This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.
Masterful Movie
This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.
View MoreThe movie really just wants to entertain people.
I agree with most of the other reviews, but there's lots more brilliance that has not been mentioned. James Bridie take a very funny swipe at American 1930's slang (the new maid and a funny reply by the Lord Judge).I don't think of this as being at all Capra-like. None of his films has this kind of snappy, clever satirical dialog.I've come to really consider this film of the best British comedies of the 1930's.The current (2013) DVD issue is part of "The Vivien Leigh Anniversary Collection" and is a really great print. Buy it and you'll see!
View MoreTwo years before the monumental "Gone With the Wind," Vivien Leigh made this rather bad film with Rex Harrison. Of all people, the wonderful Sara Allgood steals the show whose dog is ready to be put to death since she hasn't paid the local dog tax in Baikie, Scotland.A story of the corruption of politics follows. Leigh's father, the town provost, has political aspirations until he is exposed by Harrison in his news story.The scene with the dogs invading the mansion is quite funny; unfortunately, the movie really isn't; in fact, it's quite inane and dreary to say the least.The person who made Allgood's costume in the last scene of the film in court deserved an Oscar nomination.
View MoreVivien Leigh, Rex Harrison, Cecil Parker, and Sara Allgood star in "Storm in a Teacup." Parker plays Gow, an arrogant Scotsman running for public office. As he is being interviewed by reporter Frank Burdon(Harrison), he is approached by a local woman (Allgood) who is near hysterics about her dog being put down because she hasn't paid the license. While talking on one side of his mouth stating that he is for the people, Gow roundly throws her out. Affronted, Burdon turns the incident into something akin to what Watergate was in the '70s. Leigh plays his daughter, who just happens to have fallen in love with Burdon.Excellent acting sparks this fast-moving comedy - in a run of the mill ingénue role, the beautiful Leigh sparkles, and a very young Harrison does a marvelous job as a determined reporter. Parker plays a pompous man with guts beautifully, and Allgood in her usual role as a low-class woman, is great. Kudos to Patsy the dog, who is the storm in the teacup.Really worth seeing for the very young Leigh and Harrison.
View MoreHidden from me, anyhow - I'd never heard of it until browsing through my local library's video collection. Imagine an Ealing comedy as directed by Frank Capra. All of the acting is first-rate (and Vivien Leigh, pre-"Gone with the Wind", was about as beautiful as any woman could be), and the sets are unusually lavish for what must have been a medium-budget film in its time. The characters are strong yet sufficiently complex to lift the story above the simplistic comic melodrama it might have been - I can't imagine many American films of the time (or of this time) that would allow the "villain" of the piece enough courage to face down and walk through a mob that has just publicly humiliated him and is ready to attack him. The comedy is wonderfully handled, especially during the scene in which a pack of dogs runs rampant through the villain's stately home, and during the climactic courtroom scene. (The film's funniest line makes sense only in the context of the film: Ursula Jeans' anguished "Harold, he called me a woman!") "Storm in a Teacup" is a genuine delight.
View More