Molly and Me

What a wonderful and thoroughly entertaining film this is, this is my first experience of Gracie Fields and purchased this due to Monty Woolley being in this, suffice to say not only am I a fan Of Monty's, but Gracie's, too.

There's a good mixture of fun, laughter, slapstick, farce, singing and a terrific, entertaining cast, as well as Monty and Gracie the main cast members to stand out for me are a very young Roddy McDowall (as Monty's son) and Reginald Gardner (as the Butler), the rest of the cast are all excellent and together with me the cast were clearly having a ball too!! My one and only problem with the film is that I wish it were longer, it's only 76 minutes long and just wish it'd been at least another 10-15 minutes more, but it's always a sure sign just how much you've enjoyed a film when you think this way I guess, If you enjoyed Monty Woolley in this then please check out The Man who came to dinner with Bette Davis, it's a terrific comedy, sadly only available on Region 1 at the moment.

Good sound and picture too, I've purchased this film in the Gracie Field's silver screen collection and that version at least has no subtitles whatsoever.

Rather obscure comedy of manners from TCF. It's not a knee-slapper, but the situation's amusing enough along with a very capable cast. In fact I agree with another reviewer that the material is strong enough to warrant a longer film. Coming from moneyed studio TCF, I wonder why the oversight. Maybe it was because of the British cast and lack of a marquee name.

An unemployed crew of stage performers pretends to be household servants so they can become a rich stuffy old man's household help. The trouble is can they bring off the impersonation even as their amusing staginess keeps interfering with their act? The comedic potential between clashing personality types remains a rich one

The first part is a fairly mild set-up, comedy-wise, but the last reaches a level of madcap as the crew's real identities begin to show though-- they just can't help themselves. The latter furnishes a lot of chuckles, especially Gardiner's ditzy mugging. On the whole, Fields makes a persuasive chief conniver, while Gardiner and Schaefer get most of the laughs. Wooley, of course, makes a grandiose rich guy, stuffy and superior, a perfect foil for the stagy cut-ups. Then too, McDowall's estranged teen-age son adds a note of poignancy to the proceedings.

Anyway, the premise and cast are a compelling one even if the overall results add up to an under-achiever.

An out of work troop of actors take over running a proper English gentleman home. They show the rather harsh man there should be more compassion for the only son he has.

While a lot of the humor is very deadpan, it's an interesting look at how simple the rich life was in the 30's and 40's.

The son Jimmy is played by a very young Roddy McDowall

This really is a film for those who appreciate a) filmed theatre and b) English humour c) optimism in adverse situations. The show is run by Gracie Fields erstwhile actress and singer from the north of England and who typifies the 'ee by gum accent ! A clan of out-of-work actors take over the running of a rich household but their profession remains unbeknown to the owner of the house. The staff already in place on Fields' arrival are summarily dismissed by her when she discovers that they have been "cooking" the books and indulging in illegal practices In addition to this the owner of the house has a son, played by Roddy McDowell, very young, who has a communication problem with his father -in fact, his mother ran away with another man whilst he was very young but he had always been led to believe that she had died.

The film is very optimistic and Fields is truly unflappable in when trying to deal with the various problematic situations that crop up. In the end the whole of the troop put in a splendid actors' performance in a bid to send packing Mr Graham's wife who suddenly turns up and demands money ! This fine episode brings a conclusion to a film well worth watching if you are lucky enough to see it scheduled !

I noticed when I looked through IMDb that there were two previous movies with the same title. I would assume this 1945 film is a remake, but IMDb doesn't give this information. I do know that there are no reviews for these earlier films and this probably is because the films have been lost to the ravages of time--a common occurrence with early films made on nitrate stock.

Molly is an out of work actress from the London music hall world. Because she needs the job, she uses her acting talent to play the part of a housekeeper and manages to captivate the gruff new master as well as his young and rather lost son. Using Molly's gift for common-sense and pluck, she manages to do a bang-up job--and makes this house truly a home.

This is the second time I've seen this version of "Molly and Me" and I do remember liking it a bit more the first time. Now it isn't that I disliked the movie seeing it again--I just noticed a shortcoming in the tempo of the film when I watched it tonight. I see now that Monty Woolley's gruff character goes from a curmudgeon to a nice guy way too quickly in the film. I think doing the transition a bit more slowly and a bit more realistically would have made for an even better film. BUT, it's hard to fault the movie too much, as it's a pleasant little musical comedy--a sweet sort of film they just don't make any more but that they made so well back in the old days. Plus, Gracies Fields and Woolley were both so marvelous--as were the supporting actors (especially Reginald Gardner). It's hard not to like this nice little film.