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Better Late Then Never

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

At first I thought I was looking at a Disney live-action movie. There were the bright colors and David Tomlinson in a bowler hat (looking unaccountably like Donald O'Connor). But, no, it's a J. Arthur Rank film directed by the reliable Paddy Carstairs. Tomlinson is married to Petulia Clark and living with his folks, and waiting for their house to be built. It's a fairly idyllic situation in which they're up to be awarded a flitch of bacon at the local fair for being a happily married couple, when in comes the home's new maid from Hungary, Sonja Ziemann, who is very familiar with all the men. For some reason, the lietmotif for the dark-haired beauty is "Aupres de ma Blonde." In other words, it's the sort of happy mish-mosh that in the US would be produced by Joe Pasternak for a wholesome, family-friendly effort. In the US, there would be a role for S.Z. Sakall. Here, the equivalent role is taken by A.E. Matthews as Tomlinson's grandfather. It's minor and nonsense and forgettable and kills eighty minutes well enough.

Everything about this film seems very dated even the beautiful Technicolour photography.Did this sort of England ever exist I wonder.The film was probably made in colour because of the encroaching competition of television.One assumes that a German actress was chosen for distribution reasons.The real problem with this film is that the basic premise of this film is just plain silly and unfunny.There is a reasonable cast in which A E Matthews shines,however the script is just not very good.The basic concept of a side of bacon being a very desirable commodity due to it being a rationed item would probably be lost on modern audiences.

The German actress, Sonja Ziemann, plays a Hungarian maid, Marta. Could casting her as a Hungarian in any way be related to lingering feelings about the war? Regardless, when this pretty lady arrives to be the maid for a British family, problems develop as the father and son (David Tomlinson) begin acting googly-eyed whenever she is around. This is a serious problem, as Tomlinson is happily married to a sweet lady (Petula Clark) and this happiness is at risk due to his over-solicitous behavior towards the maid. To make things worse, the town has a happiest married couple contest--and this couple is nominated.How men act around Marta in this film is a bit ridiculous and overdone. It certainly isn't subtle and the film is a bit silly. Yet, it's still oddly sweet and enjoyable. Not a film to rush to see but a nice time-passer.