About a wealthy household, full of servants including handsome butler Gilbey (Michael Wilding), who has caught the eye of teenage Joan. The family travels to Geneva to fight for a sanctuary for "British birds", after which Joan pronounces her love for Gilbey, the war starts, and Gilbey becomes a soldier, replaced as butler by his grandfather. But wait, when Gilbey comes back after a year, no longer a servant and now in love with Joan himself, fickle Joan decides he's not the man for her after all! And meanwhile, the house is opened up as a "sanctuary for allies" where Joan is busy giving English lessons (more like "pronunciation" lessons) to foreign soldiers, and Gilbey tries to win Joan's heart - again.
This film is mildly entertaining, though a bit rambling with a plot that goes here and there, sometimes without reason. I enjoyed the part of the story involving the romance, but there is a silly side plot that I found rather boring involving several people they meet in Geneva including a female language translator, a French man who has written a book called "Love in Six Lessons", and an artist who draws caricatures of visiting tourists. These three all, coincidentally, end up in England and meet up with the family again (the two men even end up taking "lessons" from young Joan, as they try to romance her). Still, I found the acting in this film to be quite good, especially Margaret Rutherford, who I thought was very amusing here as the lady of the house, who even while fighting for her "feathered friends" is busy dining on quail (or thrush as she believes it to be). A lightly entertaining film that has it's moments.
This film is mildly entertaining, though a bit rambling with a plot that goes here and there, sometimes without reason. I enjoyed the part of the story involving the romance, but there is a silly side plot that I found rather boring involving several people they meet in Geneva including a female language translator, a French man who has written a book called "Love in Six Lessons", and an artist who draws caricatures of visiting tourists. These three all, coincidentally, end up in England and meet up with the family again (the two men even end up taking "lessons" from young Joan, as they try to romance her). Still, I found the acting in this film to be quite good, especially Margaret Rutherford, who I thought was very amusing here as the lady of the house, who even while fighting for her "feathered friends" is busy dining on quail (or thrush as she believes it to be). A lightly entertaining film that has it's moments.