This truly charming British comedy stars three of the great stage and screen actresses of England, one of the rare opportunities to see character actors in leading roles in a film that works. Dame Sybil Thorndike, Estelle Winwood and Kathleen Harrison are tired of aging around the cotton balls in their British retirement home and escape. It's almost choreographed how the military, police and miscellaneous locals go searching for them, leading to a hysterical montage of the various locations that go to. They somehow end up on a Russian steamer, and watching the three British eccentrics dealing with Russian soldiers reading an English translation book is also very funny.
Finally ending up on the Irish coast, the three women take over the household of eccentric Bohemian Stanley Holloway whom they believed to have jumped off a cliff. The locals, believing them to be women of ill repute involved with Holloway, confront them over their alleged immoral behavior but end up having a huge party which endears them completely, leading to the three women to basically take over the community. Like most women in films like this, they become advisors to the young, especially in the love life of one of the younger men (Richard Harris in his film debut), but questions over Holloway's estate threaten to disturb their happy stay in the village.
There are several musical numbers scattered throughout this film, especially a rousing title song sung in Holloway's house when the women move in and invite everybody over for a tea party. Even on the Russian steamer, there's a sudden energetic dance that has the Russian soldiers collapsing in exhaustion. The energy here is incredible, but the energy of the three older women is even more memorable, especially for Thorndike who finds herself hanging on the cliff at one moment nearly falling to the rocks below.
While the plot is basically a series of vignettes surrounding the women's escape and their adventures, it is so completely charming that you don't notice really that there is not a linear story. There are moments of high comedy, touching warmth and a look at how one culture mixes with another culture and simply melds because of hospitality. I don't think this film strive for Perfection, and for a character-based film like this, that is not necessary. It is about seeing how three women supposedly passed the prime of their life can change the direction of it and make their mark on the world when they find the right place to settle in.
Finally ending up on the Irish coast, the three women take over the household of eccentric Bohemian Stanley Holloway whom they believed to have jumped off a cliff. The locals, believing them to be women of ill repute involved with Holloway, confront them over their alleged immoral behavior but end up having a huge party which endears them completely, leading to the three women to basically take over the community. Like most women in films like this, they become advisors to the young, especially in the love life of one of the younger men (Richard Harris in his film debut), but questions over Holloway's estate threaten to disturb their happy stay in the village.
There are several musical numbers scattered throughout this film, especially a rousing title song sung in Holloway's house when the women move in and invite everybody over for a tea party. Even on the Russian steamer, there's a sudden energetic dance that has the Russian soldiers collapsing in exhaustion. The energy here is incredible, but the energy of the three older women is even more memorable, especially for Thorndike who finds herself hanging on the cliff at one moment nearly falling to the rocks below.
While the plot is basically a series of vignettes surrounding the women's escape and their adventures, it is so completely charming that you don't notice really that there is not a linear story. There are moments of high comedy, touching warmth and a look at how one culture mixes with another culture and simply melds because of hospitality. I don't think this film strive for Perfection, and for a character-based film like this, that is not necessary. It is about seeing how three women supposedly passed the prime of their life can change the direction of it and make their mark on the world when they find the right place to settle in.