Earl and Lady Rhyall – Victor (Cary Grant) and Hillary (Deborah Kerr) – are down on their luck to the point that they are inviting tourists to take guided tours of their English country estate.
The couple accepts the nuisance philosophically and are happy in a small apartment reserved for their private use.
Enter American millionaire oil tycoon Charles Delacro (Robert Mitchum) who visits and takes a liking to more than the house – he falls in love with Hillary, and she with him (so she thinks).
Not wanting to lose her, the Earl swallows his false pride and tries to handle the problem intelligently, even going so far as to suggest to his wife that she try a trial period with Delacro before making her decision.
And he invites his rival for a weekend, where each of the two men attempts to be nice to each other – with each secretly wishing the other would drop dead.
Soon, sharp-tongued, mischief-making society girl Hattie Durant (Jean Simmons) gets involved – she wants nothing more than the married couple’s separation so she can move in and replace the departing wife – and they all have a good old fashioned love triangle on their hands.
It’s a miserable adaptation of a dull drawing-room play, resulting in a hopelessly dated mostly unfunny romantic comedy.
Earl Victor Rhyall
Cary Grant Lady Hilary Rhyall
Deborah Kerr Charles Delacro
Robert Mitchum Hattie Durant
Jean Simmons Trevor Sellers, the Butler
Moray Watson
