Jumping for Joy

Jumping for Joy is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs and starring Frankie Howerd, Stanley Holloway, Joan Hickson and Lionel Jeffries.
Plot.
Willie Joy (Frankie Howerd) works at a greyhound track as a cleaner, which involves his picking up droppings from the dog track between races. He is tricked into standing in the line of the lure and falls on it as it speeds passed with the dogs chasing it. He gets fired. This times itself with a useless dog also being let go by an owner (Bert Benton) and Joy plays a small sum and takes it home. His landlady is less than pleased at a dog in his room and evicts him.
He meets Captain Montague (Stanley Holloway) and together they hatch a plan to make money from the dog. They give it the name of "Lindy Lou".
To play the part Joy steals a top hat and tails to wear to the races at White City Stadium (London). When Lindy starts to prove herself at the trials Benton wants to buy her back.
Wandering around the East End he foolishly enters a snooker hall and flashes £20 around. A pretty girl tries to hustle him out of the money by playing a snooker set. Various crooks use Joy as an unwitting collaborator in fixing races and placing large bets.
The crooks pass doped meat to be given to the dog but Joy and Montague eat it themselves. The crooks find them asleep but cannot find the dog. They detach the Captain's railway carriage home and move it onto an active railway line. When they awake they are told by a local that they are near Doncaster. The dog is rescued just before the carriage is hit by a train. They re-encounter Lord and Lady Cranfield (from whom he earlier stole the suit) and they give him a lift to the White City.
Lindy Lou wins the Gold Cup but only due to a distraction in crowd as Joy hits a policeman to ensue a whistle is blown. He is arrested and recognises the distinctive shoes of Haines of Scotland Yard as the ringleader of the crooks.
He also gets mixed up with criminals who want to fix the race by doping dogs. The greyhound in the film called Lindy Lou was actually a racing greyhound called Moyshna Queen from Wandsworth Stadium.
Critical reception.
"Halliwell's Film and Video Guide 2000" describes the film as a "totally predictable star comedy which needs livening up" and the "Time Out Film Guide 2009" describes the film as "lame". While "TV Guide" called the film a "Sporadically funny comedy".
Musical score.
"The New York Times" noted, "the delightful harmonica score in "Jumping for Joy" is provided by American expatriate Larry Adler".