One Wild Oat

This film should have been funny, but Stanley Holloway overacts and shouts his way into the very depths of unfunniness. The film is an abysmal failure. The director Charles Saunders entirely failed to keep Holloway under control, so the result was disastrous. The film was so bad that I did not watch all of it, so I missed Audrey Hepburn, aged 21, as a hotel receptionist. (Or did I simply not spot her?) It was only her second appearance on screen, and Hepburn fans will doubtless want to see this for that reason, if they can bear it. Irene Handl also appears, and despite her being such a favourite, it is not enough to make one sit through this film. Robertson Hare is not particularly impressive, but instead is tedious and irritating. Stanley Holloway and Audrey Hepburn later appeared together in MY FAIR LADY. Let's hope he was funnier in real life than he is in this film. When will directors ever learn that over-the-top performers need to be tightly controlled? The title of this film is certainly amusing, which is why I got the DVD. Instead of lots of oats, there is only one oat. But upon reflection I have realized that no one under 30 appears to be familiar with the expression 'sowing one's wild oats' anymore, or has the slightest comprehension of what it could mean. After all, they have all grown up smothered in wild oats, and some of them have even sowed their first by the age of ten. It's called social decadence.

One wild oat is a cute little farce. British wit and clever twists make this an enjoyable film. It also makes an interesting statement regarding the times. The plot depends on the sexual and marriage taboos of fifty years ago; yet, one of the main characters appears in drag. Audrey Hepburn fans will enjoy seeing her briefly in one of her first film appearance. Another bit of trivia, one of the film's stars, Andrew Crawford, will later appear with Audrey in "My Fair Lady". This film is not readily shown or available; if you have a chance to view it, take it.

This is a not-so-great attempt to revive the Aldwych farces of the thirties in a post-war setting on the cheap. There is an interesting cast, but not on top form. Robertson Hare is excellent as a comedy foil, but here carries too much of the weight of the action, and his pompous barking monotone, so splendid when deployed strategically, becomes irritating long before the end. Stanley Holloway's roguish charm is also out of kilter, with too much rogue and not enough charm. He is excellent in his drag scene, though.

The romantic leads are charisma-free, so that we don't really care whether they get married or not, and hardly notice when they disappear for half the film. More might have been made of Mrs Gilbey's music hall past, while the plot might have benefited from more decisiveness about Mrs Proudfoot's character - is she a snob, or basically good-hearted? The minor parts are more pleasing, with a rare film outing for Sam Costa, his voice so familiar from 'Much Binding in the Marsh', an excellent early cameo from Irene Handl, and a bit part for Audrey Hepburn, who ironically has a telephone conversation with Holloway, who would play her father in 'My Fair Lady'. There are a couple of funny flashbacks to Proudfoot's gay 20s cycling and dancing with a flapper, and more could have been made of these too.

But gosh, the film is slow. The funny gags are too few and far between, and all too often a promising situation goes nowhere. A misfire.