"Downton Abbey" fans will love this comedy which tells the story of a struggling actress (Gracie Fields) who takes a housekeeper's job in a posh London home to make a living during the dark years of her career. She basically manipulates her way into the job, getting the alcoholic butler (Reginald Gardiner) drunk and basically blackmailing him into hiring her against the will of the other servants whom she immediately exposes for stealing from the household. Pompous politician Monty Woolley is both bemused and aghast by the tornado she stirs up, but when his estranged son (Roddy McDowall) shows up, she finds she's got another job to handle. This becomes even more obvious when Woolley's trashy ex-wife (a fantastically brusque Doris Lloyd) shows up with the cloak of blackmail around her sinister shoulders.
A clever comedy of manners with outstanding performances all the way around, this was the second pairing of Fields (in her last film here) and Woolley, the other a marvelous forgotten comedy called "Holy Matrimony" (the subject of an underrated forgotten musical, "Darling of the Day"). Fans of "Gilligan's Island" will be delighted to see Natalie Schaefer as an eccentric actress pal of Fields who marries into nobility and assists her in a scheme to discredit Lloyd. There's a very funny dinner party scene with her as a guest going into a panic attack every time she recognizes each of the servants as her old pals from the theatrical boarding house (which also includes a cute dancing puppy with miniature top hat) and later her participation in the ultimate scam to make the evil ex-wife scram.
Young McDowall plays a very gentle teenager who allows himself to come out of his shell once he becomes acquainted with Fields and her theatrical cronies. Gardiner has a very funny drunken scene and utilizes his droll manner to create a marvelous characterization. It's difficult to single out who steals the film, because when you've got such amusing actors like Woolley, Fields, Gardiner, Shaefer, McDowall and Lloyd (not to mention the lesser known actors playing both groups of servants), everybody really gets their moment in the spotlight to shine.
A clever comedy of manners with outstanding performances all the way around, this was the second pairing of Fields (in her last film here) and Woolley, the other a marvelous forgotten comedy called "Holy Matrimony" (the subject of an underrated forgotten musical, "Darling of the Day"). Fans of "Gilligan's Island" will be delighted to see Natalie Schaefer as an eccentric actress pal of Fields who marries into nobility and assists her in a scheme to discredit Lloyd. There's a very funny dinner party scene with her as a guest going into a panic attack every time she recognizes each of the servants as her old pals from the theatrical boarding house (which also includes a cute dancing puppy with miniature top hat) and later her participation in the ultimate scam to make the evil ex-wife scram.
Young McDowall plays a very gentle teenager who allows himself to come out of his shell once he becomes acquainted with Fields and her theatrical cronies. Gardiner has a very funny drunken scene and utilizes his droll manner to create a marvelous characterization. It's difficult to single out who steals the film, because when you've got such amusing actors like Woolley, Fields, Gardiner, Shaefer, McDowall and Lloyd (not to mention the lesser known actors playing both groups of servants), everybody really gets their moment in the spotlight to shine.