A French Mistress *** (1960, Cecil Parker, James Robertson Justice, Ian Bannen, Raymond Huntley, Irene Handl, Agnès Laurent) – Classic Movie Review 2117

Co-writer/director Roy Boulting’s saucy 1960 comedy A French Mistress stars James Robertson Justice as Robert Martin or ‘Bow Wow’, Cecil Parker as John Crane MA. headmaster of Melbury School, Raymond Huntley as the reverend Edwin Peake, Irene Handl as the staff sergeant Hodges and Edith Sharpe as matron.

These fine comedy performers score more than their fair share of the fun, as they always did, in this bright and breezy but otherwise slightly lightweight Boulting Brothers schooldays farce based on a stage play The French Mistress by Robert Monro (aka actor Sonnie Hale), first produced in 1959 at the Theatre Royal Windsor, starring Sonnie Hale. John Boulting produces.

The arrival of sexy French teacher Madeleine Lafarge (Agnès Laurent) at a posh boys’ academy leads all the lads to wants extra French lessons in order to glimpse the teacher in revealing shorts and bikinis. This sparks a series of high jinks that leads to a pupils’ strike when the authorities try to fire her. In an even sillier farcical comedy subplot, headmaster Parker’s son Colin (Ian Bannen) adores the girl, but Parker fears that she’s his daughter born of a one-time mistress of his own.

There are only middling marks for Roy Boulting, Indeed everybody involved must try a little bit harder. However, the main problem is the script, co-written by Jeffrey Dell, which gets the project’s lowest marks and doesn’t produce quite the riotous romp advertised. But the film is still frothy and amusing, and worthwhile for its racy laughs and, especially, the reliable veteran British character actor comedy stalwarts.

Michael Crawford.

A French Mistress also features Scott Finch, who makes his movie debut as Edmonds, the Head Boy. Also in the cast are Thorley Walters as Colonel Edmonds, chairman of the Governors, Athene Seyler, Kenneth Griffith, Michael Crawford, Robert Bruce, Jeremy Bulloch, Peter Greenspan, David Griffin, Margaret Lacey, Henry B Longhurst, Brian Oulton, Richard Palmer, Cardew Robinson, Christopher Sandford, Christopher Beeny, Nigel Bulloch, Gordon Pleasant, Denise Coffey and Paul Sheridan.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2117

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The original British quad poster for A French Mistress (1960).