshttps://mainlynorfolk.info/cyril.tawney/songs/theballadofsammysbar.html Ah Ha! My ears did not deceive me. There is a particular tone quality that Alf Edwards produces, perhaps it is the particular concertina he recorded with in the early post war period. Stephen Chambers might enlighten us further about Alf's concertina. Many thanks Irene, you are a mine of information!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LesJessop Posted June 18, 2021 Share Posted June 18, 2021 Very well done in finding Cyril Tawney's comments: I'd trawled the internet last night and was stumped about the musician. Finally I had some notion that they ran out of money so Philip Green played on the soundtrack himself ... I'm not sad to be proved wrong ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jody Kruskal Posted June 19, 2021 Share Posted June 19, 2021 Silly arrangement, but splendid playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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