AustLit

A short film adaptation of George Wallace's 1930 sketch, Oh What a Night sees a married couple John and Mary bicker as they prepare for bed. Then the wife thinks she hears a burglar. In the ensuing mayhem their neighbour, Mrs Malone, comes to investigate and is mistaken for the burglar by John who knocks her out. They put her in to bed but when her husband Mike turns up John jumps under the covers to hide thinking it’s the burglar. Malone discovers them in bed together and the riotous shenanigans continue.

In a review of the the April 1931 live staging at Brisbane's Theatre Royal, the Telegraph's theatre critic wrote: 'A sketch entitled "Oh! What a Night," reveals George Wallace as a drunken husband, who gels into complications by hitting his neighbour's wife on the head in mistake for a burglar. Phil Baker makes an attractive wife and Jack Ashworth a ludicrously foolish policeman' ('Theatre Royal.' 13 April 1932, p.3). In the Efftee Film Productions script Wallace's character does not appear to be intoxicated, however. Much of the humour in the opening segment is, however, developed through the husband and wife's. At 14 minutes duration, the filmed version appears to have remained largely faithful to the theatrical sketch in most other respects.