Cottage to Let (1943)

I love this movie so much

Lack of good storyline.

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Others have discussed the plot and acting in "Cottage to Let" (aka, "Bombsight Stolen"). To tell too much would take away from the enjoyment of this film. Some have said it has a slow start. But without such a background and build-up for so many characters, I think we'd be lost. At least one reviewer doubted the probability of such a scenario. I agree with the majority that this is an excellent war mystery and spy thriller. The cast is superb, with some big names of English theater and filmdom – John Mills, Alastair Sim, Michael Wilding, Leslie Banks, and others. And, it has an excellent supporting cast. Of course, this is a fiction story, as are so many of war-time. But as to the likelihood of something like it happening or not, one should consider some other factors. This movie was released in England on Sept. 6, 1941. The U.S. was not as yet in the war, even though most of Europe by then had been overrun by Nazi Germany. The official start of World War II was two years earlier. On Sept. 3, 1939, Britain and France had declared war on Germany after it invaded Poland. The Battle of Britain was waged from July 10 to Oct. 31, 1940, with Germany bombing London, major ports, and other large cities. Even after Britain won this battle for air superiority, Germany continued to bomb London and other cities. As this film noted, Londoners sent their children to country locations to keep them safe from the bombing raids. And, in fact, many British secret operations, including research and war design work were in locales across the country – away from the population and large military bases. Even after the U.S. entered the war and began sending troops to England in 1942, the Allies continued to disperse many of their war-time operations across the countryside. Many special projects were going on, none of which would be common knowledge to the public or reported in the press at the time. Only after the war did we learn about them. Movies have been made about some even decades later. All are interesting tales. Among the ones I've seen and enjoyed are: "Secret Flight" (aka, "School for Secrets") in 1946; "The Small Back Room" (aka, "Hour of Glory") in 1949; "The Dam Busters" in 1955; and "Enigma" in 2001.England had its share of German spies. British intelligence agencies broke up some German espionage rings working for the Abwehr, the German military intelligence service. And, Germany had tried to land agents by submarine in Scotland. No one knew or could imagine to what extent German agents or spies may be operating in England. So, this film was timely as well. I am curious though, about the late date of release of the film in the U.S. – May of 1943, Most of the British-made films during the war were released a year or more later in the U.S. One reviewer said that the Brits preferred American war films to those of the British film studios. I doubt there is any movie attendance or other data that would lend credence to such a statement. I'm sure the British public was drawn to all the war films that were being made at the time, regardless of the country source. No doubt, Englanders wanted to see some of the American movie stars they had come to know. At the same time, British studios were putting out some excellent films. Among them were "One of Our Aircraft is Missing," "Went the Day Well?," "In Which We Serve," "The Way Ahead," "49th Parallel," "Fires Were Started," "Convoy," "Freedom Radio," "The Day Will Dawn," "The Next of Kin," "The Foreman Went to France," "The Bells Go Down," "The Silver Fleet," and "Undercover." Many of the British post-war films also were excellent. I enjoy these films immensely, because they give us a look at the war from the eyes of British servicemen and public. Just as American films give others a view through Americans' eyes. The quality of the DVD I have with this film is rather poor. I hope a digitally mastered DVD will be produced one day soon.

"Cottage to Let" is a long way from being one of the better films about the Second World War made during it, but it does have a curiosity value.It shows its origins as a stage-play, with the action concentrated on a house that curiously combines the roles of a private home, military hospital (staffed by its owner and daughter but apparently lacking trained nurses) and secret laboratory, and which also takes in an evacuee in the shape of George Cole. He does very well in his first film, but at 16 looks a bit too old and big (almost as tall as some of the adult men) in the part of someone I imagine was meant to be a bit younger.Interestingly, one actor appears to play a character that contrasts with his usual roles, and another does.The plot has several holes in it, of the type "how did so-and-so know that", and if I was that bothered or was bored I might run the recording through again to see it it makes a bit more sense. One puzzling scene early on involving a phone call does fall into place much later in the film.

This is a wartime thriller made by the British studio Gaumont ( Okay it's French studio but so what ! ) and it'seasy to see why a British audience preferred American movies to homegrown ones . Everything about the first twenty minutes is tedious in the extreme with some very clumsy character introduction and stereotyping , the cheeky cockney chappie played by a very young George Cole , a fighter pilot played by John Mills and a bunch of Scots played by people with strange Scottish accents that sound extremely forced . Did I say this is a thriller ? it's important to realise this because for the first twenty minutes I had no idea what genre this was going to be This is a great pity because COTTAGE TO LET soon builds up to a fascinating and compelling espionage thriller . A British scientist is suspected of passing secrets over to the Nazis and Special Branch and MI5 set about trying to infiltrate a spy ring where everyone is a suspect . While never reaching the heights of the later WENT THE DAY WELL this movie works in reminding a wartime audience that anyone could be a Nazi spy and if it had a better opening this would be a far better regarded film . As it stands I had no knowledge to its existence until it was broadcast on Cannel 4 a couple of days ago and had to force myself to stay with it until the plot proper took off

In a lonely cottage, in the Scottish Highlands, an RAF pilot (John Mills) who has been, shot down,and rescued from the loch, is nursed back to health by the local people. The cottage is located in the grounds of a large house, which is being used by a scientist and his assistants to perfect a revolutionary bomb sight. Into this setting comes a young George Cole as an evacuee, and together with Alistair Sim, they try and unmask a German spy.