Who Goes There!

A film which is essentially a series a misunderstandings in the stiff upper lip military world of the royal guards. It centres around the dim witted, hapless and very working class sentry Arthur Crisp, played by George Cole and his love for the diminutive Christine, played by Peggy Cummins. I found it hard going with the contrived scenes where George Cole, who is seen frequently coming in and out of the Cornwall's grand house, simpering and being cringingly deferential to his social superiors. I found the cut glass accents of the smarmy, caddish, Miles Cornwall, played by Nigel Patrick, and the always delightful Valerie Hobson, playing Patrick's wife grating and frankly tiresome. The cast try as they may to wring out as much gentle humour as they can out of this mediocre script but eventually, even Hobson and Patrick are defeated by the banal and yawn inducing storyline. The film itself runs for 85 minutes, which on hindsight could have been easily reduced to an hour for the sake of the audience.