Miss Tulip Stays the Night

Patrick Holt and Diana Dors arrive at their new home in the country. He plans to start his new murder mystery, when in stalks Cicely Courtneidge demanding a room for the night and giving orders. The next morning, the couple discovers her dead in an armchair. PC Jack Hulbert shows up, followed by Inspector Joss Ambler.

It's the first movie with Hulbert and Miss Courtneidge in more than a decade, and this comedy-mystery is directed by Leslie Arliss at farce speeds. Unfortunately, there's little in it witty and very funny once Miss Courtneidge is reduced to a corpse. Holt and Miss Dors are a bit too sedate, Ambler is grouchy, and A.E. Matthews shows up at the beginning; he's funny, but then he vanishes, irrelevant to the plot.

It's a common issue with comedies that have a story to tell: the laughs are in the beginning, then the fun is abandoned in favor of the plot. It's a fair mystery, and it's good to see Hulbert and Miss Courtneidge on the screen, but despite some bits and bobs, it's dull.

This British comedy mystery was missing a couple of essential things: Gaumont-British or Gainsborough as the production company, 1935, plenty of lively interpolative music and a handful of songs to pad out the dolorous 65 minute running time. Never mind about the acting or story. It was a deliberately old-fashioned film mainly intended for the then older generation to enjoy, but I doubt whether they left the cinema with happy feelings engendered; and TV was making it so much easier to feel disappointed. It had as main characters old stalwarts Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge, Joss Ambler, even A. E. Matthews – however time had taken its toll on them - alongside the photogenic Diana Dors for whom time was just beginning.

Young married couple take possession of house in country when a slightly cuckoo middle aged lady arrives (Courtneidge of course), decides to spend the night with them but leaves in an apparently murdered condition. The husband Patrick Holt is a crime story writer to whom local police Inspector Ambler takes an unreasonable exception as competition, the wife played by Dors is scatty until the last frantic five minutes. The film veers from interesting socially to embarrassing with pregnant pauses and blank looks to (very) occasionally witty dialogue: "The police have no right to infest my premises","Infest?","The word was chosen with care". Jack as the police constable and Cicely were generally awkward, some might say even when young, and just too out of practice by now for movies - what they could get away in 1935 was impossible by 1955. At the climax she really should've had a jaunty song and ungainly dance to burst into; and attention must paid to the denouement to understand it, that is, if still awake.

Maybe another sad thing is that it's probably easier and more cost-effective for the BFI to restore and release films like this in better condition rather than older, more worthy and more urgent cases. The production company Nettlefold which made this dire effort had been in operation more or less on a shoestring budget since 1895 but TV finally helped close it down in 1961. I've no objection to seeing this to say hello again to some old friends especially as it's so short, but it's difficult for even me to get much more from this or recommend it. It's OK, but if you're interested be prepared for a waste of time.

Patrick Holt is "Dax", a successful crime writer who is suffering from a bit of a mental block. His wife "Kate" (Diana Dors) suggest they take a break in the country where they encounter the eponymous "Miss Tulip" (Cicely Courtneidge) - but not for long. On coming down in the morning, they discover the French windows open and their guest shot dead. The police arrive and under the investigative gaze of "Insp. Thorne" (Joss Ambler) the game is afoot. Dors was always a very light-weight actress and offers little of substance here, but at times there is a bit of fun tit-for-tat dialogue between the policeman and the novelist to keep this otherwise entirely forgettable comedy off the rocks. The ending is not quite the stuff of Agatha Christie but it's a little bit quirky and all-in-all this is actually quite a passable, low-budget, hour or so of bucolic sleuthing.

I wrote this after seeing the film on TV and reading the other reviews which i felt were very harsh. The main problem with the film is that it seems to fall between comedy and mystery with not quite enough of either, also the pace is poorly judged with a lot of messing around in the first 90% of the film before the mystery is solved in the last 5 minutes . It reminded me of long ago school homework when you start well but lose interest and put down anything to get it finished. But despite that this is basically a harmless glimpse of a world which is nowadays almost forgotten. There are some good lines, Diana Dors looks gorgeous and Hulbert and Courtneidge are charming in their roles and overall this is pleasantenough way of filling an afternoon.

"You go back to sleep and choke me off in the morning!" That line early on in this awful film made me laugh out loud.

Diana Dors looks lovely in this, although she's the only draw.

Other reviews are spot on about this. The comedy is two decades past its sell by date. The mystery comes across as more Enid Blyton than Agatha Christie.

Some staples of forties British cinema are wheeled in to provide light relief, but do no more than add a cringe aspect for the viewer.

All that said, I still enjoyed this restored uncut gem.

Despite the terrible editing, uninspired screenplay, the awkward pacing and the silly characters, there's still enough nostalgic value remaining to entertain us old folk... and of course... Diana Dors!