A working-class family are under siege in this light-hearted South London comedy.
Government bureaucrats erroneously miss The House of Lords (a smartly-named shop in the middle of a bombed-out street near Waterloo run by Lilian Lord and family) from their Festival of Britain plans and threaten to demolish the shop and the attached family home if the building is not vacated.
The whole family, including daughter Joan’s fiancé, Cyril (George Cole), decide to barricade themselves in and fight the powers that be.
They stoically cling to the property and after a week without water or light they are on the point of surrender when the Government capitulates.
On-the-money performances abound in Muriel Box’s film. Stanley Holloway’s put-upon Henry and George Cole’s bolshy Cyril are the pick of the men while Kathleen Harrison as spirited Lilian and Dandy Nichol as screw-loose spiritualist Ada are vital and on point.
Scenes including the construction of the festival site alongside long-gone landmarks like the Shot Tower of the Lambeth Lead Works give the film an extra note of pathos and curiosity.
Released in the US as Mr Lord Says No.
Henry Lord
Stanley Holloway Lilian Lord
Kathleen Harrison Mr Filch
Naunton Wayne Ada
Dandy Nichols Cyril
George Cole Mr Thwaites
Miles Malleson Maurice Hennessy
Tom Gill Anne
Margaret Barton Marina
Shirley Mitchell Joan
Eileen Moore Councillor
Laurence Naismith Mr Granite
John Salew David
John Stratton Sir Charles Spanniell
Geoffrey Sumner MP
Richard Wattis Mayor
Cameron Hall Mrs Potter
Eileen Way
