On Approval (1944) User Reviews

A Clever Comedy Worth Seeing

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 4 January 2015]

"On Approval" is a comedy of manners and it delivers on its promise to delight. The dialogue is the thing--filled with insinuations, clever slights, and unabashed insults. The four leads make the most of the plot, which is about two men trying to marry into wealthier circumstances via two sisters.

One reviewer said this film is not up to Oscar Wilde's standards. Well maybe it is too tame to be Wilde, but it is still charming and filled with plenty of caustic throw-away lines and honest insights.

I think I will have to see it more than once to fully appreciate the film because of the sheer volume of memorable lines. That's a prospect I can bear to suffer.

A Literate Comedy of Manners From Quality Actors: Quips Aplenty!

[museumofdave · 8/10 · 30 March 2013]

First of all, the pictorial quality of the print on this 1943 comedy is amazingly good; the diction of the actors speaking the King's English is also impeccable, and on that level alone this film is watchable--but much more for me; it's a wartime English film, obviously done on the cheap--but done very well and featuring top quality stage actors who delight in the clever quip and character-driven drollery.

A wee bit of story: a demanding woman decides to take her prospective hubby to an island retreat to see if they can properly relate before they marry--two friends tag along. Now largely forgotten actor Clive Brook (a lead in Dietrich's Shanghai Express) directed and stars as an effete snob who has lessons to learn, and the impeccably hilarious, viper-tongued Beatrice Lille, who made far too few movies, is showcased at her raised-eyebrow best. This is an old-fashioned drawing room comedy, adult in nature, literate in approach, and short, sweet and delightful.

The most English of all English comedies

[MOscarbradley · 7/10 · 8 March 2017]

The most English of all English comedies and something of a tour-de-force, particularly for Clive Brook who produced, directed and adapted Frederick Lonsdale's play as well as taking the lead as a penniless Duke in love with an American heiress. She's Googie Withers but she doesn't love him back. They end up as chaperons, he to Roland Culver and she to Beatrice Lillie, on a Scottish island where Lillie has brought Culver for a month 'on approval' to see if she likes him enough to marry him. All four are superb but Lillie, in one of her few major film roles, walks off with the movie as the obnoxious Maria, though in the acting stakes Brook does give her a run for her money. The film is seldom revived, however; could it be just too sophisticated for mass consumption?

Beatrice Lillie Shines....

[drednm · 5 May 2005]

in this 1944 film version of the Frederick Lonsdale play. Charming, caustic, biting, and very funny, On Approval centers on 4 people who end up together in a house in Scotland for a month to see if they are "suited" for marriage. Of course no one gets along, the servants leave instantly, and the weather is dreadful. Lillie made only a handful of films; what a pity. She's quite wonderful as the rich woman who disdains marriage. Clive Brook (best remembered for Cavalcade) is excellent as the Duke (son of a butcher's daughter) who assumes the airs of aristocracy without having money. Roland Culver and Googie Withers round out the bickering foursome. Surprisingly fresh and current. I'd seen the 1982 BBC play with Penelope Keith and remembered it fondly. This is different but equal. Lonsdale seemed at one time a copy of Wilde or even Coward. But he has a special way with words that makes for delightful dialogue. On Approval is worth looking for!

Daft Victorian comedy with surreal sequences to boot!

[adrianovasconcelos · 7/10 · 14 June 2023]

A highly mannered comedy ON APPROVAL is, clearly a theatrical play with four participants pretty much on screen from beginning to end, two well off women (one of whom, American) just beginning to get long in the teeth, and two bankrupt aristocrats desperately trying to sink their teeth into money so they can extend their privileged living.

After a somewhat irritating male voice over intro which kind of situates the entire conundrum, you are served some grating singing by Beatrice Lillie, which will continue later in the film with the most discordant duet I can recall in movies.

There are many psychological deviant moments, including the entire ensemble of servants leaving the house shortly after arrival of the two women , and their male company, indignant over treatment, conditions, and an embrace between one of the males and Beatrice Lillie, who delivers a very fine absurd performance.

In contrast, lovely Googie Withers plays an American whose big test for a male is the color of her eyes (!)

I do not know whether this is a B or an A pic, but it surely is unusual, little to do with famous and classical British humor, and a great deal more to do with surrealistic chuckles as Lillie dances around a statue with one of the males, while the other has a nightmare.

If you don't follow... no surprise, neither did I!

Ho!

[timon88 · 10/10 · 21 July 2002]

This film of Frederick Lonsdale's play is one of my favorite movies of all time. Not because it breaks new artistic ground--it's simply as close to being perfectly cast and perfectly executed as one can imagine. It's Bea Lillie's most important work on film (and as far as I can tell, except for "Thoroughly Modern Millie", the only thing of hers available on home video....will someone PLEASE bring out "Doctor Rhythm"?), and it really does give us a sense of why she was so famous in her day. The amazing Clive Brook is her perfect foil, and Googie Withers is beautiful and utterly charming.

"On Approval" is full of small pleasures that, because of their perfection, are unforgettable. Who can forget Bea Lillie's perfect delivery of "You will find the dinghy by the jetty."? The bickering of Lillie and Brook ("Maria, I don't want to speak to you, but I must." "I don't want to speak to you and I won't!") .....Googie Withers refusing a proposal of marriage by asking the color of her eyes.....Bea Lillie doing vocal exercises at the piano....I could go on endlessly. It's exquisite fun.

Mannered, Amusing and Malicious

[Terrell-4 · 9/10 · 28 July 2004]

On Approval is an extremely amusing comedy of upper class British manners. It is wickedly malicious without being mean-spirited. The four leads play off each other flawlessly. Unfortunately, it seems to be one of those forgotten gems. The DVD release awhile back may have given it some new recognition. (And the DVD transfer is first rate.)

Clive Brook, who also wrote and directed the film, is priceless as an aristocrat who finds it entirely reasonable to take his pleasures at the expense of others. He was a major star in the Thirties, but made only one more movie, The List of Adrian Messenger, after this one. At 76 he proved he still could hold his own against all comers, including George C. Scott.

A Very Funny Film

[crossbow0106 · 9/10 · 27 September 2008]

This is a send up about British society people set in the 1890's that not only keeps your interest but gets progressively funnier with time. Beatrice Lillie plays Maria and Googie Withers plays Helen, with Maria deciding to go for a trial marriage for a month's holiday in Scotland with Richard. George, a Duke, tags along and through a series of planned misadventures, all four of them end up in the same castle on an island they have to row to to reach. This film must have been a breath of fresh air in 1943, as the war was still going on. Sixty five years later, it is still fresh. I had a great time watching it, it is a well made farce, and the acting is terrific. If you like British comedy at all, this is absolutely essential.

One of the funniest British films of the 1940's

[barrymn1 · 10/10 · 21 May 2006]

Wow....what a surprise....

I bought this on DVD sight unseen, due to the fact that it stars Beatrice Lillie in one of the very few films she ever made.

She's absolutely wonderful playing a rather unpleasant, grumpy women. Similarly, Clive Brook, who capped his long film career by writing, directing and starring in this outrageous farce.

I won't give away the plot, but I can't imagine a better example of how well a well known play can be adapted for the screen.

If you can't live without the Criterion DVD of "The Importance Of Being Earnest", then this movie should also be on your shelf.

Get it....before it disappears....

Aristocrats with cash flow problems

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 15 July 2012]

No one should pass on seeing any film with Beatrice Lillie. And I have to confess I was looking forward to seeing On Approval which is a Frederick Lonsdale comedy of manners which made it to Broadway after Drury Lane in London in the middle twenties. But while I saw a faithful adaption of the rather dated play, I did not see the madcap Beatrice Lillie in this at all.

Bea and Googie Withers play a couple of wealthy widows who are wealthy because their late husbands presumably made some good fortunes in whatever business they were in. A couple of aristocrats with cash flow problems played by Clive Brook and Roland Culver are looking to marry and live in a lifestyle they're accustomed to. To go to work doesn't appeal to these two twits at all. But a nice marriage to money is a lot easier.

The play itself is all right if your taste runs to these kind of stories. It tries to be Oscar Wilde like, without any of Wilde's wit. And Lillie gives a good performance. But I was sitting at my computer screen waiting for her to rollerskate across the floor or break into her double damask dinner napkins routine. You can find that in the Bing Crosby film Dr. Rhythm which Beatrice Lillie co-starred with him.

In fact DEMAND that TCM show that film if you want to see what Bea Lillie was all about.

Like THE WOMEN and ALL ABOUT EVE, great for repeat viewing!

[adykstra · 10/10 · 8 August 1999]

Thanks to Blackhawk Films and Image Entertainment for the release of this rarely seen British gem. It is refreshing to see a comedy based on language and characters. Only in Britain would Beatrice Lillie have been given a starring role (along with Googie Withers in a wise supporting role) in a film like this. Like George Cukor's THE WOMEN and Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE, this is a comedy you can return to time and again and pick up something new every time. Hats off to Clive Brook!

Bea Lillie. Enough Said.

[GManfred · 10 January 2017]

Here is a look of one of England's foremost comediennes and entertainers, Beatrice Lillie. She was, for some unknown reason, shamefully neglected/ underutilized by Hollywood, and here she gives one of her fey, comedic performances for which she was celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic before and after the two world wars. She was primarily a stage actress and appeared in only seven movies.

In this one she is in a cast of four actors in a droll, upper class comedy of manners. Listen intently to the dialogue or you may miss a precious bon mot or a glossed-over aside. The script is delicious and keeps you waiting for the next hilarious remark at which Lady Peel had no peer. It was written and Directed by Clive Brook who also co-stars and gives himself too much to say and do, but you can't keep a good man (in this case, woman) down, and Bea Lillie emerges unscathed and triumphant. If you're a fan you must catch this one when you can.

Very droll...

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 13 September 2009]

ON APPROVAL has very, very glowing reviews so far and I am not surprised. It's a smart and funny comedy of manners that had a freshness that pleasantly surprised me. However, at the same time, I understand that this is NOT a film for everyone, as its droll sense of humor is certainly not what the average person would enjoy. In other words, it is probably more for a niche market--people who can enjoy a funny film with great subtlety (such as an Oscar Wilde play). In other words, if the humor of Jim Carey and Rob Schneider make you laugh, then you probably aren't a good candidate to see ON APPROVAL.

In the beginning of the film, a narrator talks about love during recent history. Eventually, this takes the movie back to the mid-late Victorian era. I loved this part, as occasionally the characters broke character and talked to the narrator. This took me by surprise and let me know this was not the typical comedy.

The story then focuses on four middle-aged upper class people--two men of noble birth but with less than noble bank accounts and two ladies of better financial means. They are all single and the two men both seem to think marriage (finally) is a good idea to solve their financial woes--in particular, Richard's dire economic problems. If he were to marry the rich Helen, he could live a very, very comfortable life. There isn't a whole lot of love behind his proposal and it's probably in light of this that she has a shocking but intelligent solution--they will go off on a vacation together and see how it is to act like husband and wife for a few weeks. However, much to Richard's chagrin, this does NOT grant him conjugal rights--after all, this is the Victorian era and Helen brings along a friend to guarantee this.

Now these are not the only two who go on this vacation. The very boorish and rude George insinuates himself with Richard to ostensibly help him, though it seems he's along much more as a freeloader as well as to woo Helen's American friend and chaperon, Maria. Most of George's contribution to the effort is to try to increase the likelihood Richard beds Helen...though the film never is so bold as to state this explicitly. However, for the most part, George is just in the way.

When they arrive, the servants in this Scottish retreat soon leave--refusing to stay as it ends up that the four unmarried people will be living in the same mansion (gosh, what a shock). So, the four of them are expected to cook and wait on each other. In hindsight, this is a very good thing, as it either brings out the best or the worst in each of these four--leading to a few twists and surprised.

The film has sparkling dialog and a nice wit. It's rare to see such a well-written film and managing to gently poke fun at Victorian morality works very well because of this writing. The acting, likewise is very good. However, there is one odd problem with casting. Maria is supposed to be an American, but Ms. Lillies sounds about as American as the rest of the cast--as she has a very unmistakable English accent. Perhaps since the film was made during WWII it was hard to get an American actress for the part, but Ms. Lillie, though a fine actress, didn't even attempt the correct accent...or perhaps that's how we all sound to the Brits! Still, if this is my only complaint, then it must have been a pretty good film.

By the way, Clive Brook not only played George in the film, but he directed and wrote the movie as well! Wow. I am impressed.

Plot outline is a spoiler! Please change.

[franklinlj · 9/10 · 30 September 2006]

It says: "Women who are tired of their boyfriends come up with a new idea: exchange them." BUT - the exchange comes at the end, and is the films big surprise. Or was. I suggest replacing the current outline with something like this:

"Nearly flawless period comedy, spicy but not vulgar. Two couples in the 1890's decide to see if they are suited for marriage by living together for a month on an island. Scandal ensues, though they are only living together, not 'living together'.

Or are they?

Ho!"

(The significance of 'Ho!' will be clearer to the reader once the movie has been seen.)

Funny

[AAdaSC · 8/10 · 15 February 2010]

Maria (Beatrice Lillie) invites Richard (Roland Culver) to stay with her in her house in Scotland for a month to see if they are compatible and thus suited for marriage. George (Clive Brook) and Helen (Googie Withers) come along as chaperones for their friends, Helen for Maria and George for Richard. The staff at the house walk out of the residence, leaving the four main characters to fend for themselves and find out about each other.....

This film is very amusing - a good example of dialogue-driven humour. The script is well written and the cast deliver it with precision. All four main characters are well suited to their roles and equally excellent. The only oddity is that Googie Withers, playing an American, couldn't be more English! At the beginning of the film, a narrator delivers an intro in a very British comedy cartoon fashion. Perhaps this segment could have been shorter. However, once the film starts properly, it immediately holds the viewer's interest and runs for a decent length. There is also a twist in the tale.

A constant joy from go to whoa!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 30 May 2018]

Made at Denham and Pinewood Studios. Producer: Clive Brook. Executive producer: Sydney Box. Independent Producers. Copyright 10 February 1945 by English Films, Inc. New York opening at the Republic: 27 January 1945. U.S. release through English Films (later Eagle Lion). U.K. release through J. Arthur Rank's General Film Distributors: 22 May 1944. Australian release through Gaumont-British-Dominions/20th Century-Fox: 23 August 1945. 80 minutes. Originally banned in Australia, the version finally shown was "reconstructed" to 66 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: A trial marriage between two couples results in humorous complications.

NOTES: The original 1930 On Approval, directed by and starring Tom Walls, had taken big money in Australia at a time when unemployment was rife and those on welfare were legally forbidden to enter a cinema. Also at a time when British films were not a quarter as popular generally with Oz patrons as in 1945. The new 1944 On Approval was a sure-fire bet to break ticket-selling records. The timing was perfect. The war was almost over. The men would soon be home, and what better escapism to welcome them back to civvy street? But then the censor stepped in.

COMMENT: Directed with remarkable fluidity and style, this elegant, polished, witty, never-faltering comedy of manners is a constant joy from go to whoa. Partly our pleasure derives from Lonsdale's constantly sparkling quips and his delightfully contrasted characterizations. Partly as said from Brook's imaginative, Lubitsch-like direction with camera movements themselves contributing to the fun. And partly from the really side-splitting performances contributed by all the players, the principals especially, and cameo artists Elliot Mason and Hay Petrie.

Wonderful entertainment for connoisseur and casual picturegoer alike, it's a marvelous treat to finally see the full-length On Approval.

Viewed on 31 December 2003

[jpsmith-1 · 8/10 · 1 January 2004]

Enjoyed seeing this film on 31 December 2003 on our Channel 31 TV station. Great to see Beatrice Lillie in an early movie performance. We mainly know her from Throughly Modern Millie. Also a pleasure to see a young Googie Withers performing in this film.

Excellent and amusing film.

[cricket-14 · 10/10 · 8 May 1999]

This film is about a woman and her rather jaundiced opinion of marriage.

Beatrice Lillie, in a rare film role, is a treat!