Give Us the Moon

This follows in the footsteps of Val Guest's directorial debut Miss London Limited in introducing a more cosmopolitan flavour to Gainsborough comedies. Certainly not to all tastes then or now, but very funny and enjoyable if you give it a chance. The stars obtain full value out of an original and witty script from Caryl Brahms and her associates. Margaret Lockwood who relished this kind of role as a change from playing wicked ladies is charming and lovely and amusing as Nina, the White Russian who was probably not a princess, and there is real chemistry in her relationship with Peter Graves, an actor I often find rather too smug but whom is excellent as the heir to an hotel chain whom is 'no Joe Lyons'. Of course the most remarkable performance comes from the young Jean Simmons as the fast-talking wise-cracking schoolgirl who almost steals the show. I was surprised to find Vic Oliver's eccentric con-man business so enjoyable while Frank Cellier is excellent as the blustering hotel tycoon. I also liked Roland Culver's languid philanderer, Max Bacon, and the rest of the splendid White Elephants.

I didn't get to see all this movie - I channel-hopped in shortly after it began, and was called away by the phone before it finished. Nevertheless, I intend to track down a copy and enjoy this movie in full. A fun plot, superb cast, and clever writing combine to bring this movie above anything you're likely to get from the plastic formula movies that Hollywood makes today. I'm sure that anyone who has ever felt the urge to procrastinate will identify with someone in this movie!

I really must have a word with my doctor about my medication; I'm hallucinating again! Already reeling from 'Time Flies', Dr. Goebbels would have been completely floored by this garrulous, fascinatingly awful fantasy set in an imaginary future of ease and plenty (Gainsborough Pictures thereafter largely stuck to escaping into a glamorous past that never existed either in films like 'The Wicked Lady').

Enlivened by the presence of a delightful Jean Simmons making her debut as a delinquent schoolgirl and Irene Handl as her hapless headmistress, every prediction it makes about a postwar Britain in which Stafford Cripps wasn't Chancellor of the Exchequer and there was no Cold War (Margaret Lockward plays a Russian!) is so completely wrong it's fascinating!

"Give Us the Moon" has an interesting history as a movie. It's supposed to take place after the end of World War II. But, it was filmed in the middle of the war. One wonders where Gainsborough found the places to film the movie that didn't show some damage from the London bombings. Apparently, the firm's studios weren't damaged or were repaired to cover any scars. The final oddity is that the film actually was released in British theaters in August 1944 - with the end of the war still a year away.

This is a comedy that's based on a 1939 novel, "The Elephant is White" by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon. The book is set in Paris, and besides the film setting in London, the authors apparently wrote some additional dialog for the screenplay.

London audiences then weren't wowed by the film, and I think I know why. It's not because of the eccentricity of the story (it's unfair to call it a plot, because it doesn't really have a clear goal or outcome). Crazy, erratic, eccentric and wildly screwball comedies can be very funny and great. But, unless the cast has the Marx Brothers, Laurel and Hardy, or the Three Stooges, it should not be expected to be zany from the start. Then, the comedy really scores. Unfortunately, this was built up as wild comedy, but this cast just doesn't deliver with the screenplay it has. So, it misfires throughout.

This was not a film to boost any actor's career. Margaret Lockwood, Peter Graves and Roland Culver had much better films in their careers. The only noteworthy casting was the first film appearance of Jean Simmons in a small role.

I enjoy clever comedy and slapstick as much as anyone, and especially like British comedy. So, I was disappointed with how flat and "unfunny" was "Give Us the Moon."

A group of layabouts who refuse to do any work get an opportunity to lord it up when Peter Pyke (Peter Graves), the son of a hotel magnate, joins their group.

This film has a great idea about a group who call themselves "White Elephants" and who refuse to do anything useful for society, especially work. It has the potential to be a commendable blueprint for life, but unfortunately, it is played out by a weak cast who are all ultimately irritating characters. From Margaret Lockwood's "Nina" with her irritating fake Russian accent to Jean Simmons' unconvincing streetwise "Heidi", through to Peter Graves' arrogantly slimy "Peter Pyke", they are all unfunny. The dialogue is delivered at a quick pace as if to impress the viewer with it's cleverness. It is indeed funny in parts but it is not consistent.

A memorably bad part of the film involves a duel sequence which is not at all funny. Why did British films think that audiences wanted to watch this sort of claptrap? However, the film does contain some funny moments, eg, the theory behind going to school to become stupid; and the attempts by a couple of the "Elephants" to serve food at a restaurant. Sadly, the film never quite gets going and just ends up as a boring noise. Shame.