The BFI continue their DVD releases of the Adelphi back catalogue with the final pair of Diana Dors films.
A crime writer and his wife spend the night in an isolated house. Their cosy evening is interrupted by an old woman who demands to stay the night. In the morning she is found dead.
It's fair to say that Miss Tulip Stays the Night does not have a very good reputation. In fact it's considered a total turkey. Its reputation is well deserved.
The main problem is the script which seems to rely more on ridiculousness than smartness. The plot is nonsensical and doesn't allow room for effective business from its cast of comics.
The second problem is the casting which on paper is rather intriguing but in practice is ineffectual. Diana Dors is cast as one of those perfect 50s wifeys: nicely turned out, smart, pleasant. It's a role that any number of actresses could do with ease, but it's a shocking waste of Dors. Then we have the return to film of Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge. It's lovely to see them, but why cast them so they never appear in a scene together? Hulbert does quite well in the role of a policeman, but Courtneidge is lumbered with playing a mad old woman and her equally mad sister and fails to be anything other than irritating.
Sadly Miss Tulip Stay the Night fails to raise a laugh.
Script: John O'Douglas, Bill Luckwell, Jack Hulbert
Director: Leslie Arliss
Players: Patrick Holt, A.E. Matthews, Joss Ambler, Pat Terry-Thomas, George Roderick, Brian Oulton
The Chairman of the local football club is so obsessed with running the club he neglects his printing business.
The Great Game is a fascinating snapshot of professional football before the big money arrived. The main problem for the Chairman is enticing a star player to join the club when there's a limit of £15 a week on a player's wages. James Hayter as the Chairman plays a blinder. This is essentially his film and he gives it all he's got.
Thora Hird gets the bulk of the rest of the action as Hayter's right-hand woman. She tried to keep the printers running and gets a bit of romance as one of the customers comes sniffing around. Glyn Houston as the star player and Sheila Shand Gibb as his not-so-simple fiancée also get some moments to shine.
The biggest moment belongs to Diana Dors. She plays a secretary and doesn't get to do much except swan around being Diana Dors and scarcely touches the plot. However she does get to attend one of the football matches. In order to get a better view she pretends to faint and gets passed down the crowd to the front of the stand. This is filmed at an actual match and shows just what a game girl she was to trust herself to a stand full of strangers.
Script adapt.: Wolfgang Wilhelm. (o.a. Basil Thomas)
Director: Maurice Elvey
Players: James Hayter, Diana Dors, Thora Hird, Sheila Shand Gibbs, John Laurie, Glyn Houston, Geoffrey Toone, Jack Lambert, Meredith Edwards, Alexander Gauge, Frank Pettingell, Glenn Melvyn, Roddy Hughes, Sydney Vivian, Charles Leno, Tommy Lawton, Brentford Football Club
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