Clara Gibbings

This film confirms Alfred Hitchcock's maxim that the less you "open up a play" for the screen the better the film will be. A clever if dated play becomes a very good film. As always Efftee's lighting and production values are less than first rate and Dot Brunton is not as young as the role requires - she would suffer a considerable injury shortly after filming when a fire curtain fell on her - BUT a great group of actors, well cast - how good to see Campbell Coplin in a leading role - and a good script ensure that the film is a great piece of entertainment.

This Australian film's only real worth is as the sole surviving film appearance of one of Australia's great stage personalities - Dorothy Brunton. The play, about a London barmaid discovering she is of noble blood, was apparently an enormous hit. So it seemed logical to the enterprising director F.W. Thring to film it. But that is all he does - film a stage play. The result is dull in the extreme, with a very static camera and way too much dialogue.

But through it all shines the extraordinary talent of Dorothy Brunton - what a star she was, how I wish I'd seen her on stage, or in better crafted films. Her personality is so strong that you can't help thinking she could well have had an international film career as successful as Cicely Courtneidge. She even has a certain Mae West quality. But this film is all we have of her. I might add that Campbell Copelin matches her admirably and manages to make his rather unlikeable character utterly charming, in the kind of way Rex Harrison did.

Strange of course to see an Australian film set entirely in London - but we did think of ourselves as being one with Britain in those days, fruity accents and all.