On Approval (1944)

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

No one should pass on seeing any film with Beatrice Lillie. And I have to confess I was looking forward to seeing On Approval which is a Frederick Lonsdale comedy of manners which made it to Broadway after Drury Lane in London in the middle twenties. But while I saw a faithful adaption of the rather dated play, I did not see the madcap Beatrice Lillie in this at all.Bea and Googie Withers play a couple of wealthy widows who are wealthy because their late husbands presumably made some good fortunes in whatever business they were in. A couple of aristocrats with cash flow problems played by Clive Brook and Roland Culver are looking to marry and live in a lifestyle they're accustomed to. To go to work doesn't appeal to these two twits at all. But a nice marriage to money is a lot easier.The play itself is all right if your taste runs to these kind of stories. It tries to be Oscar Wilde like, without any of Wilde's wit. And Lillie gives a good performance. But I was sitting at my computer screen waiting for her to rollerskate across the floor or break into her double damask dinner napkins routine. You can find that in the Bing Crosby film Dr. Rhythm which Beatrice Lillie co-starred with him.In fact DEMAND that TCM show that film if you want to see what Bea Lillie was all about.

It says: "Women who are tired of their boyfriends come up with a new idea: exchange them." BUT - the exchange comes at the end, and is the films big surprise. Or was. I suggest replacing the current outline with something like this:"Nearly flawless period comedy, spicy but not vulgar. Two couples in the 1890's decide to see if they are suited for marriage by living together for a month on an island. Scandal ensues, though they are only living together, not 'living together'.Or are they?Ho!"(The significance of 'Ho!' will be clearer to the reader once the movie has been seen.)

Wow....what a surprise....I bought this on DVD sight unseen, due to the fact that it stars Beatrice Lillie in one of the very few films she ever made.She's absolutely wonderful playing a rather unpleasant, grumpy women. Similarly, Clive Brook, who capped his long film career by writing, directing and starring in this outrageous farce.I won't give away the plot, but I can't imagine a better example of how well a well known play can be adapted for the screen.If you can't live without the Criterion DVD of "The Importance Of Being Earnest", then this movie should also be on your shelf.Get it....before it disappears....

in this 1944 film version of the Frederick Lonsdale play. Charming, caustic, biting, and very funny, On Approval centers on 4 people who end up together in a house in Scotland for a month to see if they are "suited" for marriage. Of course no one gets along, the servants leave instantly, and the weather is dreadful. Lillie made only a handful of films; what a pity. She's quite wonderful as the rich woman who disdains marriage. Clive Brook (best remembered for Cavalcade) is excellent as the Duke (son of a butcher's daughter) who assumes the airs of aristocracy without having money. Roland Culver and Googie Withers round out the bickering foursome. Surprisingly fresh and current. I'd seen the 1982 BBC play with Penelope Keith and remembered it fondly. This is different but equal. Lonsdale seemed at one time a copy of Wilde or even Coward. But he has a special way with words that makes for delightful dialogue. On Approval is worth looking for!