If you can get past the accents, the sound and the simplistic, formulaic plot, this is a pleasant enough time capsule albeit one with an outstanding lead performance from Francoise Rosay that is so far superior to the others that it unbalances the film. All the Cornish villagers speak with markedly English accents none more so than love interest Patricia Roc who is as close to cut-glass as makes no difference. The sound is 'clean' even when the background is turbulent and has that slightly 'hollow' quality that betrays its studio origin and there has been no attempt to lay an FX track that would fool a three-year old. Tibby Clarke clearly phoned his screenplay in from a corner table in the Savoy Silver Grill but, hey, this was 1945 and that post-war hysteria would make anything acceptable. See it for Rosay.
Review of Johnny Frenchman
