She Knows Y' Know

This is a black & white English movie running 68 minutes with no faces or names I know or even have heard of. Just a bunch of people that might have been slightly known in the day but did not last, as far as I can tell.

20 minutes into this movie and I have no idea, at all, what it is about or going to be about.

So far, all there has been is inter- and intra-generational bickering. There seems to be absolutely no plot line whatsoever! It is almost like those camera-in-a-house shows where nothing ever happens.

There is some oldsters talking about sex, as they can vaguely remember it and young people kissing and singing. And more bickering.

30 minutes in and the same nothing is happening. I feel I am wasting my time here... I can see why there is no plot posted for this dud. There is none! A spoiler would be impossible. There's nothing to spoil.

When anything happens, I will let you know...

OK, 40 minutes in and finally a plot point. It seems that a girl is pregnant and a young man is accused. It is completely unclear whether he did the deed. The writing is so poor on this point you could drive a Mac truck through it. Maybe that's going to be the only plot point. 29 minutes left. The story does not ask the boy if he did it, at least not yet. He admits it, blandly, so we are not sure whether he did get her pregnant (they never say the 'p' word!). He seems to be willing for a ransom of a house and some money.

The parents decide to find someone else to marry the girl. And that's the plot so far. Not sure if you would want to watch this dog to find out what happens. I guess I will finish (14 minutes left) but I don't think I will like it!

So everything happens in the last third of the movie. Long time to wait for a weak plot. Twist ending. Still, hardly worth waiting for it.

Hylda Worswick makes it har mission to prevent her son from a marriage to Marilyn Smallhope, who's found herself pregnant.

It's a very enjoyable film from 1962, it's funny, it's charming, it displays many commonly felt attitudes of the time. Pregnancy, marriage, duty, all are explored here, attitudes really were so incredibly different, families so worried about shame, the class wars, it feels like hundreds of years back, not just sixty.

I adore Hylda Baker, I just love her unique brand of humour, and of course she's great, it must have been hard to find roles for someone so unique, she would definitely find her place with Nearest and Dearest and Not on your Nellie. Her mishaps with words are present, but used sparingly.

Joan Sanderson was great here as the opposing battleaxe, Marilyn's mother, she had such a stoic delivery, it's funny she looks as old here as she would thirty years later in After Henry.

Neighbour Jenny was funny, amusing the way she kept on popping in to borrow things.

7/10.

It's a shame, sad, very sad that more of Hylda's works in TV and Film are not available. She was a remarkable actress, extremely funny, "belly-aching hilarious" and one of five of my favorite British comedic actresses. She was on a realm with Lucy, now that's funny! I pray more of Hylda's works are found and made available to her fans and hopefully will become known to a new generation of fans. This other previewer obviously has no clue who Hylda was ore he is a sad, sad person who was born with no sense of humor. People should not write about things they don't know. If he made a mistake in purchasing this DVD and did not like it, chalk it up to personal bad taste, don't take it out on the movie. There are many, many, many who find it a great piece of artistic work. I am definitely one.

There's a fuss in the neighborhood in a fictional Lancashire town, where the son of the house, Cyril Smith, is accused of getting the neighbor's daughter, Linda Castle, with child. Her parents want them married ASAP, but his mother, Hylda Baker, is adamant he's going to finish getting his B.Sc and move on. There's fussing and fight and Miss Baker gets to utter her catchphrase, which is also the title of the movie.

It's a lower-class comedy-drama, and the sort of movie that depends more on tropes that were standard in the Manchester school of drama: girls getting caught out of wedlock and parents trying to make sure that the youngsters did the right thing. Most of the energy is provided by Miss Baker, whose combative energy remains high throughout, with some help from Joe Gibbons as the lodger. This one is relatively mild and undistinguished, but harmless at 72 minutes of screen time.

"She Knows Y'Know" is a comedy set in a working class London neighborhood. As such, the accents are thick, but fortunately there ARE closed captions for this film following its restoration, so be sure to activate them.

The star of this film, clearly, is Hylda (Hylda Baker). She is a VERY domineering woman and what she says is the law in her home. So, when neighbors come to Hylda alleging that Hylda's son impregnated their daughter, Hylda goes into fight mode...and she's bound and determined to keep her son single and working towards finishing his college education.

Hylda is a character who is both likable and truly awful at the same time. She is opinionated, loud and has a tendency to act without thinking...but, down deep, she also loves her family and would fight to protect them like a badger protecting its young. She's also pretty funny...and make the film worth seeing.

Overall, nothing brilliant but an enjoyable family comedy. Again, however, it's imperative that most viewers use their captions, as the accents are thich here.