Make Me An Offer is now part of a collection of British comedies called the Long Lost Comedy Classics. A collection of films that disappeared off the radar but now having been re-found, have been transfered to DVD courtesy of Hollywood Classics LTD. Others in the collection are The Love Match, Orders Are Orders, Time Gentlemen Please, John & Julie and Miss Robin Hood.
It's with much happiness that I, a proud British man, am the first person to post a review of this delightful Peter Finch starrer, Make Me An Offer.
The story sees Peter Finch as Charlie, who having as as a boy fell in love with a Portland Vase during a trip to a museum, takes up his calling in life as an antiques dealer. However, we find Charlie in adulthood struggling to make the business work, he mopes around grumbling about the poverty line; grumbling that heaps further strain on his marriage and ability to run a steady home. But an answer to all his problems may have landed in his lap with a chance meeting with flamed haired Nicky (Adrienne Corri). For during a wander around the cottage she dwells in, Charlie spies his Holy Grail, but if he thought that Nicky was just a pretty face, and ripe for a picking, well he's in for a little more than he bargained for.
Directed by Cyril Frankel (director of School For Scoundrels after Robert Hamer was fired for his drinking problems), Make Me An Offer is adapted from the novel written by Wolf Mankowitz (who inputs additional dialogue to the screenplay from W.P. Lipscomb). Joining Finch and Corri in the cast are Ernest Thesiger, Wilfrid Lawson, Alfie Bass, Rosalie Crutchley & Finlay Currie. Whilst Richard O'Sullivan, future star of British sit-coms like Man About The House & Robin's Nest, appears as Charlie the boy. Filmed in Eastman Colour, the film has a charm that wistfully takes us back to a charming part of England when folk made the most of what they had. A time when dreams, no matter how far away they were, were still a beacon of hope to drive people on. Set as it is in the antiques business, money is naturally an overriding factor, but although Charlie {Finch effervescent} yearns to provide his wife Bella (Crutchley) with a fur coat he has long since promised her, monetary gain is not the issue here. Realisation of dreams and a love of art, particularly during a poverty stricken time, is what drives Make Me An Offer forward. The comedy is mixed with nice touches of poignancy, and during its last quarter auction sequences the film boasts excellent writing as a ringer operation involving many characters starts to unfold. To which we move to a finale that personally had me grinning from ear to ear.
As for the DVD? The transfer is very good, there's some fluctuation in colour and the sound mix has the odd crackle and pop, but there's nothing for anyone to worry about in the context of enjoying an old movie. So for anyone interested in 50s British cinema, particularly from the comedy genre, this film, as well as the rest in the set, is essential viewing. 7.5/10
