Girdle of Gold

Just seen this film on Talking Pictures it was very silly but highly enjoyable which was I am sure the original idea when made. Harmless fun

This is one of those simple, post-war, comedies that offers us a glimpse at just what made our forebears laugh. If you approach it in that spirit, then this turns out to be quite an entertainingly predicable romp that takes a gentle swipe at the lives and hypocrisies of rural life in Wales along the way. "Griffiths the Hearse" (Meredith Edwards) likes a drink and is usually delivered home in the small hours after one of his "engagements" by his pal "Evans the Milk" (Esmond Knight). His long suffering wife (Maudie Edwards) is always looking for more housekeeping cash and he keeps pleading poverty - but, his secret stash of some £100 is sewn into the fabric of one of her corsets. Perhaps she starts to notice this rather unseemly bulge in her underwear, and times being what they are, offers "Mrs. Macey" (Tonie MacMillan) a sort of old for new arrangement, with her old corsets being sold on to new people. She's also looking for another trade-in too, her husband for the man with the milk! "Hearse" isn't so bothered about his wife absconding with his best mate, but he needs the corset back! What now ensues is all a bit daft, but it's quite wittily scripted and delivered by a cast who know how to get the silk purse out of the sow's ear. Will he find the cash or will some complete stranger get the windfall...?

An entertaining and charming comedy film, which was possibly even a wee bit saucy for its time, but which nevertheless mirrors a long gone, gentler age. In many ways it is an "Ealing-like" film in its presentation and atmosphere. It is expertly scripted and full of witty asides, demonstrating the fast pace of the dialogue and action. It is very well played by all concerned, especially the unforgettable and much underrated, Meredith Edwards, who once again turns in a performance full of heart, gusto and brilliant timing. Typified by the courtroom scene, when he is trying desperately to retrieve his hidden nest egg from his errant wife's suitor. He never failed to produce a stand-out characterisation in a long and illustrious career in British films. A quaint and very enjoyable film that is well worth an hour of anyone's time.

A few years later Joseph Welch as the Judge in 'Anatomy of a Murder' sternly cautioned his jury not to titter at the mention of a pair of panties that figured prominently as vital evidence in the murder trial over which he was about to preside. Here a jury is depicted as in fits over a pair of stays in which a large sum of money has been concealed in a scene far more amusing to them than any audience chancing today upon this antediluvian attempt at 'saucy' farce that carried a 'U' certificate on it's original appearance.

This surprisingly well-lit scene demonstrated that the talents of cameraman Jack Asher would soon be put to much better use working for Hammer Films.