Hey! Hey! USA
Directed by	Marcel Varnel
Written by	J. O. C. Orton
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Will Hay Edgar Kennedy Edmon Ryan David Burns
Cinematography	Arthur Crabtree
Edited by	R. E. Dearing
Music by	Charles Williams
Distributed by	Gainsborough Pictures
Release date	October 1938 (1938-10)
Running time	88 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Hey! Hey! USA is a 1938 British comedy film starring comedian Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy and Eddie Ryan.^[1] Hay appears as Benjamin Twist, a porter who accidentally finds himself on a ship bound for the United States. The film features an early appearance by child actor Roddy McDowall, before he went to live in America.^[2]

Plot outline

Benjamin Twist, a teacher working during school holidays as a ship's porter ends up on a ship bound for America and impersonating a professor, Phineas Tavistock. Along with American gangster and stowaway Bugs Leary (Edgar Kennedy), Twist finds himself entangled in a plot to kidnap the son of a millionaire whom 'Professor' Tavistock is teaching. Things are further complicated by the fact that two sets of gangsters are attempting to get their hands on the ransom money, which Twist is given to hand over.

Cast

• Will Hay as Benjamin Twist/Professor Phineas Tavistock
• Edgar Kennedy as Bugs Leary
• David Burns as Tony Ricardo
• Eddie Ryan as Ace Marco
• Fred Duprez as Cyrus Schultz
• Paddy Reynolds as Mrs Schultz
• Tommy Bupp as Bertie Schultz
• Arthur Goullet as Glove Johnson
• Gibb McLaughlin as Steward
• Eddie Pola as Broadcast Announcer
• Roddy McDowall as Boy
• Peter Gawthorne as Ship's Captain
• Charlie Hall as Leary's Pal
• Charles Oliver as Curly
• Danny Green as McGuire, the Chicago cop
• John Salew (Uncredited)
• Hugh McDermott (Uncredited)

Critical reception

Sky Movies wrote, "incomparable Will Hay reprises his splendidly shifty Dr Benjamin Twist character (the incompetent headmaster of St Michael's) in this breezy British comedy set in a quaintly observed America full of gun-toting gangsters. Comic stalwart Edgar Kennedy provides slow-burning support under the direction of Marcel Varnel, the dapper Frenchman who made most of Hay's biggest successes. " ^[2]