Synopsis
The film is set in pre-Second World War England where a leading film star Jack Millett and his wife Kay attempt to recover a secret carburettor stolen by enemy agents. Suspicious that Jack may be embarking on an affair with his glamorous co-star Carole Markoff, Kay follows him to the South of France, where in fact he is due to receive the carburettor from a contact at a night club, as he has actually been recruited as an undercover man for the government. (There is a literary pun when the secret agent bringing the parcel, assuming Kay knows all about the identification code and is due to meet him, says dramatically "You are She", and Kay replies "Really? I didn't know I looked so Haggard.") Eventually, the parcel is retrieved, Markoff is revealed as a spy, and Jack and Kay fly back to London with the carburettor.
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "It is a gay and cheerful film in which Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge share the honours and are as good as always whether on stage or screen. There are some very amusing interludes, the best being when they turn up at a girls' school disguised as an Indian Colonel and his wife asking after a non-existent daughter. The rest of the cast plays up well and the direction is very competent." [6]
Kine Weekly wrote: "Scintillating musical comedy espionage burlesque, competently and ambitiously adapted from the persistent West End stage suvvess. ... The linking-up of the salient gags is a litte lacking in imagination – the director has taken the stage play a trifle too literally – but the gags themselves are really good. Fortunately, nothing can damp the high spirits of the stars or the play's inherent bubbling humour, and the two together make entertainment that goes with a swing." [7]
The Radio Times Guide to Films David Parkinson gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "You really needed to have been there at the time to appreciate the humour in this woeful comedy of errors. Wartime audiences were so grateful to see just about anything that they were willing to forgive even the most dismal movies – particularly morale-boosting flag-wavers. The lowest of many dips below zero is the scene in which Cicely Courtneidge poses as a French maid to catch hubby Jack Hulbert with Leonora Corbett." [8]
Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Light-hearted adaptation of a stage musical, showing the stars in their best film form." [9]
TV Guide found the film "redolent of the Thin Man series, with the added fillip of the musical-stage talent, but lacking the charisma of the stars of that series." [5]
Sky Movies wrote, "although Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge had passed their mid-Thirties' peaks as box-office attractions when they made this film version of one of their hit stage shows, it does mark something of a return to form for both of them, with a lively if improbable plot involving spies, and the two stars cheerfully indulging their penchant for disguise. Glynis Johns has a small supporting role, and sharp eyes may catch a glimpse of the young Terry-Thomas." [10]
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