You'll not believe that this was made by little old Twickenham Films! It's almost brilliant. Its script is intelligent, witty and engrossing, its characters are totally believable and the acting is honestly outstanding - a far cry from a lot of the rubbish that was around in the 30s. And unbelievably it was made by Twickenham!
This was Julius Hagen's last big budget (for him anyway) Twickenham Films extravaganza before his ambitions bankrupted his studio. However modest in terms of what 'a budget' meant say at Gaumont-British or Paramount, it allowed Bernard Vorhaus to do what he'd always wanted to do - properly direct a proper film. Vorhaus has quite a cult following and you can see why. Given a decent budget, freed from the restraints of making the 'quota quickies' all his pent up ambitions and creativity are realised in this brilliantly, yes brilliantly made production. His photographer, the German Curt Courant who worked on some of Europe's most prestigious pictures also imbues this film real sense elegance and a touch of class.
Having watched countless films from the early and mid thirties, mainly American, I have to say that this is one of the finest, best quality offerings I've ever seen - and it's not from MGM or Warners, it's not even from Gaumont-British, it from Twickenham! What's surprising is the quality of the acting, it's naturalistic, realistic and a far cry from what you might expect from this era - and certainly from this studio. Excellent writing and authentic acting allow all the main characters literally develop and evolve into real, believable people before your eyes. In just an hour and a half you really get to know them.
Unlike THE GHOST CAMERA which Hagen and Vorhaus made a couple of years earlier, this does take a while to get going but you'll be hooked within fifteen minutes. Sometimes you need to lower your 'quality control bar' with 30s films but not with this. Watch and enjoy!