Deux mille femmes

The critics were a bit sniffy at the time of its release, but this is one of the jolliest films made during the war. It concerns a group of English women caught in France during World War II and interned in a posh hotel.

It's full of the sort of "There'll always be an England" stiff upper lip stuff that looks so kitch these days, and yet there's also a feeling of release for these women since there are no men around.

Sadly, some RAF men accidentally parachute into the camp and the women have to hide them from the Germans. The men are undercast and a bit dreary, but they wouldn't stand a chance against the cream of British character actresses anyway.

The rest of the film concerns the women's attempts to smuggle the men out of the camp. The plot however is irrelevent. What matters is the way these actresses work without having to compete for billing with any male star.

The film is fun, risque and the best British romp before Tom Jones.

"Two Thousand Women" from 1944 is about a group of British women imprisoned at a glamorous French hotel. The place doesn't have a lot of amenities, but they're together with a place to sleep and food.

Some RAF men parachute into the area and sneak into the hotel. It falls to the women to hide them and then to help them escape.

The marvelous cast of women includes Flora Robson, Phyllis Calvert, Patricia Roc, Renee Houston, and Jean Kent. Kent plays a floozie trying to seduce one of the German soldiers.

Good film, and different. The last scene is very stirring!

The listing says comedy/drama, well it could possibly stand alongside such wartime comedies as 'The Goose Steps out' or 'Very Important Person' but not quite. Why it is called 2,000 Women is beyond me when we barely see two dozen, I mean how many rooms would you need to 2 at a time in, 1,000, really do the maths.

Tenko this ain't!

The women prisoners look well fed, wearing the best clothes and heavily made up, I can't imagine the Germans treated any British female prisoners like this. OK it was made during the war and there is perhaps a bit of propaganda about it, but to say it's a comedy is laughable in itself.

I can't believe the like of Dame Flora, Phyllis Calvert and Jean Kent agreed to do this daft piece of tosh. There is one scene when one of the men are seen smoking a pipe, as if.

I'm saying avoid it but don't expect anything close to factual.

The setting is a women's internment camp which resembles a very large, posh country house with several halls, plenty of space and some luxury rooms. Three RAF pilots find their way into the camp and the women must hide them before these 3 heroic chaps can make their escape. Will things work out as planned....?

There are definitely not 2,000 women in this place. There are, however, a group of irritating women who deserve to be incarcerated. Phyllis Calvert as "Freda" speaks in a ghastly posh accent for the whole film and is quite annoying. Jean Kent as "Bridie" is the funniest to watch while Renee Houston as "Maude" is far better as a cabaret singer/performer than as a wise-cracking street-girl. Betty Jardine does well as section supervisor "Teresa" but there are no great performances in this story. Patricia Roc as "Rosemary" comes off as the best character but she shouldn't be in the film in the first place. She is caught by the French signalling to German airplanes to blow up an ammunition hold. She's in the wrong goddam prison!

An attempt is made at sentimentalism by having somebody sing "There's no place like home" whilst we pan across several of the women's faces. It's rubbish. Another moment that doesn't work happens when Muriel (Flora Robson) and Clairen (Muriel Aked) are taken away to a German prison camp. I'm afraid that we just don't care! There is no drama. The men have absolutely no presence and come across as slightly wimpish.

The ending is laughably bad. I'm not referring to the plot but to the rendition of "There'll always be an England". However, the film is lightweight fluff that passes the time and it's OK as that.

There are some excellent reviews above so I'll not waste any time explaining what happens. Suffice to say, I'd never heard of this film before and just happened to catch it on Film4 on VE Day 2020, and found it an enjoyable and undemanding way to spend an hour or so. Take it for what it is and it's an easy 10/10.