{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Keep Fit | caption = | image = "Keep_Fit"_(1937).jpg | director = Anthony Kimmins | producer = Basil Dean <br> Jack Kitchin | writer = Anthony Kimmins<br> Austin Melford | narrator = | starring = George Formby<br />Kay Walsh <br> Guy Middleton <br> Evelyn Roberts | cinematography = John W. Boyle <br> Gordon Dines <br> Ronald Neame | music = Ernest Irving | editing = Ernest Aldridge | studio = Associated Talking Pictures | distributor = ABFD | released = {{Film date|1937|08|18|df=y}} | runtime = 82 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }} '''''Keep Fit''''' is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring George Formby, Kay Walsh and Guy Middleton.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=Keep Fit |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150029618 |access-date=16 October 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by Kimmins and Austin Melford.

==Synopsis== George Formby again plays his working class underdog, gormless, gullible, indefatigable and triumphant hero. A weakling, Formby's character overcomes obstacles to beat a corrupt rival in the boxing ring. He plays a scrawny barber's assistant who, in response to the keep fit fad sweeping through Britain at the time, dreams of a better physique, and sings of it in the catchy "Biceps, Muscle and Brawn". He falls in love with a beautiful manicurist, and competes for her affections with a muscle bound thug. The manicurist is more attracted to the brute until the barber can prove that he is a crook, and defeat him in the boxing ring.<ref>{{cite web|last=Nield|first=Anthony|url=http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/72385/keep-fit.html#ixzz2t9B1QvG1|title=''Keep Fit'' DVD Video Review|publisher=Film, the digital fix|date=8 April 2010|access-date=12 March 2014|archive-date=4 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304051149/http://film.thedigitalfix.com/content/id/72385/keep-fit.html#ixzz2t9B1QvG1|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Cast== * George Formby as George Green * Kay Walsh as Joan Allen * Guy Middleton as Hector Kent * George Benson as Ernie Gill * Gus McNaughton as "Echo" publicity manager * Evelyn Roberts as Mr Barker * Aubrey Mallalieu as magistrate * Edmund Breon as Sir Augustus Marks * Hal Gordon as reporter * Hal Walters as racing tough * C. Denier Warren as editor * Edgar Driver as boat hire owner * Leo Franklyn as racing tough * Robert Nainby as judge at the gym * Julian Vedey as hairdressing dept head * Jack Vyvian as boat hire man * D.J. Williams as editor of The Gazette

==Critical reception==

=== Box office === ''Kine Weekly'' reported the film as a "winner" at the British box office in February 1938.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Billings |first=R.H. |date=12 January 1939 |title=Films which won the box office stakes last year |url=https://archive.org/details/kinematograph-weekly/1939/Kinematograph%20Weekly%20%231656%20%281939-01-12%29%20%28BNA%29/page/67/mode/1up? |magazine=Kinematograph Weekly |page=61}}</ref>

=== Critical === ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "The film is boisterous, unconventional and light-hearted, and is played at a smart pace from start to finish. There is the added spice of laconic dialogue and some original situations. George Formby is excellent in the lead; George Benson, playing the ingenuous Ernie Gill, the helpful friend, has a distinctive personality and the teamwork is unusually good. Good entertainment in the Chaplin tradition."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1937 |title=Keep Fit |volume=4 |issue=37 |pages=166 |id={{ProQuest|1305800184}} |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin}}</ref>

''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "Some of the gags, although presneted on a most ambitious scale, lack spontaneity, and some are obvious, but all recognise the value of simplicity, and it is the sly cultivation of the homely touch, as much as the star's goofy versatility and personality, that contributes confidently to the film's happy augury. The clean, exhilarating fun is wisely aimed at the masses, and with the star's pull to give it direction, it shculd score a bull at the box office. It is George Formby's best."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=26 August 1937 |title=Keep Fit |volume=246 |issue=1584 |pages=53 |id={{ProQuest|2339640382}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>

''Picturegoer'' wrote: "George Formby has proved himself one of our most popular comedians, and in this crazy extravaganza&nbsp;... he is on the top of his form. It is all very simple and ingenuous, but it is apparently just those two qualities which have endeared him to such a wide public."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2 February 1938 |title=Keep Fit |volume=7 |issue= |pages=20 |id={{ProQuest|1771142567}} |magazine=Picturegoer}}</ref>

''Picture Show'' wrote: "This is a riotously funny skit on health and fitness campaigns, and with George Formby's lanky form and woolly headed ways of working things out, it could not have been bettered in its star, although the direction may at times be a little too careful to obtain spontaneously funny results."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=19 February 1938 |title=Keep Fit |volume=38 |issue=982 |pages=19 |id={{ProQuest|1880295676}} |magazine=Picture Show}}</ref>

Leslie Halliwell wrote "Good star vehicle with snappy songs and fast comedy scenes."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=563}}</ref>

In ''The Radio Times Guide to Films'' Dick Fiddy gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "It's hard now to imagine that a toothy-grinned, ukelele-strumming comic with a broad Lancashire accent could be a superstar but George Formby certainly was. A huge box-office draw in Britain during the 1930s and 1940s, Formby's saucy wit and frantic comic style proved a great tonic to wartime audiences. This movie finds the star in fine form, belting out songs and throwing himself into comedy routines, as a weedy barber forced to compete with a more athletic rival. Add a dash of romance and the unmasking of a thief and you've got all the ingredients for a first-rate Formby film."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=500}}</ref>

Sky Movies wrote that Formby "was at his British top box-office peak when this comedy was made.&nbsp;... It's a bouncy, confidently made comedy that's fun throughout and pretty hilarious in its boxing-ring conclusion".<ref>{{cite web |date=23 May 2002 |title=Keep Fit - Sky Movies HD |url=http://skymovies.sky.com/keep-fit/review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222131652/http://skymovies.sky.com/keep-fit/review |archive-date=22 Feb 2014 |access-date=12 March 2014 |publisher=Skymovies.sky.com}}</ref>

==See also== * List of boxing films

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb title|id=0029078|title=Keep Fit}}

{{Anthony Kimmins}}

Category:1930s sports comedy films Category:1937 films Category:British sports comedy films Category:British black-and-white films Category:Associated Talking Pictures Category:Films directed by Anthony Kimmins Category:Films set in England Category:British boxing films Category:1937 comedy films Category:1937 English-language films Category:1937 British films Category:English-language sports comedy films Category:Films scored by Ernest Irving