GERT AND DAISY'S WEEK-END is one of the few films made by sisters Elsie and Doris Waters. In this one they play a hapless pair who mistakenly sign up to chaperon a gang of kids on a trip to "the country" to escape the blitzkrieg. Once there, they get embroiled in a jewel robbery as well as a mix-up involving their London neighbor's daughter and her sailor boyfriend. It's all pretty basic and straightforward, the but the ladies are very funny (although a lot of the lines are hard to understand) and they even get to sing a ribald song called "She Was a Lily (but only by name)" at the house party in front of a vicar. Their characters of Gert and Daisy are those working class Brit types, ever cheerful and determined (see Gracie Fields and Betty Balfour) and always ready with a chipper song. The gang of kids pre-dates the St. Trinian's mob by a decade. Maybe it's just me, but I always find it funny to see middle-aged women shoved into a water pool. Also n the cast are John Slater, Wally Patch, Iris Vandeleur (a dead ringer for Irene Handl), Annie Esmond as Lady Plumtree, and Gerald Rex as the ringleader of the "children." I think the sisters' brother, Jack Warner, shows up as a London copper, but I could be wrong.
Elsie and Doris Waters are treasures.
Elsie and Doris Waters are treasures.