The Midshipmaid

The Midshipmaid
Directed byAlbert de Courville
Written byStafford Dickens
Based onthe play The Midshipmaid by Ian Hay & Stephen King-Hall
Produced byMichael Balcon (uncredited)
StarringJessie Matthews
A. W. Baskcomb
Basil Sydney
CinematographyMutz Greenbaum
Edited byIan Dalrymple
Ralph Kemplen
Music byJack Beaver (uncredited)
Production
company
Distributed byWoolf & Freedman Film Service, England
Release dates
  • 8 December 1932 (1932-12-08) (London, England)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The Midshipmaid (U.S. title: Midshipmaid Gob[1]) is a 1932 British comedy film directed by Albert de Courville and starring Jessie Matthews, Frederick Kerr, Basil Sydney and Nigel Bruce.[2][3] It was written by Stafford Dickens based on the 1931 play of the same title by Ian Hay and Stephen King-Hall.[4] John Mills makes his film debut in a supporting role.[5] It was shot at the Lime Grove Studios, with sets designed by the art director Alfred Junge.[6]

Plot

Pompous economy expert Sir Percy Newbiggin visits the Naval Fleet in Malta to see what cuts can be made in their expenditure. The officers all fall over themselves to woo his beautiful daughter Celia, who accompanies him: she becomes engaged to the son of the First Sea Lord and her father decides to leave economics to the Navy.

Cast

Reception

Film Weekly wrote: "Thin musical comedy, padded out with broad music-hall humour of the 'rollicking' type."[7]

Kine Weekly wrote: "A rollicking romantic comedy with a refreshing nautical flavour, liberally and expensively adapted from the successful stage play. ... Fred Kerr is immense as Sir Percy and gets under the skin of the type. Jessie Matthews is a winsome, light-hearted Celia, Basil Sydney is a handsome Ffosberry, and A. W. Baskcomb, Edwin Lawrence and Nigel Bruce are amazingly good in frank comedy roles. Albert De Courville has marshalled his talent with great skill, and under his leadership the versatile players put the light story over with infectious enthusiasm."[8]

Variety wrote: "Plot is of small consequence, its principal feature being the giving of a concert on board a British battleship stationed at Malta. Considerable fun is derived from this concert by the crew, which includes A. W. Baskcomb in the same role he created on the stage, Rebla, the juggler, Condos Brothers as a dancing horse and Archie Glen giving his familiar vaudeville impersonation of a souse dancing with a dummy. Then there is silly ass monocled gentleman, as done by Claude Allister, exactly as he did it in the States for years. ... Fred Kerr, who heads the cast, has a thankless role, which he carries satisfactorily and Nigel Bruce is utterly wasted in a bit. The atmosphere of the battleship is admirable, indicating careful attention to detail, and the direction is so speedy the specialists are given small opportunity to shine."[9]

References

  1. ↑ "Midshipmaid Gob". TVGuide.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2018.
  2. ↑ "The Midshipmaid". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  3. ↑ Denis Gifford, ed. (2016) [1973]. British Film Catalogue: Two Volume Set - The Fiction Film/The Non Fiction Film. Vol. 2. Routledge. p. 382. ISBN 978-1-57958-171-8.
  4. ↑ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 9783110951943 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ "John Mills". BFI. Archived from the original on 11 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "The Midshipmaid (1933)". BFI. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019.
  7. ↑ "The Midshipmaid". Film Weekly. 9 (227): 37-38. 17 February 1933. ProQuest 1705181967.
  8. ↑ "The Midshipmaid". Kine Weekly. 190 (1339): 15. 15 December 1932.
  9. ↑ "The Midshipmaid". Variety. 109 (3): 54. 27 December 1932. ProQuest 1529009280.
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