The year after he made the very serious and moving drama The Pied Piper, Monty Woolley let his hair down and made the delightful comedy Holy Matrimony. I always love when actors vary their material; it makes me think they're rewarding themselves for their hard work by taking a break.
In this cute British flick, Monty plays a reclusive writer who hates publicity. He's about to be knighted and, dreading the attention, gets granted a stroke of luck - at the expense of his friend and valet. His faithful servant drops dead, and continues to serve him from the great beyond. Monty takes his identity and lives under the radar! To his great relief, he gets treated far differently when people think he's just a lowly valet. To his great surprise, his real valet was keeping up a romantic correspondence with Gracie Fields. When Monty meets her, will he pick up where the love letters left off? I always associate Gracie Fields with the famous David Niven joke when he accidentally told Prince Rainier that Grace Kelly was the best of all his conquests. Checking himself at the last minute, he quickly changed the name to Gracie Fields. Poor Miss Fields, but it's funny to remember the joke when you see her down-to-earth, frumpy style.
Rent this obscure English comedy if you like that style of humor, and if you like to see Monty using his comedic talents. He won two Rag awards by being in dramas, so Holy Matrimony was a nice treat.
In this cute British flick, Monty plays a reclusive writer who hates publicity. He's about to be knighted and, dreading the attention, gets granted a stroke of luck - at the expense of his friend and valet. His faithful servant drops dead, and continues to serve him from the great beyond. Monty takes his identity and lives under the radar! To his great relief, he gets treated far differently when people think he's just a lowly valet. To his great surprise, his real valet was keeping up a romantic correspondence with Gracie Fields. When Monty meets her, will he pick up where the love letters left off? I always associate Gracie Fields with the famous David Niven joke when he accidentally told Prince Rainier that Grace Kelly was the best of all his conquests. Checking himself at the last minute, he quickly changed the name to Gracie Fields. Poor Miss Fields, but it's funny to remember the joke when you see her down-to-earth, frumpy style.
Rent this obscure English comedy if you like that style of humor, and if you like to see Monty using his comedic talents. He won two Rag awards by being in dramas, so Holy Matrimony was a nice treat.