slothropgr I've always believed that every movie is allowed One Big Coincidence, and the bigger it is, the earlier in the picture it should be sprung. This is known (don't ask me why) as the "Of all the gin joints in all the world" rule. This example of lesser Coward has a HUGE coincidence which if the above rule were followed would have to have been sprung on the audience at least a week before the movie began. The irony is, the coincidence isn't even particularly germane to the main story and the movie could've gotten along without it. And should've. Said main story involves the clash of solid traditional veddy-upper-clahss English values with more casual boorish Yankee lack-of-values, brought about when the Lord of Marshwood (named Nigel and well named) brings his American bride-to-be, a big movie star, home to meet his mum, a proper but likable paragon of British nobility (Julie Andrews of course). The HUGE coincidence manifests when Lady Marshwood's maid and boon companion confesses that the big American movie star is her sister whom she hasn't seen in 20 years! The story never really recovers from this astonishment because nothing more is made of this beyond some awkward comedy (the movie star doesn't recognize her sister) and once the maid reveals her true identity to the star, the whole thing is shuffled aside and the movie becomes another of the kind of class comedy the Brits love so much. You get the feeling Coward threw it in just to liven things up because he couldn't think of anything else--it comes from deep in left field (or over the wider field boundary, this being England) and pretty much stays there. The sisterly relationship is never resolved (the star makes a totally unbelievable former Brit) and once everyone's had a night's sleep cooler heads prevail and the engagement hassle comes to its foreordained conclusion. Fortunately there are xlnt performances to help us through this, particularly Colin Firth as the Coward stand-in (dry wry and quite a guy) and Stephen Fry as the very model of a modern English butler, dealing out wisdom and consolation as needed. And Julie is magnificent--impossible to believe she was 65 when she made this, especially in the green off-the-shoulder leather evening gown she wears in the opening sequence. You'd never have caught Mary Poppins or Maria von Trapp in something like that.

remmelba This is great fun and a reminder of when actors and actresses just weren't welcome in polite society (and why). Just watching Colin Firth's face is delicious, he is subtle, funny and brilliant! The star-struck maid alone is worth the price of admission; and Stephen Frye is a perfect butler to Julie's elegant, polished master of each successive situation. Sophie Thompson steals the dinner scene and just about every other one she is in. This is a fabulous, literate comedy of manners with everyone spot-on with their characters. Every time I watch it I find something clever, witty and subtle that I missed the previous time. Just sit back and have fun watching all the stereotypes get skewered.

ANeary This is based on a Noel Coward play, so you should know what to expect.It is very nicely done - the locations look great (Isle of Man standing in for Kent), the cars and clothes are fabulous, and the casting is excellent. Stephen Fry plays a butler (again) with some Jeevesian touches, but is pretty low-key. Colin Firth plays against type in the role Coward so obviously designed for himself - and is funny (again, not something one expects from Firth). Jeanne Tripplehorn looks suitably glamorous as the Hollywood star, and Baldwin This does make a few digs at class and snobbery, but it is really a bit of fluffy comedy to pass a pleasant hour.

Insp. Clouzot Brilliant acting from a superb cast. Dialogues are great and subtle. Stephen Fry is a marvelous butler. Fans of "Mad Max 12" and "Lethal Weapon 123" pass your way ; it is not for you.... For the rest of the world, it is a good movie with a charming - though predictable sometimes - opposition between British and American values -and way of life...