The Lady Is a Square

This is a marvellous film; well plotted, acted and sung! A joy!

Frankie Vaughan had a successful career as a crooner and had several big hits, but he was certainly no actor. His wooden performance renders much of the film unwatchable. Vaughan makes for a very unconvincing butler and his one note performance casts a shadow over the whole film. Even the cheesy dance routines and banal songs are totally unforgettable. It's tame & lifeless storyline is shot through with cliched dialogue. Anthony Newley is badly miscast as Vaughan's comedy 'go - between' while the rest of the cast, with the exception of Janette Scott, all appear middle aged and 'fuddy duddy.' The film lacks those essential ingredients of dynamism and excitement, and with its plodding storyline, was dated, even back in 1959. To call it a B film is being generous!

Totally cornball, but simultaneously charming and a fun watch if approached with the right attitude. Frankie Vaughan is in fine voice and delivers his lines with a twinkle in his eyes that almost makes up for the numerous clunkers in the screenplay. His operatic number is probably the musical high point of the film, while the "Honey Bunny" ditty is so dire one can only shake one's head in dismay. Overall, though, it's a pleasant time killer if nothing more promising is on offer.

A drab attempt by Herbert Wilcox to get With It by starring wife Anna Neagle opposite new singing sensation Frankie Vaughan. The film's title describes Neagle only too well, while Vaughan (playing a pop singer who speaks Russian and can namedrop Mahler) obliged by the plot to impersonate a butler is likeable but plainly no actor. The attempts by Wilcox' regular scriptwriter Nicholas Phipps at topical humour include some gruesomely apt references to looming financial ruination; since Wilcox was himself declared bankrupt in 1964. As Neagle's daughter and Vaughan's romantic interest Janette Scott, however, has gracefully made the transition from child actress to a charming young woman; while Neagle's own dance duet with Anthony Newley is actually rather sweet.

Frankie Vaughan as a young singer (surprise!) who falls in love with a young Janette Scott, but Mummy (Neagle) is more your classical admirer not your popular vocalist type! Excellent, experienced support from Wilfrid Hyde White and the fabulous Anthony Newley, who gets to dance with Anna Neagle on stage at the late lamented Talk of the Town in the movies close. Worth a visit to see the start of many great entertainers careers.