Cardboard Cavalier *** (1949 Sid Field, Margaret Lockwood, Mary Clare, Jerry Desmonde, Claude Hulbert, Irene Handl) – Classic Movie Review 8599

Director Walter Forde’s 1949 British black and white comedy Cardboard Cavalier stars the popular stage and vaudeville actor Sid Field, who is on good form in his third and last starring extravaganza, following his debut in That’s the Ticket (1940) and actually better than the more vaunted London Town (1946).

Field plays Sidcup Buttermeadow, a barrow-boy charged by royalists in Cromwell’s England to deliver a secret letter, while Margaret Lockwood (in a part she apparently begged for) plays second fiddle as Nell Gwynne, who helps him.

As expected, this happy period farce shows ace comic Field to be acres ahead of the spirited Margaret Lockwood in comedy technique.

Cardboard Cavalier was a surprise box-office flop, because it is well timed, sprightly and funny, and exuberantly played by a welcome vintage cast, as well as amusingly written by Noel Langley and nicely directed by the comedy expert Forde.

Also in the cast are Mary Clare, Jerry Desmonde, Claude Hulbert, Irene Handl, Brian Worth, Edmund Willard, Anthony Hulme, Miles Malleson, Joan Young, Jack McNaughton, Alfie Dean, Michael Brennan, Peter Bull, Vincent Holman and John Salew.

Field recalled ruefully: ‘It took me 30 years to become an overnight star’. Unfortunately, it was too late. He died of a heart attack on 3 February 1950, age 45.

Cardboard Cavalier’s failure unfairly ended the directing career of the great Walter Forde.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8599

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