It's in the Bag

It's a bit too long, this, but it's still quite an entertaining to-and-fro drama that showcases the enjoyable comedy timing of "Gert" & "Daisy" (Elsie & Doris Waters). They are skint! They need some cash - and so they take an old frock that belonged to their late aunt and sell it for a few pounds. Later, when celebrating their windfall they discover a letter from that relative informing them there is the mammoth sum of £2,000 sewn into that frilly garment. They must get it back at all costs, but how? It's been sold on - and their search to find it leads them to tread the boards and this isn't a skill that either can take to readily. These two, real-life, sisters have a delightful rapport - they finish each other's sentences and there is a charming synergy between them that delivers their own script effectively. It's a little slapstick for me and the jokes are hardly sophisticated, but it has a natural feel to it and even after the initial joke has worn thin, it flows pretty seamlessly. It probably won't mean much if you are not a Brit, but of you are then it's an engaging piece of cinema nostalgia designed to raise a smile during the height of the Second World War.

This was i believe on a BFI list of missing films.It now comes as a DVD release shorn of 20 minutes including all of the credits.This is a reworking of that old chestnut "The Twelve Chairs" starring the musi hall team Gert and Daisy.Given that there are no credits part of the fun is wondering who ia going to turn up next.In small parts we see Esma Cannon and Irene Handel.Much of the humour is predictable.Like many films of this era the climax takes place in a theatre where everything that can go wrong does.The image and sound are good.Whist no forgotten masterpiece this is a fairly entertaining slice of wartime comedy.

Yet another version of that hardy perennial 'The Twelve Chairs', this time serving as a fairly elaborate vehicle for radio favourites Gert & Daisy (it even boasts a bizarre dream sequence featuring Esma Cannon), further enlivened by early appearances by Megs Jenkins and Irene Handl.

Promptly redone in Hollywood without even bothering to come up with a new title for another popular radio comedian, Fred Allen (although since this version had barely left cinemas itself the new version had to be titled 'The Fifth Chair' in Blighty).

A wartime morale booster from Gert & Daisy which makes virtually no mention of Nazis, focusing instead on the couples' search for a dress in which £2000 has been hidden. A thin plot and few laughs.

Directed by Herbert Mason and written by Con West, It's in the Bag stars Elsie Waters and Doris Waters as two batty sisters who try to track down a dress that has a substantial amount of money sewn into the hem.

It's all very chaotic and sprightly, resplendent with chucklesome slapstick as par for the course. The sisters showcase their music hall background to great effect, backed up by a number of idiosyncratic and ebullient characters. It's all very daft of course, none more so than with the blunderbuss finale played out at a theatre, and in truth the jokes wear thin after a while. But some comedy sequences do bring the laughs (sleepwalking on tacks, wonderful), ensuring this is not a waste of time for fans of this type of British film making. Fans of such will be pleased to see Irene Handl and Esma Cannon put in appearances as well. 5/10