I Lived With You

Another exotic stranger moves in on another stable, complacent household, with seismic results. Novello's penniless Russian prince lodging with a working class London family emerges as part-Boudu, part-Shane, liberating the elder daughter, but inadvertently steering Dad towards crime, while Mum quietly hits the bottle. It's smooth entertainment, with the crowd-pleasing elements of Novello's play fine-tuned during its West End run. And as usual with the campy, languid Ivor, you can hardly miss a sly playfulness, e.g. making royalty a code for gayness - 'Why do they hate me for what I cannot help?' The cast includes slimline Jack Hawkins as a cockney loudmouth and chubby Ida Lupino as a teenage temptress.