It's from good stock – Tom Walls directed himself in a Ben Travers non-Aldwych farce but with Ralph Lynn and Robertson Hare in attendance as usual and with a gallant band of farceurs backing up. In the main it runs delightfully true to form, however it also has a few awkward moments and flat scenes amidst the brilliance.
Batty uncle Tom and monocled nephew Ralph rent a holiday cottage in an idyllic location, both to do a spot of fishing – one for fish the another for women. They make contact with and simultaneously fall foul of their near neighbour the landowner and his wife and daughter who have some serious problems developing in relation to a relation who is being chased by a manic blackmailer Herbert Lomas. Unflappable wife Marie Lohr takes every ridiculous turn in events in her stride in the same way she did later as Professor Higgins mother in Pygmalion and provides an anchor to the main characters nuttiness. Apart from Walls himself the landowner Hubert Harben has a couple of great lines in here, the best complaining of Walls & Lynn's "rank savagery" after being warned they'd "hang his hide on the doorpost". The scene where 52 year old Walls is trying to bed - no better word for it – the 24 year old Veronica Rose playing the distressed Diana is borderline embarrassing for his continually thwarted hopes, in this case it's just too drawn out and almost ruined the whole film for me. Robertson "pardon my effrontery" Hare played Walls' badly used secretary with his usual endless supply of serious fortitude in the face of such eccentric hostility, even to being threatened at one stage with a "scalping" by his employer.
It has many good almost classic moments of fun, farce and bizarre verbal exchanges throughout but the last few minutes tapered off into laboured slapstick which possibly only attempted to verify the satirical title. I suspect most people would have a real fight on their hands if they come to this cold - I enjoyed it and like to see it again every so often, but then again I've always appreciated this lost art form.
Batty uncle Tom and monocled nephew Ralph rent a holiday cottage in an idyllic location, both to do a spot of fishing – one for fish the another for women. They make contact with and simultaneously fall foul of their near neighbour the landowner and his wife and daughter who have some serious problems developing in relation to a relation who is being chased by a manic blackmailer Herbert Lomas. Unflappable wife Marie Lohr takes every ridiculous turn in events in her stride in the same way she did later as Professor Higgins mother in Pygmalion and provides an anchor to the main characters nuttiness. Apart from Walls himself the landowner Hubert Harben has a couple of great lines in here, the best complaining of Walls & Lynn's "rank savagery" after being warned they'd "hang his hide on the doorpost". The scene where 52 year old Walls is trying to bed - no better word for it – the 24 year old Veronica Rose playing the distressed Diana is borderline embarrassing for his continually thwarted hopes, in this case it's just too drawn out and almost ruined the whole film for me. Robertson "pardon my effrontery" Hare played Walls' badly used secretary with his usual endless supply of serious fortitude in the face of such eccentric hostility, even to being threatened at one stage with a "scalping" by his employer.
It has many good almost classic moments of fun, farce and bizarre verbal exchanges throughout but the last few minutes tapered off into laboured slapstick which possibly only attempted to verify the satirical title. I suspect most people would have a real fight on their hands if they come to this cold - I enjoyed it and like to see it again every so often, but then again I've always appreciated this lost art form.