Lord Camber's Ladies

Swerving in and out of an assortment of sub-genres (showbiz comedy, terminal illness weepie, hospital whodunit), wildly inconsistent in tone, this quite entertaining appendage to Hitchcock's filmography shows absolutely no sign of any masterly guiding hand. An adaptation of HA Vachell's 1915 play, it's most notable for its casting. Randy rotter Lord Camber is played by Nigel Bruce, usually the bumbling comic relief. Performing one number only, Gertrude Lawrence combines pleasingly off-hand insolence with the purest ham. Most interesting is du Maurier (Daphne's dad). Though aging and visually nondescript, he instantly takes control of everything going on around him. His movements are extraordinary, a testament to decades of West End and Broadway domination.