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» » Love's a Luxury (1952)

Short summary

A theatre producer and an actor try and have a quiet week in a country cottage. Their efforts are thwarted by the arrival of a variety of wives, girlfriends and scoutmasters!
A theatre producer and an actor try and have a quiet week in a country cottage. Their efforts are thwarted by the arrival of a variety of wives, girlfriends and scoutmasters!

User reviews


  • comment
    • Author: Lanadrta
    With having a slight memory of seeing Hugh Wakefield in mid day black and white films on the UK Channel 4 about ten or so years ago.I was keen on seeing how the film would be,and though i feel that it is a bit over-crowed,their are still enough funny characters and great moments to make it very enjoyable. The plot:

    A theatrical producer (Mr Penkwick),who is having lots of troubles with his wife,(due to a girl being seen leaving their house)he decided to get away from all his troubles,by going to spend a month in a country mansion,with one of his best friends (who also is the main actor in Penwicks stage productions)Sadly,they start to get into trouble right away,when the actors friends and girlfriends decide to visit the mansion,the same time that Missis Penwick has arrived as a surprise visitor.And though everyone does their best to pretend to be house keepers,to make her think that it is just her and her husband staying at the place.But with a Scout leader (Mr mole) becoming very Unsure about them telling the truth,they have to make the lie more bigger than they could ever have imagined.

    View on the film:

    Whilst there are lots of fun characters,the film feels a bit over-stuffed.This is due to having one too many characters getting stuck,and having to try and impersonate being a maid through the film.I feel that i have to highlight the great Scout leader character Mr Mole,who has a very Wind in the Willows type of personality and whose increased suspicions make the pace of the film move very fast

    Final view on the film:

    An over-stuffed,fun mad-cap comedy with some very enjoyable performances.
  • comment
    • Author: Pooker
    I saw that some people did not care for this film and though I had not seen the earlier one or the play, I just loved it!

    The more I watched the funnier it got! I think that all of the cast were well-chosen and all the mix-ups were so funny! I just love the Scoutmaster and the misunderstandings that arose from the caretaker's daughter being so beautiful. . I usually prefer film noir, but ordered this one, as some of my favorites are in it. I did think Miss Shingler and Derek Bond and Hugh Wakefield as well as Patricia Raine .....etc. were very good. The Scoutmaster's actions are so funny! He runs after one of the ladies that is not pursuing him! I did figure that Derek Bond's character and the antics of masquerading as a woman lead to more problems! I will see if I can get the original film. Just wanted to mention that I really enjoyed the adventure!

    JLC
  • comment
    • Author: Yllk
    British cinema of the 1950s was characterised by its utilisation of stage farces.Some ,such as "Watch It Sailor" with the great Peggy Mount are memorably funny.This on the other hand limps along from scene to scene and is memorably unfunny.Mind you someone must like it,otherwise how did it achieve such a high mark?The problem is that characters having bluffed themselves out of one situation then find that they have to bluff themselves into another.Frenetic behaviour is mistaken for comedy.Furthermore it is rather too long for its own good and outstays its welcome.Maybe on the stage it raised a titter or two in its time but here it just looks like yesterdays stale leftovers.
  • comment
    • Author: Unereel
    Here is a film that has been assembled upon quite a promising substructure: an English-made comedy set at a remote West Country estate populated by clever theatrical types who must cope with such plot devices as marital infidelity and young love. Situations involving mistaken identity and impersonation are abundant. Yet, at the conclusion of the sorry affair, a viewer will find it a formidable task to fathom quite what the creators of the piece believed that they were after achieving. Charles Pentwick (Hugh Wakefield), a London based theatre "impresario", has decamped to Cranberry Cottage, an isolated and, hopefully for Charles, serene rural abode, accompanied by a principal actor from his stable, Bobby Bentley (Derek Bond), attempting thereby to recover from the shock of his wife Margaret (Helen Shingler) having left him because of her mistaken presumption that her husband has been inconstant with an enticing young actress, Fritzi (Zena Marshall). However, his sojourn will not be untroubled, as a flock of friends, family members, and others, drop in, where their consistently foolish behaviour is utilized for the amusement of themselves, although few audiences will appreciate it at all. This is a leaden essay at comedy, sunk by a logic divested script and sluggish direction, its assembled characters including such as a crossdressing Bentley of the silliest type that one may imagine, an "ex" scoutmaster whose shameless gaucherie is disconcerting to watch, and a supposedly vampish Fritzi, encumbered by a Gallic seasoned accent that she apparently cannot avoid replacing with a standard English inflection throughout her performance. Following an estimable first effort with A GIRL IN A MILLION (1946), director Francis Searle's work declined notably, as evidenced by this less than acceptable endeavour at humour. The lead, Wakefield, co-scripts and it is plain that he should have reconsidered such an adventure before it began, as the screenplay is simply awful and not an improvement over what is a lacklustre original play. The cast generally seems to be discomfited by a series of scenes marked with deplorably unfunny lines, abetted through inept stabs at physical comedy and an obvious collective lack of enthusiasm for this flaccid fiasco that must have been excruciating to perform. Even the striking and able Shingler, totally wasted here, is markedly abashed while she walks through her role.
  • Credited cast:
    Hugh Wakefield Hugh Wakefield - Charles Pentwick
    Derek Bond Derek Bond - Robert Bentley
    Michael Medwin Michael Medwin - Dick Pentwick
    Helen Shingler Helen Shingler - Mrs. Pentwick
    Zena Marshall Zena Marshall - Fritzi Villiers
    Bill Shine Bill Shine - Clarence Mole
    Patricia Raine Patricia Raine - Molly Harris
    Grace Arnold Grace Arnold - Mrs. Harris
    Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
    Lesley Osmond Lesley Osmond - Secretary (as Lesley Osmonde)
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