User reviews

Cottage to Let (1941)

There are so many characters, so many tinges of British accent, and such a parade of turncoats and double agents it's difficult to quite follow everything here. But stick it out. Or, in the extreme case (which I admit taking) see it twice. It's "quite worth it, I dare say."

A comedy on the surface, and quite funny all through, it's also a serious war movie, shot and released in the thick of World War II. The key theme is actually not the bomb sight design and the attempt by the government to protect its secret from spies. It's about loose lips. And looking for traitors among us.

So, here at this cottage near where a top scientist is working on a secret weapon idea, there is a parade of suspicious characters, and I mean characters, including the redoubtable Alastair Sim. There is a nutty family running the place, a couple of love affairs in the air, a bunch of secret messages sent by various messengers. I count rough twelve characters who matter, and if some are very minor, they are critical in some small way to the outcome. Allegiances are everything.

What makes the movie actually remarkable is that it holds to together so well. And it has a tight economy to the editing, and a fluidity to the filming, that keeps it really going. For some reason the lighting in the first half, and the interior scenes in general, is bright and flat (no Warner Bros. influence here I guess) but then there are some scenes later that are extraordinary in their dramatic atmosphere.

In fact, there are some ideas that prefigure famous later ones, like the auction that is interrupted by spies and good guys by bidding incorrectly, stolen by Hitchcock in "North by Northwest." Or even the ending which is a slim version of the mirror shootout by Welles in "Lady from Shanghai." It's quite an exciting finish (never mind the goofy millstone moment, which you'll see).

Anthony Asquith, the director, went on to make some mainstays of post-war British cinema, and that's yet another reason to appreciate this, as a precursor to his own work. But it also reveals a real intelligence for the movies. Evident and appreciated.

In the big view, it isn't the plot, which is necessarily contrived to give a message to the nation, but the many pieces, and the writing and acting in those pieces, that make the movie really strong. The one version out there (streaming on Netflix) is a weak print (and there is no DVD release, apparently) so the sound and even the richness of the visuals will hamper a good appreciation. Even so, give it a look. Alertly.

A wartime evacuee from London arrives in a small Scottish village to stay in Mrs Barrington's cottage. However the arrival of a wounded Spitfire pilot and a mysterious bald gentleman means the boy must stay in the Barrington's house. At the house Mr Barrington and his assistant are working on a top-secret new bombsight to help the war effort. Ronald begins to notice strange behaviour in the village and gradually uncovers a plot to steal the bomb sight when it is developed.

This is a typically jaunty British wartime adventure which contains some gentle laughs and a quite good `who-done-it' style plot. Our eyes come in the form of cockney scamp Ronald as he notices some strange going on. The film manages to keep the mystery going by giving each character shadowy motives - we're not sure if they are a spy, a policeman, a rogue after the ladies, a scorned lover or what - but they all seem to have something going on. This makes it more enjoyable that it sounds and it isn't until the final 20 minutes when it all starts to come together. The famous cast makes it enjoyable - surely none of them could be the spy!?

George Cole shows his lifetime career in a good performance as a cheeky cockney scamp. Mills enjoys himself in his usual war hero role. Leslie Banks plays it straight as the inventor Mr Barrington, while Alistair Sim has the most fun in his shadowy role (he would later work with Cole as an adult on the St Trinians series). The only other role that stands out is De Casalis as the dippy Mrs Barrington, she gives plenty of gentle laughs.

Overall a gentle wartime adventure that has plenty of mystery and nice touches to keep you interested.

An enjoyable piece of British wartime entertainment, probably to be appreciated more now than by audiences at the time, (who would have found it very 'stagey' and lacking in action, I suspect). The plot is nothing in particular and its stage origins are all too apparent in the set locations, which cover the cottage of the title acting as a lodging house, home for evacuated children from London and a military hospital (????) whilst, up at 'the Big House', there is a 'top-secret' research laboratory, (which you know is 'top secret' as one of the (numerous) doors has a sliding panel in it),(but which actually seems to have more people entering and leaving it in the course of the film than the lounge of the 'Dog and Duck'), country gentry residence and garden fête venue. The real strength of the film, though, is its very strong cast. Leslie Banks is quite watchable on as the lead and John Mills is his usual, (for the period), photogenic, brylcreemed RAF fighter pilot hero, (or IS he?), who delivers in the usual sound manner. George Cole makes his first film appearance as one of two Cockney scamps evacuated to the 'cottage', (although the other one disappears from view entirely after the first five minutes!), and one can already see him mentally in a mini-sheepskin coat and with a cigarillo in hand as he begins his apprenticeship for greater glories to come in his career. Alastair Sim is, as usual, extremely good value for money and always watchable. The REAL star, though, I thought, was Jeanne De Casalis as the dotty 'Lady of the Manor', showing marvellous comic timing, interacting with all the rest of the cast flawlessly, (catch her expression when the little girl who has just handed her a bouquet of flowers at the opening of the fête wants it back!), and having me in stitches with her spoonerisms, ("Are you the lad with the manor? I'm sorry, I meant the man with the ladder?"), and, above all, her speech opening the fête; ("In the words of our dear Prime Minister, never was so much owed by so few to so many"). Somehow, one just cannot see film-makers of the time doing the same to speeches of their leader in the Kremlin! I shall certainly watch out for any other films starring this lady.

Easy to watch little movie that kept me engaged throughout.

While it wasn't amazing, I still enjoyed it. George Cole stole the show as Ron, among acting heavyweights such as Alastair Sim and John Mills.

The Scotland setting and the nods to Sherlock Holmes were great. The mystery and suspense kept me guessing as to the outcomes and who was the spy.

It lost its way a little towards the end though, and had what felt like a few dead ends with side stories. Despite its weaknesses, it was still an okay little black and white film to watch on a rainy afternoon.

Always interesting to watch WWII movies that were released during the war, prior to the outcome being known.

Watching Cottage To Let one can hope that Leslie Banks learns a valuable lesson. That no matter how much privacy he craves in his work during war time other considerations like security prevail. Of course being kidnapped by the Nazis might be a learning experience.

That's what happens here in Cottage To Let, a wartime British film taken from a stage play by actor/writer Frederick Kerr. Banks lives with wife and daughter at a Scottish estate with the usual gang of servants, a young evacuee from the London blitz George Coe and he has his one assistant Michael Wilding for his scientific research which is now directed toward inventing a new 100% accurate bomb sight for the RAF. And from the RAF he has a downed flier from the Battle Of Britain, Flight Lieutenant John Mills.

Other than Banks and Coe, absolutely no one is who they seem to be. Some are spies, some are security, the trick is to figure out which is which and I guarantee you won't be 100% right. Even Coe who says that his hero is Sherlock Holmes "the smartest man whoever lived" doesn't get it right though his suspicions do lead to the unmasking of who is who.

Even though Cottage To Let is dated and fixed in the time of wartime UK it still is quite enjoyable with some really good performances.

From the jaunty opening scenes to the thrilling ending, you could be forgiven for thinking 'Cottage To Let' was made during the post war period. But this film was released in 1941, when the outcome of the war was still in the balance.

The cast reflects the wealth of talent available in the British Film Industry at this time and for two decades onwards. Not a false note is struck: Jeannie De Casalis makes me laugh out loud playing the dotty wife (check out her introduction speech for John Mills at the fête). Leslie Banks turns in a precise low key performance. He is an antidote to all the eccentric and unbalanced scientists that were/are the staple of cinema-land. Michael Wilding is urbane and, in his scenes, a good foil for a crumpled Alistair Sim, or the intense and faintly menacing John Mills.

Sim, of course, had managed to get his protégé George Cole the part of Ronald. Cole had (I think) already played this role on the stage, but took to the sound stage like a fish to water. He moved and acted as if born to boom and camera. In an idle moment compare young George as Ronald with middle-aged George as Arthur Daley in TV's Minder. It's all there: the sideway looks, aggrieved voice, controlled energy, sheer believable and likable personality.

The film scores on all points for me. The script is realistic and economical, the supporting cast firmly wedded into the few sub-plots. Even the sets, one or two seem to have migrated from other films, are splendid and evocative. And the final denouement is probably one of the most menacing in wartime film, if not the wettest.

A very brisk, lightly entertaining wartime thriller with quite an exciting ensemble cast, the film is however burdened down by a strange, ill-explained plot, which borders both on being contrived and confusing. The characters are also rather run-of-the-mill, but they do interact quite well together. The picture has some interesting ideas, some neat mirror work, and it is generally amusing stuff. Overall nothing too special or highly memorable, but it has enough mystery elements and thriller elements worked into it that it is able to provide adequate entertainment, even if it is not a perfect watch as such.

"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.

A cranky scientist is working on a new bomber sight for use against the Nazis. He's holed up in a cottage in Scotland so he can work in private.

However, the place turns into a bit of a circus, with more and more people turning up. Clearly, the Germans are after his invention. But who is the bad guy? The weird new lodger? The butler? The wounded pilot? The cook? And who is the GOOD guy, trying to foil the Nazi plot?

This is a light thriller, with some fine actors (Mills, Sim, and a teen-aged George Cole in his first role) and some good plot twists. But because of the vein of humor throughout, it's hard to get emotionally involved even when the good guys are in peril. There are some scenes reminiscent of Hitchcock (the auction, the barn scene, the hall of mirrors), but in his hands, they would have been truly tense.

This is definitely worth a watch, if you are a fan of British films of the WW2 era, or if you enjoy Alastair Sim as much as I do. But all considered, it's a thriller without much of a thrill.

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

A clever boy evacuee (played by a very young but ever cunning George Cole) from London arrives in a Scottish village to stay in the house of the Barringtons, she a socialite, he a British scientist developing a bomb.

Be warned: there are quick twists and surprises in this cloak and dagger spy thriller!

It also carries far more action than I would expect in an Anthony Asquith-directed flick. Photography is competent in spite of war-prompted shortages and restrictions. Despite the good humor and likeable characters, the exciting script reminds us all of how suspicious everyone was - and had to be - of everybody else at that time.

Good acting from Cole, Sim and Mills. Carla Lehmann is gorgeous.

Riveting war adventure - definitely worth watching!

The shady world of war-time espionage infiltrates the thatched cottages and leafy lanes of rural Britain in this enjoyable but unremarkable comedy-thriller from Anthony Asquith. Alastair Sim leads an eclectic cast that includes Leslie Banks as an eccentric inventor, Michael Wilding as his assistant, and John Mills as a dashing airman, all of whom converge on the titular cottage. A 15-year-old George (Arfur Daley) Cole drops his aitches in his screen debut as a Cockney evacuee, and Wally Patch also makes an appearance - as he seems to have done in every British film made between 1933 and 1948.

Second World War film set in a cottage on a Scottish estate. An inventor working on classified military projects attracts the interest of German spies.

Standard British war film which lacks authenticity and makes use of the occasional Scottish stereotype to remind the viewer where the film is set. Almost, but not quite, rescued by Alastair Sim and a star performance by young George Cole in his film debut.

A diverting but stagey wartime spy mystery set in a densely populated remote Scottish village full of people with cut-glass accents. Apart from George Cole, that is, whose Cockney rhyming slang and sharp cracks still work today. George, John Mills and Alistair Sim are the only leads who seem to be getting to grips with the movie medium; Michael Wilding and Leslie Banks almost disappear into the scenery. Keep an eye out for the superbly offhand portrayal of a postman by somebody who evidently had better things he wanted to be doing. If there's nothing else to watch, Cottage to Let is well-made enough to keep your attention, but the pace is very slow. Curiosity value for George Cole and Alistair Sim at the beginning of their glorious film partnership. A shame mainstream British filmmakers took so long to get over their obsession with winning WWII.