La chambre de Madame

When a young couple marry, the father of the bride hires a maid to look after them. Proving completely unsuitable, the couple embark on a series of hilarious attempts to find a replacement.

A curious film this, rather subversive (for 1959), episodic in feel and strangely (but effectively) mixing farce with poignancy. The leads are attractive, but the show is repeatedly stolen by a brilliant supporting cast. From Hickson's hysterically funny turn as the inebriated, dog-owning housekeeper Rosemary (her drunken ascending of the stairs is a delight) to Demongeot's joyously natural performance as Ingrid, the entire production is hugely entertaining and barking mad!

This is not by any means a very good film, but it is quite a good film. What almost ruined it for me was the class differences, and how basically the well-off couple played blandly by Michael Craig and Anne Heywood seem to think it is their 'due' to having servants to fulfill their basic needs. And of course the servants have to be either thieves, alcoholics or plain stupid. Downstairs quite literally is their home in every sense of the word. This fortunately was blown more or less out of the water in 1960 when the case for the prosecution depended on the premise of ' would you want your wife or servants to read this book? ' The book being the unexpurgated version of ' Lady Chatterley's Lover'. But in this film the D. H. Lawrence book even expurgated is nowhere in sight. The only time any sense of reality and a class threatening sexuality appears is when Mylene Demongeot enters the house, and sexual hypocrisy is totally thrown out of the window. All the well-off husbands with servants fall for her, take her out and then blame their wives for not understanding them. Demongeot is intelligent as well as being a fine actor, and gently demolishes them by reminding them of their double standards. It is only when Michael Craig has sex and maybe love on his mind as well that the film goes into some sort of genuine emotion and disquiet. No spoilers as what happens but all I can say is it holds up a harsh light on the morality, so called, of the time. After this French woman (although Demongeot is ridiculously supposed to be Swedish) takes over life is not quite the same, although to me a false ending calms England's murky sexual desires, and I did not believe in it. Claudia Cardinale delightfully plays the first sexual intruder and Demongeot continues where Cardinale left off, but Demongeot is more incisive. Daniel Massey and James Robertson Justice are also very good in their roles, but then there was an edge to their acting that the UK never properly explored.

Based on a 1957 novel by Ronald Scott Thorn, both that and this film relics - the film prettily shot in Eastmancolor - of that far off era before the Lady Chatterly trial when a pair of young newlyweds were expected to employ servants. With a 'hilarious' title song and Philip Green's score constantly nudging us in the ribs to remind us how sidesplitting their attempts to recruit staff are.

Mildly saucy shenanigans ensure with a young Claudia Cardinale playing a fiery Italian and Mylene Demongeot an unsophisticated rural Swede in a sou'wester (despite obviously - as my mother observed when I was watching this on TV many years ago - having "a little French face").

Meeting Miss Demongeot off her train at King's Cross we already encounter an unbilled Shirley Anne Field followed by Susan Hampshire; while Britain's contingent also includes Joan Sims is a Welsh nanny. Anne Heywood, meanwhile, is seen coiled naked around Michael Craig in bed within the first fifteen minutes (it's alright, it's their honeymoon)! Within ten years she would be engaged in more, ahem, solitary activity - still in the alltogether - standing in front of a bathroom mirror in 'The Fox'; by which time Barbara Steele - here playing a Sloane ranger - would be a fixture in exotic continental horror movies.

(Madge Ryan, who plays a frisky WPC, was later one of the team applying the Ludovico Technique in 'A Clockwork Orange'.)

Rank/Box/St John/Thomas were no doubt talented producers of this type of light comedy in the 50's and early 60's, but sadly most of them were very by-the-numbers efforts without much pizzaz or oomph. Here we have a bevy of their artistes including JR Justice, Micheal Craig, Sid James and Joan Sims playing their stock characters. It's all OK but we've seen it a thousand times before and the episodic style does jar a little from time to time. All in all it may pass an hour or two quite pleasantly, but it's nothing to write home about. A very average 5 from me.

Ralph Thomas and Betty Box made routine films like this in between making their highly successful Doctor films.Many of the actors who starred in that series appear here.Basically this film contains a series of sketches showing a newly weds series of disasters with hire help till they find Mylene Demyngot.This then as a dramatic twist to allow a happy ending for the couple.Some good performances enliven what is by any standards a routine fairly unfunny script.Michael Craig gives his standard performance.He was the last actor under contract to the Rank Organisation.