A French Mistress

Good cast is mostly wasted in this comedy set in a boys' school., which is turned upside down when the new French teacher turns out to be a sex bomb rather than a middle-aged woman. The boys are all agog.

The headmaster (Cecil Parker) also has the headache of thinking he may be the girl's father since he had met her mother on a mountain-climbing trip 25 years prior. His son (Ian Bannen) who also teaches at the school, starts to grow fond of his might-be sister.

Some funny bits are provided by James Robertson Justice as a wise-cracking teacher, Raymond Huntley as the sourpuss vicar, Athene Seyler as his sourpuss sister, Irene Handl as the battle-axe cook, Edith Sharpe as the matron, and Thorley Walters as the chairman of the governors. Agnes Laurent plays the teacher, but she's hard to understand.

This is one of those comedies that hinges on the characters' simply not stating the obvious. Parker never just tells anyone what the issue is. I never spotted Michael Crawford (18 or so at the time) who's listed as playing a student named Kent, not did I ever hear the name mentioned.

I'm more enthusiastic about this film than other reviewers here on IMDB and elsewhere. This is due to my having been at a boys' boarding-school (where, incidentally, James Robertson Justice had been educated) at the time that AFM was made and the boy's clothes - and some of their personalities - evoked memories. So did their excitement over the young lady arriving in their midst. Not that we were so monastic as Melbury: several of our masters had daughters, there were two nurses in the sanatorium (their bathroom adjoined one we used) and we were allowed into the town for an hour after lunch .

I still recall the very attractive sister who visited one boy and was chatted up by our senior prefect. Later the cover of the school magazine caricatured her at the bottom of a ladder leading to the prefect's room on the first floor. So another memory evoked by AFM when, in a reverse situation, Scot Finch clambers up to Madeleine's room ...

I thought that the actors all performed reasonably well and in the version that I saw (on the Talking Pictures TV channel) I was able to understand Madeleine (unlike a couple of other reviewers) and better so than in some actors in modern TV dramas.

This used to be on TV quite often on weekends when I was younger. It never appears now because it's in b&w. It's a lovely gentle but cheeky comedy in the traditional of The Lavender Hill Mob and Passport to Pimlico, with many familiar faces, including James Robertson Justice and Cecil Parker. It has a rather racy proposition that appears part way through the film, which might have been quite shocking for audiences at the time and might still be shocking for some people today, if it were true.

The only casting issue is Ian Bannen as the romantic lead. A bit strange. But it still doesn't detract from this lovely little film which is a real joy.

If you want to see what a funny school comedy looks like the your best bet is to watch The Best Years Of Your Life,the early St Trinians films and Carry On Teacher.Don't bother with this dud from the Boulting Brothers ,based on a play written by Sonnie Hale,ex-husband of Jessie Matthews.By some miracle of writing he has managed to make Cecil Parker,Irene Handel,James Robertson Justice et al ponderously unfunny.On not one occasion did I laugh at thus film,with the usual bunch of twenty somethings playing boys half their age.Given that the Boultings were in the middle of a hot streak with such films as Privates Progress,Brothers In Law,and I'm alright Jack,it is surprising that they could make such a dismally unfunny film.Incidentally August marks the centenary of their birth and is being marked with a season at the BFI Southbank.Maybe better not to show this.I would add that at ties Agnes Laurent is almost totally unintelligible.

So, you're Roy Boulting. You're in the middle of the golden years of your career. You're handed James Robertson-Justice, Cecil Parker, Irene Handl and Raymond Huntley as cast members. What could go wrong? Well, sadly, plenty. The rather flimsy plotline - minor boys only public school recruits new French mistress who, at the age of 24 is some 30 years younger than was expected (did no one check her resume?). Headmaster's son falls for Mademoiselle. Headmaster realises he may have had more to do with Mademoiselle than he thought! - is insufficient to really flesh out any of the main characters. The script is flat (almost theatrical) abd the direction uninspired. Agnes Laurent is gorgeous and probably the stand-out performer here, her naivety charming as it flutters around the avuncular pose adopted by anyone male (including one or two of the rather mature-looking boys). The major cast members appear to be acting almost on autopilot. If you approach this movie in the right way, you might find it a passable little romp - the problem is that one expects so much more of such an assembled cast. 3/10.