Her Man Gilbey (1944) User Reviews

Not quite My Man Godfrey

[calvertfan · 7/10 · 25 March 2002]

Joan is 16, and in love. The only problem - he's their butler! And while you can love the butler, you can't LOVE him.

About 5 plots seem to be going on at once here, and everything is introduced in a very roundabout way, not coming together until the final minutes. Surely the best part of the film, apart from Tom the Butler, is Brigid the translator, who adds a lot of charm and wit to the story.

Tom goes away to join the army, and comes back an Officer, and in love with Joan - who is older and has of course moved on! So what is a guy to do? She's now teaching English to foreign soldiers, half of whom have crushes on her, but Tom ain't gonna be licked..

An hour and 20 minutes in length, but English Without Tears at times feels a lot longer. It has its moments (don't miss the caricaturist near the start, and the Aunt's crying over the poor defenceless murdered Thrush..) but gets dull at times. It is worth it to stay tuned to the end though. 7/10

Girl Romances Butler - and Vice Versa!

[movingpicturegal · 6/10 · 19 January 2007]

About a wealthy household, full of servants including handsome butler Gilbey (Michael Wilding), who has caught the eye of teenage Joan. The family travels to Geneva to fight for a sanctuary for "British birds", after which Joan pronounces her love for Gilbey, the war starts, and Gilbey becomes a soldier, replaced as butler by his grandfather. But wait, when Gilbey comes back after a year, no longer a servant and now in love with Joan himself, fickle Joan decides he's not the man for her after all! And meanwhile, the house is opened up as a "sanctuary for allies" where Joan is busy giving English lessons (more like "pronunciation" lessons) to foreign soldiers, and Gilbey tries to win Joan's heart - again.

This film is mildly entertaining, though a bit rambling with a plot that goes here and there, sometimes without reason. I enjoyed the part of the story involving the romance, but there is a silly side plot that I found rather boring involving several people they meet in Geneva including a female language translator, a French man who has written a book called "Love in Six Lessons", and an artist who draws caricatures of visiting tourists. These three all, coincidentally, end up in England and meet up with the family again (the two men even end up taking "lessons" from young Joan, as they try to romance her). Still, I found the acting in this film to be quite good, especially Margaret Rutherford, who I thought was very amusing here as the lady of the house, who even while fighting for her "feathered friends" is busy dining on quail (or thrush as she believes it to be). A lightly entertaining film that has it's moments.

A bit slow....keep watching as this turns out to be a charming romance.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 25 March 2012]

I must be up front about one problem with this film--it has some slow moments and the first portion is pretty dull. I had to struggle to stick with this one--and I am very glad I did, as it turned out to be a dandy little romantic film.

Michael Wilding plays 'Gilbey'--a very proper butler working for a very British upper-class family. Out of the blue, the employer's niece, Joan (Penelope Dudley-Ward) declares her love for Gilbey. Gilbey is shocked and informs her that such a thing just isn't done! However, after Gilbey is called up to serve during WWII, he begins to think seriously about this possible romance. After all, now that he's not a butler but an officer, this MIGHT be possible. However, when he returns to Joan--ready to begin dating her, she seems to have gotten over her infatuation--leaving poor Gilbey feeling like rubbish. What next? Watch and see for yourself.

The film sneaks up on you--so stick with it. Later in the film, things really pick up and the film becomes quite sweet. Well worth seeing...even if it is a bit stuffy at times--thanks to a nice performance by Wilding.

By the way, the film originally was titled "English Without Tears" but was later re-named to try to capitalize on the success of the terrific comedy/romance "My Man Godfrey".

Hammer The Crammer

[writers_reign · 7/10 · 10 August 2020]

A charming soufflé conceived in a much simpler time. Premise; playright Terence Rattigan hit one out of the park with a piece called French Without Tears which ran for years in the West End and cleaned up on the screen so why not get Rattigan to put his name to something called English Without Tears, retaining the idea of learning a foreign language. Rattigan worked best on screen with Puffin Asquith - they did ten films together - and Anatole de Gunwald is more albatross than puffin but the script and the players make up for de Grunewald's heavy handedness. Holds up well and still charms.

From butler to major - only in wartime England

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 6 December 2020]

"Her Man Gilbey," originally titled "English Without Tears," is a British comedy, drama and wartime film made in 1944. No doubt, it was designed to help keep up the spirits of the Brits during World War II. The film debuted in London on July 28, and by that time hopes were much higher about an Allied victory and eventual end to the war. The D-Day landing at Normandy on June 6 had put the Germans on the run in France.

Michael Wilding is the star of this film as Tom Gilbey, and he carries the film. The time span is more than five years. Gilbey goes from being the butler in the large household of Lady Christabel Beauclerk and her family, to a major in the British Army. Penelope Dudley-Ward is Joan Heseltine, part of the family, who is in love with Gilbey. That is, before the war. A few other characters add some humor or charm.

Rutherford's Lady Beauclerk has a couple of very funny scenes, one in a talk before a League of Nations gathering in Paris - all about birds. The suspicions of delegates from some other countries provides a little humor. Lilli Palmer plays Brigid Knudsen, a multi-lingual interpreter who winds up in London privately tutoring foreigners in English. Lady Beauclerk does her patriotic duty and turns her mansion into a type of club and social center for the allied foreign officers. Joan is teaching large groups of men to speak and properly pronounce English. Peggy Cummins plays Bobbie Heseltine, her younger sister, who wants Joan and Tom to get together. Roland Culver is Sir Cosmo Brandon. Claude Dauphin is Francois and Albert Lieven is Felix.

The plot bounces around a bit, and all these characters had substantial parts. One has a feeling of being a little taxed at trying to keep track as the story packs quite a lot into a short film of 87 minutes. So, the comedy is rather sparse, the romance is sort of on the sandwich ends, and the wartime Homefront drama and comedy takes up the last two-thirds.

It's a fair film, mostly interesting for the fine cast, although it does give an authentic picture of one piece of the Homefront at that time in WW II London. With the title change for obvious connection to the highly successful Hollywood comedy of 1936, the best this film can be is a distant cousin to "My Man Godfrey."

Here's the best line in the film, while Gilbey was still working as a butler before the war. Tom Gilbey, "We can't alter human nature. Foreigners, after all, are foreigners."

Exuberant Escapist Nonsense

[richardchatten · 6/10 · 1 May 2017]

Considering that it uses as its backdrop the mounting militarisation of Britain between the summer of 1939 and the beginning of 1943 this is a fantastically inconsequential and unfocused piece of escapist fluff.

A sequel in name only to 'French Without Tears' (1939), based on Terence Rattigan's West End hit of 1936, which had got the newly formed company Two Cities Films on its feet five years earlier; they prevailed upon Rattigan to lend his name to this occasionally risqué nonsense utilising material which had been left over by Rattigan when he recently completed his play 'When the Sun Shines' in 1943. If you can't be bothered to keep track of the elaborate ebb and flow of romantic entanglements that flit before you, there's always the usual collection of familiar faces in supporting roles to enjoy, particularly cherishable contributions coming from Peggy Cummins, Margaret Rutherford and Roland Culver.

Can't imagine this cheering up the masses during the blitz...

[mikeolliffe · 5/10 · 10 January 2013]

Who would be the audience for this movie? Some effete lower middle-class folk who didn't get out much?

I mention class because this hypocritical film is riddled with it. A lady of the house fancies a servant (sound familiar?) - causing shock and horror all around. But wait a minute, this bit of rough is charming, very well-spoken, and of high moral standards. He could almost be...middle-class. Low and behold, he becomes m/c after a promotion in the military. As his lady love points out, the servant class won't exist after the war (WW2).

It's also heavy on the propaganda - we're all foreigners in a way and shouldn't look down on others (although the French are fair game, according to the movie) and let's have a 'United Nations' and no upstairs/downstairs. Warning - I am making this film sound much more interesting than it is.

There is one sub-plot that goes absolutely nowhere, involving one character seeking favors at the Foreign Office on behalf of another character. In any other film, this would be a spy set-up. But not here.

I like 1940s black and whites (which is why I'm reluctantly giving this a 5). I like the actress who plays 'Joan' but as the other reviewers (so far) suggest, be prepared for disappointment.

Predictable and slow moving

[happychick-52014 · 3/10 · 23 April 2016]

A tedious, humorless film, interspersed awkwardly with random war-time propaganda.

A posh girl falls in/out/in love with the butler, depending on his social ranking, as he moves upwards through the social classes via promotion in military rank. The audience has to suffer through an hour of "will they, won't they". You will find yourself hoping the characters will be blitzed just to put a stop to their terrible dialogue and hopeless acting.

There are many small side plots that are not resolved satisfactorily, such as an interpreters struggle with citizenship papers. random war propaganda is inserted at various points such as the scene where the aunt has a gas-mask fitting, and an awkward montage of the main character doing some very unrealistic military training.

An Acquired Taste

[jromanbaker · 10/10 · 9 May 2021]

This is a quintessentially English film scripted in the main by Terence Rattigan, arguably one of the great English playwrights. He wrote the play, made into a film called ' French Without Tears ' and this in a way is a loose follow up, and the American title is both trite and ridiculous. It is a wonderful and subtle comedy on class relations beginning to break down in the UK just before and after WW2. Penelope Dudley-Ward is good in her mood shifts and changes of feeling in her relationship with her butler played by Michael Wilding. The cast is excellent with Lili Palmer stealing every scene she is in, and there are others in the cast including Margaret Rutherford and Roland Culver who uphold the spirit of pre-war England in a manner both farcical and strangely endearing. I love it but it needs work and an understanding of the social politics of the time.

Rigid and Frigid

[studebaker62 · 3/10 · 17 January 2007]

English without Tears is a movie of surprising length, considering that its less than 90 minutes long. Perhaps it is so because the war was on in 1944 when it was released - but this is more a farce than comedy.

For such a short movie, there is a lot going on. There is the plot about the butler and one of the girls who professes her love for him. Then there is the plot about the English Instructor with whom the students cheat on their real instructor with. Then there is the farce element of mistaken manners, and confused situations.

There is even an S and M theme going on with how one of the characters treats another, and it serves as their own personal turn on.

Lillie Palmer is radiant and under used in this film. However the casting of frigid and rigid Penelope Dudley-Ward makes the heroine unsympathetic and engaging. Michael Wilding is wooden at ease and uncomfortable when he should be relaxed. It all simply doesn't work.

The most ironic line of all in the movie is "I do not understand jokes because I have no sense of humor" is said by a woman to her uniformed date at a dance, to which the gentleman retorts with "Then I will explain the joke to you".

Movies, like jokes aren't funny when they have to be explained either.

English Without Tears

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 19 October 2021]

A would be romantic comedy inspired by Terence Rattigan. It works better charting the decline of the class divide bought on by the second world war and bringing in a more cosmopolitan Britain because of upheavals in Europe and other places.

Tom Gilbey (Michael Wilding) is the charming, efficient young butler to the household of Lady Christabel Beauclerk (Margaret Rutherford) a renowned bird fancier. Her niece Joan has fallen hopelessly in love with Gilbey. It shocks the family and Gilbey who does not return the feelings as he goes to join the army at the outbreak of the war.

As the years go by, the Beauclerk household is doing its bit for the war effort. Joan is teaching English to foreign soldiers now in London.

Gilbey returns now promoted to a major in the army. He is ready to declare his feelings for Joan but she has moved on.

This is something that might have worked better as farce in the stage. Here the romantic plot does not work at all, it is not that funny.

Some of the side plots regarding the foreign officers, their encounters with bureaucracy and learning English does not really go anywhere.

Still unfunny

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 8 October 2020]

I first saw this a couple of years ago.I found it difficult to concentrate on it,it was that dull.On tv short time ago.I made another effort to watch it.Stayed the course but is still dreadfully dull.

Delightful romp

[olliemankz · 8/10 · 12 March 2014]

... though somewhat confusing. I would have been the first to attempt a synopsis for this movie but the plot to me was a bit oblique. Not only do we have a romance across "class distinction" lines with the backdrop of a slightly daffy female aristocrat trying to protect English migratory birds, but there is something to do with an interpreter played by the beautiful Lilli Palmer who neither looks nor sounds like a Brigid Knudsen. And our heroine, Joan, played by Penelope Ward, getting all mad at the criss-cross of relationships the meaning of which people scope out on the basis of one remark or juxtaposition. At least Joan gets a bit of come-uppance when a foreign political cartoonist sketches her toothy upper class face a bit too faithfully; that funny showcase is never revisited so it's almost like a red herring, but never mind. The political cartoonist is one of the menage of trois or quatre or cinq that gets Joan and others upset; the other major player is a Frenchman who I kept expecting to get with Lilli/Brigid, especially as she looked and sounded so much more French herself.

But the priceless person in this little exhibition, aside from Margaret Rutherford as our dotty aristocrat, is Michael Wilding, who went on to fame as Elizabeth Taylor's second husband. He apparently never rated himself as a good actor but he is very effective here, and very funny in spots. And not bad-looking. Transparently an attempt to cash in on the success of My Man Godfrey about a romance with one's butler from across the pond, for my money this one was even better, which does happen occasionally with rip-offs. Notwithstanding that that sort of thing might never have happened -- my stepfather insisted that British aristocracy would never look beyond their class so Pygmalion/My Fair Lady was completely fraudulent, too, in his view. But despite some of the stumbles, it can be forgiven on the basis of sprightliness and maybe any awkwardness adds to the comedy.

Watch out for David Niven's future wife!

[donno1418 · 4/10 · 12 October 2021]

Primula Rollo who plays the 2nd AT went on to marry David Niven . In 1946 she died in a freak accident at Tyrone Power 's house aged 26 . She fell down cellar steps during a game of hide and seek . Broke Niven's heart .

fun adventure in spite of the serious subject

[ksf-2 · 8/10 · 22 September 2021]

English without Tears, also called Her Man Gilbey, a reference to My Man Godfrey, which had come out in america, eight years prior. Gilbey (Michael Wilding) is butler to the Beauclerk family. So when the family travels to Geneva, he goes along. The fun, zany Margaret Rutherford is silly Lady Beauclerk, concerned with the rights of the birds that she watches. And refuses to eat. When she delivers her speech at Geneva, it is mis-understood, and causes quite a stir at the world conference. Where spies are swirling and listening, from every country. When a girl from a foreign country asks Gilbey out on a date, the neice Joan (Penelope Ward) gets jealous. But...Gilbey joins the miliary service. This was released in 1944, but it's not stated here when it was filmed. When Joan writes in her diary, we see it's the summer of 1939, so the war hadn't really hit the fan yet... many countries were still undecided what to do if war were to break out. There's no date at the start of the film, but i guess it doesn't matter when it was actually filmed. It's good. Has a sense of adventure and fun about it. In spite of the serious subject matter. Directed by Harold French. Co-stars Claude Dauphin; he was in some biggies: Barbarella, Quiet American. Some fun tidbits in Wilding's Bio section here on imdb... not only was he mister Liz Taylor in the 1950s, but sued Hedda Hopper for saying he had a liaison with Noel Coward early in his career. He and coward had worked on two films and a tv show together.