A Touch of the Sun

A surprisingly low key (for him!) performance from Frankie Howerd as a hotel concierge. He longs for the quiet life on the French Riviera and when he inherits some money off he goes.

However, despite his best efforts, he can't get any rest and decides to go back to the hotel. He then has to save the hotel from closing by persuading three "ey up, reet grand" northern businessmen to invest in the hotel. Of course he succeeds and gets the girl.

A cheerful British comedy helped along with able support from, Denis Price, Gordon Harker, Richard Wattis, Alfie Bas and Colin Gordon. Just enough laughs to cheer you up on a wet weekend!

An ambitious but fascinatingly shambolic attempt at a big screen vehicle for Frankie Howerd (that morphs into a rehash of 'The Happiest Days of Your Lives') that simply ensured that he henceforth concentrated on cabaret and TV.

The sleazy North Country financial backers played by Alfie Bass (who is hardly inside the door before he promptly propositions receptionist Dorothy Bromley with the smooth chat up line "Give us a kiss love!!") and Reginald Beckwith (who gets so drunk he propositions a dragged-up Howerd) demonstrated over sixty years before the Harvey Weinstein scandal that this sort of thing had been going on since the days of Herod.

Frankie Howerd takes the leading role in this standard British farce that was so common in the late fifties and doesn't do a bad job either. Usually more familiar in a supporting role,he takes centre stage here and all the action revolves around him.

The basic plot is the grass isn't always greener on the other side as Frankie finds out when his desired dream to retire to the French Rivera is a complete disaster. Returning to the UK he buys his old employment hotel and has to convince three businessmen it's worth investing in. Cue lots of rushing about farce proceedings as Frankie makes the hotel look busy with his small staff putting on numerous disguises.

Still quite amusing and watchable for it's short running time but it's the little things that kept me interested. Most of all Frankie's strange 'Eraserhead' hairstyle, Alfie Bass,the atypical Jewish performer,playing a Yorkshireman! And Ruby Murray's appalling attempt at acting, thank goodness she has a nice singing voice that's all I can say....

Frank Howerd is the hall porter -- we'd say desk manager or concierge -- of the Royal Connaught Hotel in London, where he eccentrically and charmingly manages matters for the guests. One of the guests expresses her appreciation by leaving him ten thousand pounds in her will. He quits and moves to the south of France, where he's perfectly miserable. He returns to London, but the hotel has closed without his help. So he buys it and tries to get some Manchester investors to put money in the place. However...

It's a style of comedy that does not appeal to me. Howerd's performance seems more calculated than wild, and the big set-piece that makes up the final third seems rote. There's some talent on display; Dennis Price plays the hotel manager in a role that looks like a day's shooting, and Gordon Harker is present without much to do as the elevator operator. Clearly intended as a vehicle for Howerd, the movie will have its charms for his fans; however its structure seems more like a poorly outlined farce than anything else.

Our boy Frankie comes into a sizeable amount of money as a hotel receptionist. After spending some of his money living it up in France, he decides to come back to London and buy up his old hotel. However, he needs some fincial backers who will only invest if the hotel is successful. Only problem is they have no guests, so the staff play the role of guests while still doing their jobs.

The film spends too much time with Frankie in France experiencing a series of contrived annoyances that eventually leads to his decision to come back to England.

This means there is little time to develop and run with the farce element of the film. The plots tries to be frenzied and amusingly chaotic, but it never really makes it. Everything runs far too smoothly. With no edge of the seat potential errors that could bring the entire ruse crashing down.

The film doesn't explore any comic potential such as regular faces being recognised as both staff and guest or people needing to be in two places at the same time. No quick changes no split-second timing.

As a result, the film trundles along at a pace with nothing really happening.

A forgetable film that is not worth remembering.