Under Your Hat

Under Your Hat
Original British trade ad
Directed by	Maurice Elvey
Written by	Rodney Ackland Anthony Kimmins Arthur Macrae Geoffrey Kerr Jack Hulbert
Based on	musical play Under Your Hat by Arthur Macrae
Produced by	Ivor McLaren Jack Hulbert
Starring	Jack Hulbert Cicely Courtneidge Austin Trevor Leonora Corbett
Cinematography	Mutz Greenbaum
Edited by	Edward B. Jarvis
Music by	Lew Stone
Production company	Grand National Pictures
Distributed by	British Lion
Release date	1 September 1940 (1940-09-01)
Running time	79 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Under Your Hat is a 1940 British musical comedy spy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Austin Trevor.

Production

The film was an independent production made at Isleworth Studios. It was based on a popular stage musical starring Hulbert and Courtneidge, a husband-and-wife team who had made a series of successful comedy films during the 1930s. The sets were designed by art director James A. Carter. Musical numbers included "Can't Find That Tiger" sung by The Rhythm Brothers.

Synopsis

The film is set in pre-Second World War England where a leading film star Jack Millett and his wife Kay attempt to recover a secret carburettor stolen by enemy agents. Suspicious that Jack may be embarking on an affair with his glamorous co-star Carole Markoff, Kay follows him to the South of France, where in fact he is due to receive the carburettor from a contact at a night club, as he has actually been recruited as an undercover man for the government. (There is a literary pun when the secret agent bringing the parcel, assuming Kay knows all about the identification code and is due to meet him, says dramatically "You are She", and Kay replies "Really? I didn't know I looked so Haggard.") Eventually, the parcel is retrieved, Markoff is revealed as a spy, and Jack and Kay fly back to London with the carburettor.

Cast

• Jack Hulbert as Jack Millett
• Cicely Courtneidge as Kay Millett
• Austin Trevor as Boris Vladimir
• Leonora Corbett as Carole Markoff
• Cecil Parker as Sir Jeffrey Arlington
• Anthony Hayes as George
• Charles Oliver as Carl
• H. F. Maltby as Colonel Sheepshanks
• Mary Barton as Mrs. Sheepshanks
• Glynis Johns as Winnie
• Myrette Morven as Miss Stevens
• Roddy Hughes as Film Director
• John Robinson and The Rhythm Brothers as Themselves
• Don Marino Baretto as Band Leader
• Paul Sheridan as Minor role
• Eunice Crowther as Minor role
• Charles Eaton as Minor role
• Paul Henreid as Minor role
• Terry-Thomas as Party Guest

Critical reception

TV Guide found the film "redolent of the Thin Man series, with the added fillip of the musical-stage talent, but lacking the charisma of the stars of that series"; while Sky Movies wrote, "although Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge had passed their mid-Thirties' peaks as box-office attractions when they made this film version of one of their hit stage shows, it does mark something of a return to form for both of them, with a lively if improbable plot involving spies, and the two stars cheerfully indulging their penchant for disguise. Glynis Johns has a small supporting role, and sharp eyes may catch a glimpse of the young Terry-Thomas."

Bibliography

• Murphy, Robert. Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain, 1939-1949. Routledge, 1992.

External links

• Under Your Hat at IMDb