This is no classic, but it is amusing and has a period interest. It is also interesting because of two of the performances in it. Bill Travers is seen here in an early role as an unpleasant heavy, completely opposite to the Bill Travers we were later to know on screen. There is a wonderful supporting part for Hermione Baddeley, which needs to be seen by anyone interested in her, as she pulls it off with such professional aplomb and style. She was a very amusing woman. I knew her only slightly. And along with very large numbers of people indeed, I also knew her brother, the charming Reverend William ('Bill') Baddeley, who as Rector of St. James Piccadilly, was prominent in artistic, literary,and social work circles, though many people did not know he was Hermione's brother. Hermione Gingold told me that she and Hermione Baddeley used to do a lot of comedy double acts together and call themselves 'The Two Hermiones'. Apart from having the same first name, they were both as outrageous as each other and were like two comic twins. I wish I had seen them perform together on stage, as it must have been truly hilarious, but that was long before my time. This film has a story about an accountant who gets mixed up in an espionage operation, and it is sufficiently amusing for a rainy afternoon. It has been released on DVD under its alternative title of COUNTERSPY.
Review of Undercover Agent
