A Yank in Ermine

Yet another film, where our American cousins, courtesy of an American airman, Joe Turner, played by Peter Thompson, and his two 'buddies,' encounter the upper crust of English society. The contrived plot, whereby Thompson inherits the title of 'Earl,' gives the writers plenty of opportunity to trot out the usual contrasting hackneyed phrases and different forms of social etiquette, which expose the cultural differences between two English speaking countries. The differences are literally 'hammered home' by Thompson's 'buddy' 'Slowburn'' played by Jon Pertwee, no less, dressed in very loud clothes, repeating 'yeah' all the time and speaking in an excruciating phoney New York, Bronx nasal accent. The other 'buddy' called, 'Butch,' played by Harold Lloyd Junior, has little to say or do, but merely act as a shadow to Peter Thompson. Sid James, has a cameo part as a cigar chewing, nightclub owner, but is far from convincing, let down by a poor accent and a tendency to 'overdo' it on the trite American 'gangster' phrases. The English aristocrats likewise are simply cardboard stereotypes, with the 'wolfish cad' being played by Guy Middleton, who refers to any lady he meets as 'old girl' and Richard Wattis, playing the very posh and stuffy butler, who is shocked and mortified by the informality of the three American guests, who have invaded the aristocratic home of his 'master' played by Edward Chapman, the Duke of Fontenham. The cultural differences, which are at the heart of the film, simply fail to summon up amusement or humour, hence the tempo of the film is all very tedious and flat. Thompson's romance with Angela, the Duke's daughter, played Noelle Middleton, is dull and lacks any form of sparkle. Her BBC, RADA voice, and her one dimensional responses, renders the 'romantic' scenes as yawn inducing.

Sadly, this was nothing more then a 'time filler' film, before the main feature. Great waste of talent.

They used to call these British movies 'Mid-Atlantic' as they thought they might attract American film-goers if they included a few has-been American actors. This type of movie eventually brought the UK film industry to its knees. The premise is so dull: a Yank comes to little old England with its quaint customs and people . Yawn yawn of course he gets to like it and finds true love. One awful bit is when the hero is supposedly riding a winning horse and he is so obviously in a studio set on some kind of rocking bench.

A brief cameo from Sid James. The village used is Turville Buckinghamshire and for once they used the real name of the pub the 'Bull and Butcher'

The premise is just to get a supposedly 'box-office' American or two into a film to get the finance. An American in uniform inherits a village. Lots of raucous 'jazz' music drowns any sort of emotional empathy, along with a woman who 'dances' in gold lamé, wearing what appear to be a pair of marigold washing-up gloves. It deteriorates from then on, with the likes of Wattis, Pertwee and Beckwith playing English characters, Sid James playing the Afrikaaner version of a comic and a whole string of Ealing studio clichés. Puts bums on seats- in the pub next door! The polo game with the brightly coloured balls, the Rolls that would have been ancient even then and the chauffeur in a luminous scarlet uniform seem to be quintessentially English to the directors of this mash-up. The straight actors seem to be delivering the lame script with sincerity, but I'm guessing they didn't carry clips from this time waster in their casting portfolios.

A Yank In Ermine tells of the story of an enlisted American Airman who gets a visit from British solicitor Reginald Beckwith who tells him that he's about to inherit a title and estate because a whole lot of relatives he never knew he had have taken leave of this earth. He's got himself a nice bit of acreage in England with servants and all.

Of course if he decides the lifestyle isn't for him he can abdicate. But Peter Thompson decides to go to the United Kingdom and check it out. Accompanying area a pair of friends Harold Lloyd, Jr., and Jon Pertwee.

There are some women involved. A nightclub singer back home played by Diana Decker and Noelle Middleton who is the heiress to a neighboring estate. The usual romantic complications ensue.

This might have been a bigger hit, but Peter Thompson was just too bland in the lead. I daresay this probably got limited distribution on this side of the pond.

Another reviewer said Jon Pertwee had an atrocious American accent. That he did, but I think it was quite deliberate. Pertwee was having some fun with the part spoofing what some Americans sound like to British ears. I enjoyed him and Harold Lloyd, Jr. at the local dance where Pertwee cuts one mean rug in slang of the day.

A Yank In Ermine still an entertaining film after over 60 years.

I'm writing a review as I feel a bit sorry for this little film as it's probably been consigned to history. Made in 1955, it's mildly amusing if, like me, you love watching those old British character actors, long gone now, but who pop up consistently in this type of comedy from that period. I'm talking about actors like Reginald Beckwith, Richard Wattis, Edward Chapman, Guy Middleton and the legend that is Sid James. For the ladies, it has Noelle Middleton who I don't remember, and Diana Decker who I do remember vaguely. Diana Decker is very good, lively and personable and contributes quite a lot to the film. It tells the story of and American airman who inherits a British title of a Lord. He flies over here with two of his sidekicks and the inevitable occurs, he can't decide whether to stay or go back to the States until he falls in love with another landowners daughter. A series of comical encounters take place before the happy ending. Jon Pertwee with an atrocious American accent is one of the hero's (Peter Thompson) sidekicks. Quite fun as long as you know and love these great character actors I've mentioned above.