To the Rescue

An eccentric dog-loving grocer leads the chase to reclaim a stolen pedigree poodle in this madcap canine comedy

When young George's pedigree poodle Candy is stolen by a mysteriously Machiavellian moustachioed thief, he and his sister Joyce enlist eccentric dog-lover and village grocer Mr Polly to help them get the pooch back. The tenacious grocer leads the chase, clutching his trusty telescope, as local residents pursue the dastardly villain across the Kentish countryside in this charmingly crackpot canine comedy.

Grocer Mr Polly is splendidly played by Richard Massingham, a filmmaker who made a variety of strange short comedies and entertainingly eccentric public information films around this time. Massingham wrote and produced this film, which was evocatively shot in and around the picturesque country village of Biddenden, in Kent.