1935 and Margaret was still trying to establish her film credentials.This film was made four full years before she shot to international fame playing Iris Matilda Henderson in Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes".As such it was probably one of the "quota quickies" she made during this period.
In "Midshipman Easy" she plays a beautiful Spanish Grandee's daughter set in the early part of the 19th century at a time when England was at war with Napoleon Bonaparte and his Spanish allies.As such she is only on the screen a miniscule part of the film but enough to have a fledgling romance with the adolescent Hughie Green.Hughie's character takes the right to speak to ridiculous extremes especially by entering as a midshipman in the king's navy, with its stern discipline, under Captain Wilson (Roger Livesey).However Hughie creatively re-interprets his naval orders and apparently disobeys them but he always seems to land on his feet and come up smelling of roses.The acting is melodramatic with cardboard like figures but this is supposed to be a rather childish comedy.It was nice to see Frederick Burtwell playing "Mr Easthupp"; he figures in another Margaret Lockwood film from 1945 playing a religious music publisher, Mr Pacey, in "I'll Be Your Sweetheart".I rated "Midshipman Easy" as average at 5/10.
