On Approval (1944 film)
Encyclopedia
On Approval is a 1944 British
comedy film
directed by Clive Brook and starring Beatrice Lillie
, Clive Brook and Googie Withers
. It is based on the play On Approval by Frederick Lonsdale
.
The film begins with an amusing documentary-style prologue about contemporary life in 1942 England, which serves as introduce Brook's character, George in the late Victorian era.
George is the 10th Duke of Bristol. He is haughty, irascible and with a very dry sense of humor. He is also nearly broke. His friend, Richard, is in love with widowed Maria, but since he too is poor, he hasn't the nerve to propose to Maria. Helen is a wealthy American, due to her father's successful business and is in love with George. What follows is a witty and very funny series of events which cause all four to be stuck together at Maria's Scottish island home. How can two nice and two difficult personalities survive together in an isolated island estate?
Filmmaker Lindsay Anderson
called the film "the funniest British light comedy ever made" (according to the DVD box).
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
directed by Clive Brook and starring Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Lillie
Beatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
, Clive Brook and Googie Withers
Googie Withers
Georgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, AO was an English theatre, film and television actress. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.-Biography:...
. It is based on the play On Approval by Frederick Lonsdale
Frederick Lonsdale
Frederick Lonsdale was an English dramatist.-Personal life:Lonsdale was born Lionel Frederick Leonard in St Helier, Jersey, the son of Susan and John Henry Leonard, a tobacconist. He began as a private soldier and worked for the London and South Western Railway...
.
Cast
- Beatrice LillieBeatrice LillieBeatrice Gladys "Bea" Lillie was an actress and comedic performer. Following her 1920 marriage to Sir Robert Peel in England, she was known in private life as Lady Peel.-Early career:...
- Maria Wislack - Clive Brook - George
- Googie WithersGoogie WithersGeorgette Lizette "Googie" Withers CBE, AO was an English theatre, film and television actress. She was a longtime resident of Australia with her husband, the actor John McCallum, with whom she often appeared.-Biography:...
- Helen Hale - Roland CulverRoland CulverRoland Culver OBE was a British stage, film, and television actor.-Life and career:...
- Richard Halton - O. B. Clarence - Doctor Graham
- Laurence HanrayLaurence HanrayLaurence Hanray , sometimes credited as Lawrence Hanray, was a British film actor born in London, England.-Partial filmography:* Beyond the Cities * Her Reputation * The Faithful Heart...
- Parkes - Elliott Mason - Mrs McCosh
- Mollie Munks - Jeanne
- Hay PetrieHay PetrieHay Petrie , born David Hay Petrie, was a Scottish actor noted for playing eccentric characters, among them Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop , the McLaggen in The Ghost Goes West and Uncle Pumblechook in Great Expectations .Hay Petrie went to St Andrew’s Academy, Dundee, and St...
- Landlord - Marjorie RhodesMarjorie RhodesMarjorie Rhodes was a British actress.One of her best-known roles was as Lucy Fitton, the mother of Bill Naughton's northern comedy All in Good Time. She played the role on Broadway, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award in 1965...
- Cook
Plot and background
Clive Brook took this popular play (originally set in the early 1920s) and placed in the late Victorian era, where the concept would've been much more shocking. Brook wrote the screenplay (keeping very close to the original play), produced and directed the film. It's one of the very few films featuring Beatrice Lillie, often referred to as "The funniest women in the world" for her eccentric personalty and portrayal of so many amusing stage plays and revues.The film begins with an amusing documentary-style prologue about contemporary life in 1942 England, which serves as introduce Brook's character, George in the late Victorian era.
George is the 10th Duke of Bristol. He is haughty, irascible and with a very dry sense of humor. He is also nearly broke. His friend, Richard, is in love with widowed Maria, but since he too is poor, he hasn't the nerve to propose to Maria. Helen is a wealthy American, due to her father's successful business and is in love with George. What follows is a witty and very funny series of events which cause all four to be stuck together at Maria's Scottish island home. How can two nice and two difficult personalities survive together in an isolated island estate?
Filmmaker Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Anderson
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was an Indian-born, British feature film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading light of the Free Cinema movement and the British New Wave...
called the film "the funniest British light comedy ever made" (according to the DVD box).