Come Up Smiling

Come Up Smiling
Original theatrical release poster
Directed by	William Freshman
Produced by	Ken G. Hall
Written by	William Freshman
Based on	story by Ken G. Hall (as "John Addison Chandler")
Starring	Will Mahoney Shirley Ann Richards
Music by	Henry Krips
Cinematography	George Heath
Edited by	William Shepherd
Production company	Cinesound Productions
Distributed by	British Empire Films
Release date	3 November 1939
Running time	77 minutes (Australia) 65 mins (UK)
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	₤22,000

Come Up Smiling is a 1939 Australian comedy starring popular US stage comedian Will Mahoney and his wife Evie Hayes. It was the only feature from Cinesound Productions not directed by Ken G. Hall.

The film was also known as Ants in His Pants.

Barney O'Hara is a performer in a touring carnival. He runs a sideshow act with his daughter, Pat, and ex-Shakespearean actor, Horace Worthington Howard, which is struggling to make money. One of the main attractions is Pat's voice.

One day Pat is invited to sing at a party held by Colonel Cameron and his daughter Eve, but her voice fails her. A specialist tells Barney that Pat requires an expensive operation.

To raise the money, Barney agrees to fight a boxer known as 'The Killer'. He is helped in his training by dancer Kitty Katkin. On the day of the fight, ants are slipped into Barney's shorts, causing him to defeat the Killer. He wins the money to enable Pat to have her operation.

The film was developed as a star vehicle for popular comedian Will Mahoney, an American vaudevillian who toured Australia successfully in 1938. Hall also hired Mahoney's regular co-stars, his wife Evie Hayes and manager, Bob Geraghty. Hall hoped that Mahoney's appeal would help the film outside Australia:

This is the most important contract that has been signed at Cinesound as Mahoney is the highest paid star we have ever signed up. In fact, I think he's the highest paid stage artist ever to have toured Australia. It is only the improved conditions of the Australian film industry, due to recent legislation, that has made it possible for us to enlarge our production budget. If any artist can carry an Australian film to overseas markets, it's Will Mahoney.

Mahoney later said, "I think I'll be a big success in this film, but don't get me wrong. It's only because I'm playing myself and I feel I know me pretty well."

It was the only film from Cinesound Productions not directed by Ken G. Hall. The writer-director, William Freshman, was born in Australia but had been working in the British film industry. Freshman was hired along with his wife, scriptwriter Lydia Hayward, to give Hall time to prepare for other projects.