''Second Best Bed'' is a 1938 British
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
directed by
Tom Walls
Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...
and starring Walls,
Jane Baxter and
Veronica Rose.
The screenplay was by
Ben Travers
Ben Travers (12 November 188618 December 1980) was an English writer. His output includes more than 20 plays, 30 screenplays, 5 novels, and 3 volumes of memoirs. He is most notable for his long-running series of farces first staged in the 19 ...
, based on an earlier story of his. The screenplay concerns a newly married couple who soon run into domestic difficulties when the wife refuses to obey her husband's every order.
Cast
*
Tom Walls
Thomas Kirby Walls (18 February 1883 – 27 November 1949) was an English stage and film actor, producer and director, best known for presenting and co-starring in the Aldwych farces in the 1920s and for starring in and directing the film adapt ...
as Victor Garnett
*
Jane Baxter as Patricia Lynton
*
Veronica Rose as Jenny Murdoch
*
Carl Jaffe
Carl Jaffe (21 March 1902 – 12 April 1974) was a German actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career began to develop.
In 1933 Jaffe changed his stage name to Fran ...
as Georges Dubonnet
*
Greta Gynt as Yvonne
*
Edward Lexy
Edward Lexy (18 February 1897, in London – 31 January 1970, in Dublin) was a British actor. He was born Edward Little.
Career
He made his London stage début in 1936, and his first film the following year. His film roles were a mixture of s ...
as Murdoch
*
Tyrell Davis as Whittaker
*
Mae Bacon as Mrs Whittaker
*
Ethel Coleridge
Ethel Coleridge (14 January 1883 – 15 August 1976) was an English actress, best known for her roles in the original Aldwych farces in the 1920s and 1930s.
Life and career
Coleridge was born Ethel Coleridge Tucker in South Molton, Devonshire, ...
as Mrs Knuckle
*
Davy Burnaby as Lord Kingston
*
Martita Hunt
Martita Edith Hunt (30 January 190013 June 1969) was an Argentine-born British theatre and film actress. She had a dominant stage presence and played a wide range of powerful characters. She is best remembered for her performance as Miss Havis ...
as Mrs Mather
*
Gordon James as Judge
* Charlotte Leigh as Miss Boolbread
*
Denier Warren as umpire
*
Peter Bull
Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British actor who appeared on the stage and in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', '' Tom Jones'' and '' Dr. Strangelove''. Peter Bull wrote twelve books.
Biograph ...
as tennis match spectator
Production
It was an
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States
* Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
production made at
Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of Pinewood Group, the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not ...
with sets were designed by the
art director
Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...
Walter Murton. Walls and Travers had worked together on the
Aldwych farces.
Reception
''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote: "Written by Ben Travers in characteristic vein the story is developed with daring and risqué dialogue and a full quota of double entendres. 'The situations are equally piquant, and leave little to the imagination. It must be admitted that Tom Walls as director shows skill and agility in skating over the thinnest possible ice, while as star he gets across outrageous remarks with a disarming urbanity and adroitness. He is, undoubtedly, in his element, and gives a finished and effective performance. Both Jane Baxter and Veronica Rose support him ably, and small part players are thoroughly competent."
''
Kine Weekly
''Kinematograph Weekly'', popularly known as ''Kine Weekly'', was a trade paper catering to the British film industry between 1889 and 1971.
Etymology
The word Kinematograph was derived from the Greek ' Kinumai ', (to move, to be in motion, to ...
'' wrote: "Breezy up-to-date marital comedy featuring Tom Walls in a made-to-measure role. The humour, which is from the pen of Ben Travers, is not exactly kindergarten, but in spite of occcasional ribaldry the fun seldom fails to strike a popular note. The star contributes a characteristic performance in the lead, the feminine co-stars contrast effectively, and the support is well up to standard."
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...
wrote "Cheerful star comedy with a touch of sophistication."
References
External links
*
1938 films
1938 comedy films
Films directed by Tom Walls
British comedy films
Films based on The Taming of the Shrew
Films set in England
Films set in London
Films set in Monaco
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
British black-and-white films
1930s English-language films
1930s British films
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