Producer: Pandro S. Berman. Copyright 1958 by Loew's Inc. An Avon Production for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 14 August 1958 (ran 5 weeks). London opening at the Empire, Leicester Square: 26 December 1958. U.K. general release: 1 February 1959. Australian release: 26 March 1959. 8,617 feet. 95 minutes. No DVD available at present.
COMMENT: This most British of British plays was a rousing success everywhere, thanks presumably to its extremely popular cast. The Broadway presentation, directed by Cyril Ritchard, starred Wilfrid Hyde White, Adrianne Allen, John Merivale and Anna Massey in the roles played in the film by Harrison, Kendall, Saxon and Dee.
In the movie version, the first two acts are wonderfully funny, but proceedings are let down badly in the Gilbertian third act by the insipid acting of Saxon and Dee. Fortunately, not even this vital lack of support deters Harrison and Kendall. Indeed Harrison has the sort of role he was born to play – and he makes the charismatic most of all his delightfully witty lines and deft throwaways. His timing is absolutely brilliant. Kay Kendall is almost equally admirable as his fatuous snob of a wife. Angela Lansbury and Peter Myers are also well up to the amusing demands of their roles.
Miss Dee, on the other hand, seems to have missed the point of the play's satire entirely and does nothing more than alternatively bubble over with either froth or dejection, thus forcing the other players to carry the whole burden of the comedy. She doesn't help in any way at all.
Alas, if anything, Saxon is even worse. Like Miss Dee, he seems to have totally missed the Gilbertian overtones of his role. Instead he plays his character perfectly straight. In a sense, he's less on the ball than Miss Dee. She's just a hopeless bit of Hollywood fluff. On the other hand, Saxon gives the impression that he is deliberately mishandling his role in order to maintain his clean-cut, boy-next- door image. That he could enact other roles, is shown later in his career.
COMMENT: This most British of British plays was a rousing success everywhere, thanks presumably to its extremely popular cast. The Broadway presentation, directed by Cyril Ritchard, starred Wilfrid Hyde White, Adrianne Allen, John Merivale and Anna Massey in the roles played in the film by Harrison, Kendall, Saxon and Dee.
In the movie version, the first two acts are wonderfully funny, but proceedings are let down badly in the Gilbertian third act by the insipid acting of Saxon and Dee. Fortunately, not even this vital lack of support deters Harrison and Kendall. Indeed Harrison has the sort of role he was born to play – and he makes the charismatic most of all his delightfully witty lines and deft throwaways. His timing is absolutely brilliant. Kay Kendall is almost equally admirable as his fatuous snob of a wife. Angela Lansbury and Peter Myers are also well up to the amusing demands of their roles.
Miss Dee, on the other hand, seems to have missed the point of the play's satire entirely and does nothing more than alternatively bubble over with either froth or dejection, thus forcing the other players to carry the whole burden of the comedy. She doesn't help in any way at all.
Alas, if anything, Saxon is even worse. Like Miss Dee, he seems to have totally missed the Gilbertian overtones of his role. Instead he plays his character perfectly straight. In a sense, he's less on the ball than Miss Dee. She's just a hopeless bit of Hollywood fluff. On the other hand, Saxon gives the impression that he is deliberately mishandling his role in order to maintain his clean-cut, boy-next- door image. That he could enact other roles, is shown later in his career.