A Yank in Ermine

I've seen this film only once it was show on BBC2 one afternoon in the late 1990's. It's a story of an american soldier who inherits the lordship to an english village, Why it interested me is that the village in question is actually Turville in Buckinghamshire. Turville's usually linked to another film "Went the day well" but this film shows more shots of the village. The village pub "The Bull and Butcher" is shown in detail both inside and out. In the film the main bar is actually shown as the village shop, whether this was the case in 1955 or it was purely for film i am unsure. The film itself is quite boring and i would'nt recommend it for its artistic quality.

Just a nice bit of Sunday afternoon film fun, as it's easy watching and listening with attractive leads and amusing co-stars. Nothing taxing on the brain so let it just wash over you!

A Yank In Ermine tells of the story of an enlisted American Airman who gets a visit from British solicitor Reginald Beckwith who tells him that he's about to inherit a title and estate because a whole lot of relatives he never knew he had have taken leave of this earth. He's got himself a nice bit of acreage in England with servants and all.

Of course if he decides the lifestyle isn't for him he can abdicate. But Peter Thompson decides to go to the United Kingdom and check it out. Accompanying area a pair of friends Harold Lloyd, Jr., and Jon Pertwee.

There are some women involved. A nightclub singer back home played by Diana Decker and Noelle Middleton who is the heiress to a neighboring estate. The usual romantic complications ensue.

This might have been a bigger hit, but Peter Thompson was just too bland in the lead. I daresay this probably got limited distribution on this side of the pond.

Another reviewer said Jon Pertwee had an atrocious American accent. That he did, but I think it was quite deliberate. Pertwee was having some fun with the part spoofing what some Americans sound like to British ears. I enjoyed him and Harold Lloyd, Jr. at the local dance where Pertwee cuts one mean rug in slang of the day.

A Yank In Ermine still an entertaining film after over 60 years.

Eastman Colour (sic) has been lavished on this tinny comedy with a noisy score by Stanley Black in which stereotypes abound as three American goodwill ambassadors hit a sleepy English village as wintry as the welcome they receive.

The colour process was new then, hence the strange makeup some of the cast wear.

Yet another film, where our American cousins, courtesy of an American airman, Joe Turner, played by Peter Thompson, and his two 'buddies,' encounter the upper crust of English society. The contrived plot, whereby Thompson inherits the title of 'Earl,' gives the writers plenty of opportunity to trot out the usual contrasting hackneyed phrases and different forms of social etiquette, which expose the cultural differences between two English speaking countries. The differences are literally 'hammered home' by Thompson's 'buddy' 'Slowburn'' played by Jon Pertwee, no less, dressed in very loud clothes, repeating 'yeah' all the time and speaking in an excruciating phoney New York, Bronx nasal accent. The other 'buddy' called, 'Butch,' played by Harold Lloyd Junior, has little to say or do, but merely act as a shadow to Peter Thompson. Sid James, has a cameo part as a cigar chewing, nightclub owner, but is far from convincing, let down by a poor accent and a tendency to 'overdo' it on the trite American 'gangster' phrases. The English aristocrats likewise are simply cardboard stereotypes, with the 'wolfish cad' being played by Guy Middleton, who refers to any lady he meets as 'old girl' and Richard Wattis, playing the very posh and stuffy butler, who is shocked and mortified by the informality of the three American guests, who have invaded the aristocratic home of his 'master' played by Edward Chapman, the Duke of Fontenham. The cultural differences, which are at the heart of the film, simply fail to summon up amusement or humour, hence the tempo of the film is all very tedious and flat. Thompson's romance with Angela, the Duke's daughter, played Noelle Middleton, is dull and lacks any form of sparkle. Her BBC, RADA voice, and her one dimensional responses, renders the 'romantic' scenes as yawn inducing.

Sadly, this was nothing more then a 'time filler' film, before the main feature. Great waste of talent.