Saturday Night Cinema: Storm in a Teacup

Tonights Saturday Night Cinema selection is the tight little comedy, Storm in a Teacup.

The New York Times review in 1937:

It’s an ill wind, even in March, that blows no good, so it might have been all for the best that Alexander Korda experienced the recession. With his production wings clipped, he couldn’t very well turn out another Wellsian spectacle and he had to focus his attention upon such an engaging miniature as “Storm in a Teacup” which began raging at the Little Carnegie yesterday. This is the film of “Storm Over Patsy” which amused Broadway for a bit last season, a much better film than the play. It is broader of scene, for one thing; with more room for sweeping jesture and sweeping jest, and with a microphone’s ear cupped to catch the odd things a Scottish burr and an Irish brogue can do to the King’s English.

And vurra odd things they can do, as you will discover while listening to the McNaughton, the Allgood, the MacPherson, the Bruce, the Jeans and the Hale of the cast. Och aye! With such a dialectic crew aboard and with full many a porridgy line and tight little scene to handle, it is no wonder the piece is a rarely quizzical comedy—as droll as the Scot himself and much freerer with its entertainment. After the recent barrage of Hollywood slapstick and genteel lunacy, it’s a rare treat to find excuse for honest laughter again. But this doesn’t explain the teacup tempest.

Well, ’twas like this: Mrs. Hegarty, whose brogue was richer than the ice cream she peddled on the streets of Baikie, had a dog, Patsy. Or, rather, she hadn’t the dog, Patsy, because Patsy had been impounded by the authorities for lacking a license. Mrs. Hegarty might have paid Patsy’s license fee, although under protest, but there was a £5 fine besides, and this Mrs. Hegarty couldn’t pay, even under protest. There was also a Provost, a stern and blathering man, with his eye on Parliament and a sweet-faced daughter in his house; and a crusading young reporter, fresh from England, who was left in charge of Baikie’s lone newspaper on a night when he was seething with indignation over the Provost’s treatment of Mrs. Hegarty and Patsy.

So there was a telling story on the front page the next day and the beginning of the storm over Patsy. Before it subsided the empire almost had been shaken to Gibraltar, Mrs. Hegarty was wearing boas and egret feathers and Patsy, who had taken everything philosophically, heard himself described as the epitome of all the dogs in England—with genealogical research to prove it. The comedy has been delightfully played, scampers along like a pup under the joint direction of Victor Saville and Ian Dalrymple and has as flavorsome dialogue (and we’re not speaking merely of the peat and heather influence) as we have heard this season. In a word, “Storm in a Teacup” is a splendid comic brew—and Sara Allgood’s in it.

STORM IN A TEACUP, based on Bruno Frank’s play, “Storm Over Patsy,” as adapted from the German by James Bridie; directed by Victor Saville and Ian Dalrymple; produced by Victor Saville; presented by Alexander Korda and released by United Artists. At the Little Carnegie Playhouse.
Victoria . . . . . Vivien Leigh
Frank Burdon . . . . . Rex Harrison
Provost . . . . . Cecil Parker
Mrs. Hegarty . . . . . Sara Allgood
Lisbet Skirving . . . . . Ursula Jeans
Horace Skirving . . . . . Gus McNaughton
McKellar . . . . . Edgar Bruce
Lord Skerryvore . . . . . Robert Hale
Baillie Callender . . . . . Quinton MacPherson
Fiscal . . . . . Arthur Wontner
Sheriff . . . . . Eliot Makeham
Menzies . . . . . George Pughe
Police Sergeant . . . . . Arthur Seaton
Police Constable . . . . . Cecil Mannering
Watkins . . . . . Ivor Barnard
Councilor . . . . . Cyril Smith
Cassidy . . . . . W. G. Fay
Patsy . . . . . Scruffy

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

• $25.00 here
• $50.00 here
• $75.00 here
• $100.00 here
• $250.00 here