Although this is professionally made and well acted, it's hardly the funniest farce I've ever seen. Tom Walls was doing very similar stuff back then but whereas Walls was a less talented actor than Hicks, his films were funnier.
This is just about amusing enough to keep your attention. Once you've started watching this, annoyingly you'll feel the need to stick with it until the end. That's mainly due to the well written, entertaining characters. Veteran stage actor Seymour Hicks actually delivers a very amusing and nuanced performance. You will take an instant liking to him, he's pretty cool. Likewise, although far from cool, Eva Moore's formidable and eccentric great-grandmother is quite a treat.
Amusing characters alone cannot compensate for not having a witty script which this picture sorely lacks. It's essentially just a one joke comedy. The plot is the sort of thing which might be used in an episode of an old sit-com but even the lamest sit-com would have had other jokes thrown in.
Maybe if you saw this on stage at your local theatre - and you like old fashioned farces - you'd probably enjoy this. But even the biggest fan of early thirties English comedy, would struggle to laugh at this on film. Nevertheless it's got a certain comforting warmth and charm about it. Thanks to the professionalism of the production, Mr Hicks' genuinely engaging personality and of course the presence of lovely Claire Luce, it's watchable - but Tom Walls' Aldwych Farces are much better.
