The Butler’s Dilemma ** (1943, Richard Hearne, Hermione Gingold, Francis L Sullivan, Judy Kelly, Henry Kendall) – Classic Movie Review 13,129

The Butler’s Dilemma (1943, Richard Hearne).

Richard Hearne’s dual role in the 1943 comedy film The Butler’s Dilemma allows him to play wimpish young Rodney Playfair and doddery old butler Chapman, who is Hearne’s famous stage and TV character Mr Pastry in all but name.

Director Leslie S Hiscott’s 1943 British black-and-white comedy film The Butler’s Dilemma stars Richard Hearne (aka (Mr Pastry), Hermione Gingold, Francis L Sullivan, Judy Kelly, and Henry Kendall.

Richard Hearne (the acrobatic music-hall comedian better known as his alter ego Mr Pastry, the comic character Hearne played on stage and TV) amuses here as wimpy young Rodney Playfair in a forgotten support comedy film about a gem thief’s double, who is forced by gamblers to erase his gambling debts by impersonating his girlfriend’s butler, the doddery old Chapman, to provide an alibi for the thief.

A silly yarn is rescued by Hermione Gingold, Francis L Sullivan, Wally Patch and Ronald Shiner, who give impeccable old-style British comedy turns. Hearne in effect has s dual role, playing his real age as the timid young Playfair and also the old Chapman, more or less Mr Pastry in all but name. He shows his gentle slapstick comedic talent, but of course his comedy is of another age entirely, and may have to be approached tolerantly.

Richard Hearne (30 January 1908 – 23 August 1979) as Mr Pastry.

The cast are Richard Hearne as Rodney Playfair/ butler Chapman, Francis L. Sullivan as Leo Carrington, Judy Kelly as Ann, Hermione Gingold as Aunt Sophie, Henry Kendall as Carmichael, André Randall as Vitello, Ian Fleming as Sir Hubert Playfair, Ralph Truman as Bishop, Wally Patch as Tom, Ronald Shiner as Ernie, Marjorie Rhodes as Mrs Plumb, Arthur Denton as Detective, Alf Goddard as Policeman, Reginald Purdell and Frank Pettingell.

The Butler’s Dilemma is directed by Leslie S Hiscott, runs 83 minutes, is made by Shaftesbury Films, is distributed by Anglo-American Film Corporation, is written by Michael Barringer, is produced by Elizabeth Hiscott and Graham Cutts, is shot in black-and-white by James Wilson, and is scored by John Blore Borelli (as John Blore).

Release date: 29 November 1943 (UK).

It is shot at British National Studios (operating 1939–1958), Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, now the BBC Elstree Centre.

A Mr Pastry film, The Time of His Life, was released in 1955.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,129

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