The Reluctant Widow

This has, on paper, quite a workmanlike cast to deliver a story of 18th century espionage but sadly it all falls rather flat. Jean Kent is "Helena" who marries a dying man so she can inherit his estate. Shortly afterwards, he duly pops his clogs and she finds herself embroiled in a conspiracy involving a dreadfully wooden Guy Rolfe ( - her new cousin "Lord Carylon") and a not much better Paul Dupuis ("Lord Nivelle"). Kathleen Byron features sparingly but even she cannot really help this dreary and frequently quite confusing costume drama catch fire. It's wordy and plodding, with what little opportunities to swash and buckle drowned thoroughly by the poorly written script and the somewhat token nod to Anglo-French history. Andrew Cruickshank pops up too and the eagle-eyed amongst us might spot the avuncular Peter Bull in a stagecoach. I usually enjoy these kind of films, but this one has little by way of production values or plot to redeem it, sorry.

Firstly to correct an earlier reviewer this was not a Gainsborough picture.It was a Two Cities film made by Rank at Denham. When watching this film it is little wonder that Rank were millions in the red,and soon were to close Denham .It is difficult to give a coherent resume of this film as the story is impossible. to follow

A delightful adaptation of one of my favourite Georgette Heyer novels, The Reluctant Widow is a tongue in cheek melodrama of spies and smugglers set in the Napoleonic era. It stars Jean Kent as the reluctant widow who marries a dying bounder to prevent him accusing a young lad of his murder and finds herself caught up in intrigue and danger, not to mention falling for the handsome and dashing Guy Rolfe. The supporting cast are all excellent, especially Jean Cadell as the housekeeper and Andrew Cruickshank as the vile and repulsive villain.

I know now why actors in "Eastenders" suddenly appear through kitchen doors in their silly "soaps"; they were doing it back in 1950 in silly melodramas such as this, when characters suddenly appear mysteriously in the room.This type of Gainsborough melodrama had run its course by 1950 as more sophisticated screenplays had begun to replace them at the cinema.Single and married women whose husbands & boyfriends were in the armed forces during the war were now expecting a higher class of film when they went to the cinema.

Jean Kent plays the female lead in "The Reluctant Widow"/"The Inheritance" playing at first a governess who gets sidetracked into another house becoming the wife of a husband on his deathbed.If that was not far fetched, the plot becomes more farcical and melodramatic with every scene.The action takes place in the regency of George IV and the Duke of Wellington.It becomes very confusing and involves spying, selling government secrets to Napoleonic France.Guy Rolfe is formally defrocked on military parade but redeems himself in the end with the military hierarchy.Jean Kent is passed around snogging many of the male characters while Noel Howlett, (the headmaster in the t.v. production of "Please Sir"), has to perform the marriage service again to a bridegroom who is supposedly dieing in bed.Kathleen Byron makes a brief appearance as a French female accomplice.I gave it only 5/10.

Jean Kent, she of the immensely expressive facial expressions (see her also in the great "The Woman in Question", released the same year), is delightful as the put-upon but constantly resourceful damsel in distress in this forgotten period classic. I imagine it could be performed on stage today as pure camp, perhaps in a drag approach of Charles Busch.

Set against the backdrop of Napoleon at war with the Duke of Wellington, our heroine is thrust into a maddeningly rapid series of dangerous events, dealing with smugglers, spies, rakes and unsavory characters as novelist Georgette Heyer piles on the plot twists loaded with surprises and risque situations.

Guy Rolfe, unforgettable a decade later as "Mr. Sardonicus", plays the bad good-guy who manipulates Kent and seems untrustworthy when in fact he is rather selflessly serving England in the war. The marvelous story set-up has Kent suddenly marrying Rolfe's cousin, immediately becoming a widow, only to eventually marry Guy expecting to be widowed again.

She manages to maneuver her way through impossible perils, always witty and capable of handling unanticipated situations, especially when facing down a handsome villain played by yet another cousin, Scott Forbes (later to star as Jim Bowie on American TV).

Director Bernard Knowles maintains a brisk pace, using fast fades at the high points of many scenes, and with strong audience identification with Kent's character the movie draws you in to an adventurous bygone world.