My Wife's Lodger is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Dominic Roche, Olive Sloane and Leslie Dwyer.[1] The screenplay concerns a soldier who returns home after the Second World War only to find a spiv lodger has established himself in his place.[2][3] It was based on the play My Wife's Lodger written by Roche.[4]

My Wife's Lodger
Directed byMaurice Elvey
Written byStafford Dickens
Dominic Roche (play)
Produced byDavid Dent
StarringDominic Roche
Olive Sloane
Leslie Dwyer
Diana Dors
CinematographyPhil Grindrod
Les Harris
Edited byLito Carruthers
Music byFrancis Essex
Production
company
Advance Films
Distributed byAdelphi Films
Release date
  • October 1952 (1952-10)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Cast

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Production

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The film was based on a 1951 play.[5]

Filming took place in May 1952. Dors was appearing in a revue Rendezvous at night[6] It was one of a series of low budget comedies Dors made around this time.[7]

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin said "this comedy runs through a repertoire of farcical situations of the most ancient variety. The playing does not lack energy but the music-hall style jokes - domestic bickering, mothers-in-law and so on - become very exhausting."[8]

TV Guide wrote, "the energy of the ensemble partly makes up for the film's lack of coherence and taste."[9] The 'Daily Film Renter' (quoted in BFI Screenonline) wrote, "the acting is of the 'Ee-bai-goom' school and the dialogue is the ripe, uninhibited language of the music hall... as briny as jellied eels on Southend Pier."[4] In 'CathodeRayTube.co.uk', Frank Collins writes, "there are some genuinely laugh out loud moments here and the humour derived from the antics of such a dysfunctional family reflect many of the tropes that would find their way into British sitcoms of the late 1960s and 1970s where other ideological wars would be fought - based on gender, class, race and religion."[2]

References

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  1. ^ "My Wife's Lodger (1952)". BFI. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017.
  2. ^ a b Frank Collins. "June 2010". Cathode Ray Tube. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  3. ^ "My Wife's Lodger (1953) - Maurice Elvey - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
  4. ^ a b "BFI Screenonline: My Wife's Lodger (1952)". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 28 June 2014.
  5. ^ "My Wife's Lodger." By Dominic Roche (Book Review) Hamilton, Iain. The Spectator; London Vol. 187, Iss. 6422, (Jul 27, 1951): 124.
  6. ^ Pin Money Date: Wednesday, May 14, 1952 Publication: Daily Mail (London, England) Issue: 17464
  7. ^ Vagg, Stephen (7 September 2020). "A Tale of Two Blondes: Diana Dors and Belinda Lee". Filmink.
  8. ^ MY WIFE'S LODGER Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 19, Iss. 216, (Jan 1, 1952): 158.
  9. ^ "My Wife's Lodger - TV Guide". TVGuide.com.
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