''English Without Tears'' is a 1944 British

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film directed by Harold French and starring Michael Wilding, Penelope Dudley-Ward and Lilli Palmer. It was released in the U.S. under the title ''Her Man Gilbey'', as a reference to the classic

Screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

, ''

My Man Godfrey ''My Man Godfrey'' is a 1936 American screwball comedy film directed by Gregory La Cava and starring William Powell and Carole Lombard, who had been briefly married years before appearing together in the film. The screenplay for ''My Man Godf ...

'' (1936). The film depicts the romance between a young English aristocrat and her family's

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantry ...

. During World War II, the butler becomes an officer of the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and do ...

and the girl joins the

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

. Their change in status and her maturity affect their relationship. The world around them is also transformed.

Plot

In July 1939, the top-hatted deliveryman from a Fortune and Weedon

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

takes a basket of

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

to the tradesman's entrance of

Beauclerk Beauclerk or Beauclerc (pronounced ''boh-clair'') is an English surname, from Anglo-Norman meaning "fine scholar". It is also the family name of the Duke of St Albans. Notable people with the surname include: * Henry I of England (–1135), call ...

House. An elaborate process brings the birds to the dinner plates of Lady Christabel Beauclerk ( Margaret Rutherford) and her nephew, Sir Cosmo Brandon ( Roland Culver). a British delegate to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference th ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situa ...

. A fanatical bird expert, Lady Christobel identifies the ”quail” as a

thrush ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

and sends the “tortured friend” away in horror. She commands third-generation butler Tom Gilbey ( Michael Wilding) to join them in Geneva, where she will propose sanctuaries for British birds. The

xenophobic Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

Gilbey almost quits, but his father and grandfather tell him it is his duty. Home from school, Lady Christobel's niece, Joan Heseltine ( Penelope Dudley-Ward), talks about equality with the butler, on whom she has a longstanding crush. In Geneva, the party meets Polish political cartoonist Felix Dembowski (

Albert Lieven Albert Lieven (born Albert Fritz Liévin; 22 June 1906 – 22 December 1971) was a German actor. Early life Lieven was born in Hohenstein, East Prussia (Olszynek, Poland). His father was the head physician of the Tuberculosis sanatorium Ho ...

) and French romantic novelist François de Freycinet ( Claude Dauphin). The session and Norwegian interpreter Brigid Knudsen's ( Lilli Palmer) translations provide a dose of dark humour. Lady Christabel's outraged demands for sanctuaries and control of oil pollution are perceived as an attempt at British imperial expansion. One delegate engages Knudsen to find out more by vamping an oblivious Gilbey. A “romantic” row on the lake ends with Gilbey's appearance carrying a soaking Bridgid. The family speculates but ignores the issue. Joan springs to his defense—and tells them that she will love him forever. 2 October 1939.

War War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

has begun. Gilbey leaves to join the Territorial Army. Misled by Bonnie, Joan declares her love in a nearby tea shop. Citing her youth and class distinctions, he tells her it is hopeless. She refuses to give up. In May 1940, refugee Knudsen serendipitously encounters De Freycinet at the train station. Beauclerk House is The Sanctuary, housing European Allied officers. Gilbey, now a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army unt ...

in the RASC, returns home to find Lady Christabel happily occupying his old room. He asks, hopefully after the rest of the family, and finds a mature, confident Joan teaching English to a large class of officers. At the tea shop, he explains how he has changed. He is now in love with her… Joan no longer loves him. He was “cold and inhuman and godlike”, and she knows hundreds of second lieutenants just like him. Meanwhile, De Freycinet asks Brandon to get Knudsen a legitimate passport. Brandon assists, assuming, wrongly, that De Freycinet and Knudsen are lovers. At The Sanctuary, Gilbey gets advice on seduction from several officers, but he makes an awkward mess of putting it to use. De Freycinet and Dembowski vie for Joan's affections by trying to be her top pupil, taking extra lessons from Knudsen. Lady Christobel approves of De Freycinet's suit. De Freycinet asks Brandon for another endorsement so Knudsen can join the Free Norwegian Forces. Brandon sends Gilbey to her apartment to confirm his belief that De Freycinet is her lover. Dembowski, De Freycinet and Joan arrive; the misunderstanding escalates; and Joan storms out. The three men plan to confront her, but cowardice prevails and at The Sanctuary's bar they drunkenly make up their differences and swear off women. Joan overhears and gives up on men. On 18 September 1940, she joins the

. In December 1942 she is assigned to a notorious RASC major who ran through 6 typists in a month. It is Gilbey, now brusque, rude, demanding and intolerant, insisting that a staff member who has just given birth return to work. He tells an aide to get Joan a job she can do. In tears, she tells a sympathetic corporal that he is “wonderful”. On his bicycle, a top-hatted Fortune and Weedon man delivers a basket of canned spam to Beauclerk House for the New Year's Eve United Nations Dance, where several of the film's couples come together. Tom and Joan “argue” about his being “out of reach.” He presses her against a pillar, and they kiss. Cut to the just-married couple running down the steps to the cheers of friends and family. Joan's new job: Gilbey's driver. “I endeavor to give every satisfaction,” she declares, saluting him.

Cast

* Michael Wilding as Tom Gilbey * Penelope Dudley-Ward as Joan Heseltine * Lilli Palmer as Brigid Knudsen * Claude Dauphin as François de Freycinet *

as Felix Dembowski *

Peggy Cummins Peggy Cummins (born Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller; 18 December 1925 – 29 December 2017) was an Irish actress, born in Wales, who is best known for her performance in Joseph H. Lewis's ''Gun Crazy'' (1950), playing a trigger-happy '' femme f ...

as Bobbie Heseltine * Margaret Rutherford as Lady Christabel Beauclerk *

Martin Miller Martin Miller may refer to: * Martin Miller (actor) (1899–1969), Czech actor * Martin Miller (cricketer, born 1940), English cricketer * Martin Miller (cricketer, born 1972), English cricketer * Martin Miller (footballer) (born 1997), Estonian foo ...

as Schmidt * Roland Culver as Sir Cosmo Brandon *

Paul Demel Paul Demel (4 May 1903 – 31 August 1951) was an actor born in Brno, then in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He is most notable for his cameo appearances in films, particularly the British Ealing comedies ''Hue and Cry'' (1947), ''Passport to Pi ...

as M. Saladoff * Beryl Measor as Miss Faljambe *

Guy Middleton Guy Middleton Powell (14 December 1906 – 30 July 1973), better known as Guy Middleton, was an English film character actor. Biography Guy Middleton was born in Hove, Sussex, and originally worked in the London Stock Exchange, before ...

as Captain Standish * Esma Cannon as Queenie *

Ivor Barnard Ivor Barnard (13 June 1887 – 30 June 1953) was an English stage, radio and film actor. He was an original member of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, where he was a notable Shylock and Caliban. He was the original Water Rat in the first L ...

as Mr. Quiel * Paul Bonifas as Monsieur Rolland * Richard Turner as Delivery Man * Judith Furse as Elise Batter-Jones *

André Randall André Randall (9 December 1892 – 4 July 1974) was a French screen actor. He was born André Ayaïs in Bordeaux and died at Sainte-Foy-la-Grande. Filmography *1919: '' The Odds Against Her'' (directed by Alexander Butler) *1931: '' Mistigri'' ...

as Dutch Officer * Gerard Heinz as Polish Officer

Critical reception

In contemporary reviews, ''

The Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' felt the film suffered in comparison to Rattigan and de Grunwald's previous success, '' French Without Tears'', and regretted the absence of director Anthony Asquith's "light, witty touch”. Wilding, "(is) pleasant as the embodiment of the joke and Penelope Ward is charming as the trimmings to it. Roland Culver is beautifully suave in a small part, and Margaret Rutherford has a nice bit of philanthropic lunacy to do"; Across the pond, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote that despite "admirable direction and excellent photography, the story ambles along to no definite denouement. Therefore it's not a strong candidate for the American market. Smart dialog and witticisms galore are not sufficient to sustain so elemental a love story."

References

External links

*
Review of film
at Variety {{Terence Rattigan 1944 films 1944 romantic comedy films British black-and-white films British romantic comedy films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Harold French Films produced by Anatole de Grunwald Films with screenplays by Terence Rattigan Films with screenplays by Anatole de Grunwald Two Cities Films films British World War II films Films set in 1942 Films set in London Films set in Geneva Domestic workers in films 1940s British films