For Better, for Worse [Cocktails in the Kitchen] ** (1954, Dirk Bogarde, Susan Stephen, Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Eileen Herlie) – Classic Movie Review 9,576

Dirk Bogarde brings a touch of class to writer-director J Lee Thompson’s predictable but sometimes funny 1954 British domestic comedy romance film For Better, for Worse [Cocktails in the Kitchen].

Dirk Bogarde brings a touch of class to writer-director J Lee Thompson’s mostly thin, dated and predictable but sometimes funny 1954 British domestic comedy romance film For Better, for Worse [Cocktails in the Kitchen].

Based on Arthur Watkin’s play For Better, for Worse, it is about the trials of unemployed graduate Tony (Bogarde) and his new teenaged bride Anne (Susan Stephen), young newly-weds with big debts, bossy, well-off in-laws, and problems getting along together in a tiny apartment. Cecil Parker and Eileen Herlie give standout turns as Anne’s parents.

There may be grumbles about the lack of originality and the shortage big laughs in the script. But there are smiles, charisma and home truths to be found here, and surely nobody can complain about the treasurable performances from such comic gems as Cecil Parker, Dennis Price, Sidney James [Sid James], Thora Hird, James Hayter and Athene Seyler (as Miss Mainbrace).

For that true Fifties flavour, Alma Cogan can be heard on the soundtrack. The song For Better, for Worse is by Sam Coslow.

It is shot by Guy Green in Eastmancolor at Associated British Studios, Elstree, England.

Also in the cast are Charles Victor, Pia Terri, George Woodbridge, Robin Bailey, Peter Jones, Digby Wolfe, Jackie Lane, Edwin Styles, Mary Law, Leonard Sharp, Dennis Wyndham, Geoffrey Hibbert, Ronnie Stevens, Isabel George, Edmund Hockridge and Arthur Mullard.

J Lee Thompson’s screenplay has additional dialogue by Peter Myers and Alec Grahame.

Susan Stephen had a decade-long film career that ended in 1962. She  made her film debut in His Excellency (1952) and also starred in Value for Money (1955) and played Nurse Georgie Axwell in Carry On Nurse. She was married to Nicolas Roeg from 1957 to 1977, with four children, including Luc Roeg. She died in England in 2000.

Speaking of her four final starring roles for low-budget producers the Danziger Brothers, she said: ‘That was about as low as you could go, so I decided to retire from films.’ They are Operation Stogie (1959), Return of a Stranger (1961), The Court Martial of Major Keller (1961) and Three Spare Wives (1962).

Mary Law with her orchestral and theatre conductor husband Kenneth Alwyn in 1960.

Mary Law was born on September 23 1932 and died on April 15 2024. Her first film appearance is as an office girl in For Better, for Worse. Her most memorable film appearance was in the 1960 comedy Carry on Constable, playing a shop assistant. She had two stints playing the anxious guest-house proprietress Mollie Ralston in Agatha Christie’s long-running West End play The Mousetrap.

The cast are Dirk Bogarde as Tony Howard, Susan Stephen as Anne Purves, Cecil Parker as Anne’s father, Eileen Herlie as Anne’s mother, Athene Seyler as Miss Mainbrace, Dennis Price as Debenham, Pia Terri as Mrs Debenham, James Hayter as the plumber, Thora Hird as Mrs Doyle, George Woodbridge as Alf, Charles Victor as Fred, Sid James as the foreman, Peter Jones as the car salesman, Edwin Styles as Anne’s boss, Mary Law as girl in office, Leonard Sharp as first workman, Dennis Wyndham as second workman, Robin Bailey as store salesman, Digby Wolfe as grocer’s assistant, Geoffrey Hibbert as butcher’s assistant, Ronnie Stevens as fishmonger’s assistant, Jackie Collins as glamour girl, Isabel George, Edmund Hockridge and Arthur Mullard.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9,576

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