One Wild Oat (1951)

Director:

Charles Saunders

Writers:

Lawrence Huntington
Vernon Sylvaine (play)
(more)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A barrister (Robertson Hare) attempts to discourage his daughter's infatuation for a philanderer by revealing his past...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play

Cast

Robertson Hare	...	Humphrey Proudfoot
Stanley Holloway	...	Alfred Gilbey
Sam Costa	...	Mr. Pepys
Andrew Crawford	...	Fred Gilbey
Vera Pearce	...	Mrs. Gilbey
June Sylvaine	...	Cherrie Proudfoot
Robert Moreton	...	Throstle
Constance Lorne	...	Mrs. Proudfoot
Gwen Cherrell	...	Audrey Cuttle #1
Irene Handl	...	Emily Pepys (Audrey Cuttle #2)
Ingeborg von Kusserow	...	Gloria Samson (as Ingeborg Wells)
Charles Groves	...	Charles
Joan Rice	...	Annie (maid)
Audrey Hepburn	...	Hotel receptionist
Fred Berger	...	Samson
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James Fox	...	Porter (as William Fox)
Roger Moore	...	Bit part (uncredited)

Directed by
Charles Saunders

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Lawrence Huntington
Vernon Sylvaine		play
Vernon Sylvaine		screenplay

Produced by
John Croydon	....	producer

Original Music by
Stanley Black

Cinematography by
Robert Navarro

Film Editing by
Margery Saunders

Art Direction by
Ivan King

Production Management
Fred A. Swan	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Asher	....	assistant director

Sound Department
George Burgess	....	sound supervisor

Production Companies

• Coronet Films

Distributors

• Eros Films (1950) (UK) (theatrical)
• Better Television Distribution (2006) (worldwide) (TV)

Runtime:

77 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Coronet Films

Trivia:

According to some biographies of Audrey Hepburn, her role in this film was originally much larger (one book indicated that her character was in fact the "wild oat" of the title), but jittery censors forced most of her part to be cut.

Not enough oats

This film should have been funny, but Stanley Holloway overacts and shouts his way into the very depths of unfunniness. The film is an abysmal failure. The director Charles Saunders entirely failed to keep Holloway under control, so the result was disastrous. The film was so bad that I did not watch all of it, so I missed Audrey Hepburn, aged 21, as a hotel receptionist. (Or did I simply not spot her?) It was only her second appearance on screen, and Hepburn fans will doubtless want to see this for that reason, if they can bear it. Irene Handl also appears, and despite her being such a favourite, it is not enough to make one sit through this film. Robertson Hare is not particularly impressive, but instead is tedious and irritating. Stanley Holloway and Audrey Hepburn later appeared together in MY FAIR LADY. Let's hope he was funnier in real life than he is in this film. When will directors ever learn that over-the-top performers need to be tightly controlled? The title of this film is certainly amusing, which is why I got the DVD. Instead of lots of oats, there is only one oat. But upon reflection I have realized that no one under 30 appears to be familiar with the expression 'sowing one's wild oats' anymore, or has the slightest comprehension of what it could mean. After all, they have all grown up smothered in wild oats, and some of them have even sowed their first by the age of ten. It's called social decadence.