Mr. Chedworth Steps Out is a 1939 Australian comedy film directed by Ken G. Hall starring Cecil Kellaway.
Kellaway returned to Australia from Hollywood to make the film, which features an early screen appearance by Peter Finch.
A mild-mannered clerk, George Chedworth, is married to the snobbish, nagging Julie, and has four children: gambling addict Arthur, beautiful Gwen, teenage singer Susie and young Fred.
He wins a fortune from an accidental racing bet and from some apparently worthless gold mining shares sold to him by some crooks, including Arthur's boss Leon Fencott.
He had been working in Hollywood following the success of It Isn't Done (1937) but agreed to come back to Australia especially to make the film at the request of Ken G. Hall.
[12]The part of Cecil Kellaway's youngest daughter was played by Jean Hatton, a young singer who was brought to the attention of Ken G. Hall after she won a Deanna Durbin talent quest.
[12] Rita Pauncefort, who plays Kellaway's nagging wife, was a highly experienced actor of stage and film.
[16] Joan Deering, who plays the ingenue, had never acted on screen before but had a strong theatrical background, having toured with revue companies in England and South Africa.
[20] Most of the film was shot in Cinesound's studios at Bondi with some location work at Lapstone Hill[21] and Sydney Girls High School.
[26][27][28] Variety said: Ken G. Hall's latest should find high trade in the home field, with the possibility of a British break as well..
However, there's little market seen for the U. S. Cecil Kellaway, the marquee lure, turns in a corking performance, while Hall has given class direction to the production.
Jean Hatton, winner of a Deanna Durbin contest, has vast possibilities; she knows how to act and has an excellent singing voice.
Paul Byrnes later wrote for Australian Screen Online that: Mr Chedworth Steps Out has all the usual elements of a Cinesound entertainment – four or five plotlines, a master villain, even a couple of songs... but it has one element that lifts it above the pack – Cecil Kellaway... His performance as the little man who learns to assert himself is one of the best in all the Cinesound films, and Ken Hall's direction is a large part of that success.
Rita Pauncefort's portrayal of Mrs Chedworth as a nagging social climber and spendthrift is beyond satire, heading for something more caustic.
The undeclared class warfare in a lot of Ken Hall's films becomes full-scale attack in this film – Mrs Chedworth is a nouveau riche shrew, the object of a special scorn that's not so much humorous as contemptuous... the depiction of Mrs Chedworth feels like the settling of some deep personal score [by Hall].