What the Butler Saw

Edward Rigby has just returned from the Coconut Isles, where he has been ... head of the British mission for ten years. His butler, Henry Mollinson, returns with him to a houseful of stuffy relatives. Meanwhile, Mercy Haystead, the princess of the Islands, has stowed away in the crates of animals Rigby has shot. Hilarity ensues.

Or at least it would, if there were any life in this lifeless relic. The movie is called a rarity, but it still turned up and I watched it regardless. The film makers were going for some sort of P.G. Wodehouse effect, but lack much in the way of comic pacing. New points, like love potions, keep popping up in order to stretch the effort out to second feature length, but despite the hard work of the actors, there's nothing to be done with the script.

I have seen the story done before but either as drama or rom com.In this film it is played strictly for laughs.With an old pro at the head of the cast,Edward Rigby,it is in safe hands.In most of these type of films the highlight is on the "fish out of water2 theme.Here it is not just on that but bringing down a peg or two the down to earth Earls haughty relatives.Particularly funny is when the love potion ends up in the glasses of the two unlikeliest suitors you could imagine.Unlike the other films all ends well as the Earl and the butler accompany Lapis back to her tropical island.A lot funnier than you would ever imagine.Good ensemble playing and a witty script help matters considerably.

Watching a film like What The Butler Saw will make you and anyone else watching wonder how the British put together an empire on which the sun never set. Not with the silly people in this film.

Edward Rigby and his faithful butler Henry Mollison are returning from a Pacific tropic isle where Rigby has been the colonial governor there for a decade. Rigby's a sly old devil who really enjoyed life in the South Seas.

But stowing away in one of the crates he brought back was island princess Mercy Haystead who's developed a thing for the butler although God only knows why. But the rest of the family they are mortified as only upper crust aristocratic twits can be.

There are some amusing moments but this pale imitation of P.G. Wodehouse doesn't really cut it. Wodehouse had the good sense not to give Jeeves a love life.

Not the best British comedy, far from it.

What a surprise "What the Butler Saw" turned out to be. Some benefactor to mankind using the name "flashbackcaruso" has posted this apparently "rare Hammer film" on YouTube. THANK YOU, flashbackcaruso!

From the very retro title to the sometimes superlative cast -- "The Earl" especially -- this was an intriguing experience.

Much of "What the Butler Saw" looks like a stage play. It's essentially one set, with a few rooms, and not a lot of action.

Some of the dialog and plot are at least slightly contrived, and some of the acting, especially by "Gerald," is over-done, but "The Earl," by the veteran Edward Rigby, is so perfect, I am horrified that I knew nothing about him before.

He died the year after this film was released and the world is a poorer place without him. Whatever else he might have done, and at IMDb he has 78 credits, he and this role are perfectly complementary.

Getting her first screen credit, the adorable Mercy Haystead looks about as "South Pacific native" as, say, Jane Russell, whom she does slightly resemble. Over the next dozen or so years, she had an average about about two roles a year, then retired, into a reportedly very happy and successful marriage. Again, the world was poorer without her presence on the screen. She was adorable.

Being British, the cast was generally excellent, as was the directing.

The story was a bit contrived, and occasionally the action was telegraphed, but ultimately it was resolved beautifully -- and surprisingly.

I want to thank, again, flashbackcaruso for uploading this charming and delightful movie, previously completely unknown to me, but now one I want to recommend to everyone for a light and very pleasant hour.

This farce is about an Earl returning from his stint as a General at a tropical island with his butler to find that amongst their crates of stuffed game the daughter of the tribal king managed to stowaway, so now you have a "savage" amongst the aristocracy. Mercy Maystead, in her debut performance, plays Lapis. She speaks her language, which only the butler knows. The earl and the butler try to hide the somewhat scantily clad (she is covered up, just not head to toe) princess, but soon the rest of the family realizes. Word gets out and the press is involved. This film is just over an hour, a perfect length for a film like this. The jokes do not become too labored. Its a good film, nothing essential. You may wonder why a tropical island princess is lily white, but don't b other. A nonsense comedy about stuffed shirt Brits. Its fine, check it out.