User Reviews

If The Little Hut had been done as originally written by Andre Roussin had been done this might have been a far better film. In the original version the Ava Gardner character actually does have sex with all concerned on the island she's stranded on. But Hollywood is still in 1957 a prisoner of the Code so that kind of infidelity could never be shown on the big screen. If there is a French language version of The Little Hut I'll bet it's far better.

The French characters are changed to British here and even stranded on a tropical island they all behave quite civilized even in adultery. Stewart Granger and Ava Gardner are married and are on a yachting tour with a party of friends including Granger's best friend David Niven. The ship goes down and the three of them are stranded on the island where they build two huts, a big one for the married couple and The Little Hut for Niven.

But with not a whole lot to do on the island they engage in a lot of frank dialog and Niven opens up that he's been Gardner's lover for about six years. Granger who does kind of take things for granted with Gardner is affronted, but as captain of the former ship decides that if his powers include marriage they also include divorce. He divorces Gardner and Granger and Niven exchange huts. Later on a really hunky looking native that Gardner looks lasciviously on enters the picture and things really get complicated.

That lascivious look was not acting on Ava's part because she was involved with Italian actor Walter Chiari at that time. If the script had called for them to do the deed she would have no doubt been even better.

The Little Hut with all the sex taken out plays like a combination of The Admirable Crichton, Three's Company, and Gilligan's Island. I'm sure Sherwood Schwartz who produced Gilligan's Island saw how the cast lived on that island, how they showed such ingenuity in creating some creature comforts, that he probably incorporated much of it in his show. It's the best part of The Little Hut.

The play on which this was based was a big hit on the West End of London, but when it came to Broadway in 1953 it flopped terribly with only 29 performances. Playing the Granger, Niven, and Gardner roles on Broadway were Roland Culver, Colin Gordon, and Anne Vernon.

If the film were done 20 years later as originally conceived by Andre Roussin the results would have been better. But the stars especially Niven are three of the most charming folks around and they put it over as best they could.

Discovered this great comedy from 1957 on TCM and enjoyed the great acting and pretty looks of Ava Gardner, (Lady Susan Ashlow) who was married to Sir Philip Ashlow, (Stewart Granger) and a great supporting actor David Niven, (Henry Brittingham-Brett). Lady Susan Ashlow is neglected by her husband, Sir Philip Ashlow and Susan seeks the constant companionship of Henry Brett who is a bachelor. Susan tries to make her husband jealous by always going out with Henry and eventually Susan convinces her husband to take a cruise on their yacht as a sort of honeymoon. However, Philip decides to invite Henry on the cruise and things happen on the cruise that causes everyone to become shipwrecked on an island and things begin to get rather crazy. Eventually Henry asks Philip if he can share Susan in bed every once in awhile and the story gets really funny and out of control. Good entertaining 1957 film, enjoy.

Two men and a woman are stranded on a desert island.

If they are English, there is no problem: They haven't been introduced.

If they are Spanish, there is no problem: One of the men will kill the other.

If they are Italian, there is no problem: The woman will kill one of the men.

If they are American, there is no problem: They will be too busy talking about business.

If they are French, there is no problem.

Alas for this story, the two men are English, and the woman is American, and they already knew one another well -- perhaps too well.

The story, from a French play more risqué, or even downright explicit, is reasonably plausible, by Hollywood standards, rather well acted, but so badly edited it is a crime.

There are way too many scenes that do not match: For example, from one angle, a character has his arms crossed, then the next shot shows him with his arms at his side.

"The Little Hut" is full of such bad continuity or bad editing or bad directing ... or combination thereof.

Still Ava Gardner, an enchanting and under-rated actress, in her various abbreviated costumes almost makes this worthwhile all by herself. Almost.

i saw this film"way back when" in '57 and my date & i were helpless laughing at it. i know it was panned even back then, both as a b'way show and later as a flick. stewart granger plays a totally naive tennis nut with a beautiful wife, ava gardner. he is totally oblivious to his pal, david niven's overt courting of gardner. one scene has niven & gardner playing a game and, at the game's end, they engage in a passionate kiss. the naive granger passes it off as "good, clean fun". he just can't see pal niven for what he's up to. another scene has the three at a table on the island they were stranded on, with granger again in total oblivion to gardner & niven playing tangle toes and trading double entendres at each other. granger finally wakes up and tries to win wife's attentions back. this picture is really worth seeing, in my book.

Barely three and a half years after just scraping out a month's run (7-31 Oct. 1953) at Broadway's Coronet Theatre (on west 49th Street; since renamed the O'Neill), MGM relied on the earlier solid London success of the play to lavish a wonderful cast and - for the most part - carefully "opened up" production on a sadly trimmed down screenplay of this slyly subversive boulevard comedy and were rewarded with a modest hit.

Ava Gardner is the increasingly frustrated wife of Stewart Granger, an internationally successful and entirely complacent "workaholic" (before the term had been coined) using the perpetually frustrated David Niven to attempt to rekindle passion in her spouse. When the "second honeymoon" cruise Gardner inveigles Granger into leaves the trio (and Granger's dog) marooned on a south sea island (were there other survivors? That's for later plot developments), Granger continues right on managing the world around him - building a big hut for himself and his wife and a little one of the title for Niven - or the unattached male.

The core of the actual plot of the play only gets going about half way through the film when Niven proposes that Granger and he alternate as tenants of the Little Hut - sharing the only female on the island as Granger has been willing to share the only pair of shoes (his).

Reason (which Granger considers his strong point) reigns and frustration reigns supreme - for a while.

David Niven and Ava Gardner are superb in their appointed roles of suave would-be seducer and seductress, and Stuart Granger - usually called upon merely to be handsome and virile in action roles and the odd miscast specialty (a crowing pretty-boy as Apollodorus in Shaw's CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA in 1945) - gives one of the better acting performances of his film career as the husband who may actually be as smart as he thinks he is. 33 years later he would again show this suave urbanity opposite Rex Harrison in Granger's first (and BOTH their last) Broadway engagements in a hit revival of Somerset Maugham's THE CIRCLE which only ended with Harrison's death. We'd be far richer if Granger had used these skills more often.

As promising as the menage is, this is, after all, a very British Boulevard Comedy AND Hollywood in the 1950's which is to say that (unlike the source play) very little sex actually goes on. To be frank, if you don't give yourself over to the ideas driving the contrivances it does get a bit silly. The same basic plot is far more satisfyingly developed three years later in the Cary Grant/Deborah Kerr/Robert Mitchum/Jean Simmons (Stewart Granger's actual wife) THE GRASS IS GREENER, based on an even less successful play, 'though for some reason that superior trifle failed at the box office, and much earlier in J.M. Barrie's superb THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON.

As lavishly as MGM set the piece, there were unfortunate lapses - the silliness which ends the stay on the island is cartoonishly presaged in what should have been a moment of genuine excitement - the sinking of the yacht that PUTS them on the island. Ultimately we only get about three quarters of an hour of the real Little Hut, but ninety good minutes of David Niven, Ava Gardner and Stewart Granger that make the film a fun diversion. Not high culture, but a worthy guilty pleasure.

We even get some very nice garnish in Walter Chiari (reputed to be Ava's actual lover at the time). As one of his better speeches goes: "Boola, boola!"

With a deliciously naughty premise for the genre, Little Hut carefully walks the line between teasing and tempting, with witty dialogue and an excellent cast. David Niven gives a superb performance opposite the stunning Ava Gardner, as the neurotic Englishman Henry Brittingham-Brett. The pair attempts to navigate the dangerous and sultry waters of unrequited love, while remaining firmly within the bounds of high society. The dialogue is witty, the situation drole, and the chemistry between the two leads superb - an excellent start.

Unfortunately, Stewart Granger's character never really becomes convincing, and acts more as a prop to back-up the action between the two leads. It's a pity, since when the script gives him a chance, he is easily their comedic equal. However, the script never really does - and, once the central premise is revealed, it quickly loses its way, becoming plodding and tiresome with only the two leads to rely on. The film is partially saved at the last minute, with Walter Chiari's highly amusing - and savage - performance. The dynamic he adds re-invigorates the play's sense of wit and naughtiness, just in time for the curtain to fall.

André Roussin was a specialist of what the French call "Theatre de Boulevard" : plays where you find the eternal triangle:man/wife/(male or female)lover .Many of his plays gave Elvire Popesco some of her best parts on stage....and the great actress was the main reason to watch them,for Roussin is not Sacha Guitry ,by a long shot.The French audience remembers "Au Theatre Ce Soir' .

Still with me? Roussin's plays were not made to be filmed.And this one is pretty mediocre material ,even if the screenwriters call Lewis Carroll to their rescue .I like Stewart Granger and David Niven ,and Ava Gardner is eye candy .But this might be their worst film ,being crude, predictable -even the native's (Bola -Bola )intervention is ludicrous- a knockabout farce around a Menage à Trois on a desert island where Granger would be some kind of Robinson,Niven ,his Friday and Gardner his girl Friday.

"The Little Hut" comes from a period in time when the almighty Production Code had began to loosen up. So a rather provocative menage-a-trois comedy (with two of the participants married to each other) was actually permissible. Despite the desert island setting, the film betrays its stage origins. But the hot (and frequently wet) Ava Gardner is the perfect woman to be shipwrecked on an island with, and Stewart Granger & David Niven, while maintaining their gentlemanly exterior, prove adept at slapstick comedy. **1/2 out of 4.

Ava Gardner, Stewart Granger and David Nivens headline this atrocious film from the 1950's. They are three unfortunate souls washed ashore a deserted island after a terrible shipwreck. Much like 'GILLIGAN'S ISLAND' and 'SWISS FAMILY ROBISON', these three survivors have no trouble in adapting to the 'jungle' life while finding just about anything to eat without poisoning themselves or getting terribly sick.

But this also makes room for the three survivors (one woman and two men) to get tied up in a nasty love triangle. Never before have I seen such a tawdry and weak script that was terribly acted out by three screen veterans who were forced to star in this schlock. The only other laughable plot I could compare to this atrocity to would be the love triangle acted out in 1978's 'THE SWARM' where Olivia De Havilland found herself caught between Ben Johnson and Fred MacMurray whilst being attacked by a swarm of bees.

For these three people, you would think taking survival on a day by day basis until the possibility of rescue would be their top priority. Instead, the first things that come to their minds is who will get to have sex with who first. The film tries to deliver this situation with a dusting of light comedy and charm, but you can't for a second take this seriously. It's almost as if the three actors just gave up halfway through the film and said "To HELL with the acting, let's just hurry up and get this done so we can go home!"

The island itself is basic 50's-style. Potted plants and silk screens painted with volcanos are the backdrop, while the cawing of Australian kookaburras and the chirring of crickets sing in the background. Most likely, this was filmed in some small Californian MGM studio backlot.

There really isn't much else to say about the plot. The predictable happens and everyone goes home a happy camper. For Ava Gardner, this was only the beginning of a string of duds she released in the 50's, including 'THE SUN ALSO RISES' and 'THE NAKED MAJA', but she would undoubtedly clean up her act in the 60's by starring in lavish productions such as '55 DAYS AT PEKING' and 'THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA'.

This movie was quite a disappointment. Fans of Granger should stick with classics such as 'SCARAMOUCHE' and 'BLANCHE FURY', and fans of Niven won't find him in anything suitable after this film until the 1961 release of the war classic 'THE GUNS OF NAVARONE'.

Renowned channels such as Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics should be ashamed to show this movie which is a complete mockery of the three actors involved. Anyone who hadn't seen any of the three actors in anything else before seeing this film would most likely get a prejudiced impression of their acting abilities. Fans of Granger, Niven and Gardner should stay away.

My Grade: 1/10

I tuned in to this one on TCM drawn by the prospect of seeing Gardner, Niven and Granger working together. The synopsis did not lead me to expect much but I had a thoroughly delightful hour and a half watching these greats having a ball working together in a frothy sex comedy reminiscent of Noel Coward by way of Tahiti. There is so much here that is rampantly silly - Gardner's devil-may-care attitude towards both of her men, Niven's and Granger's stiff upper lip Britishness, the ridiculous island contraptions, etc. But the script is so elegantly risque, and so tied to sexual humor in the best Cole Porter style, that one simple suspends disbelief and goes along for the thoroughly enjoyable ride. It must be hard for younger viewers, steeped in raw cinematic sexuality, to appreciate this kind of sophisticated, unexplicit ribaldry. Also, it helps to have some familiarity with the three star's cinematic personas. Probably best enjoyed by folks who can still recall the Eisenhower administration.

I wonder what this was like on stage.On film this falls as flat as a pancake.The fifties was the wrong time to make this film given the strong moral code in force at the time.So this is all talk,and not very exciting or funny.

A fun filled romp, full of silly if not sometimes cruel jokes. Not the best of movies, but definitely well worth watching. David Niven and Stewart Granger are their usual charming selves with Granger as an especially delightful and ingenious gentleman. Ava Gardner as wonderful as always, with such a delightful character that is absolutely iresistable. The story line is typical, but full of jocular surprises, especially concerning the unconventional relationships between Granger, Gardner and Niven.

"The Little Hut" is a risque movie...that really isn't very risque. Let me explain. Following the implementation of the new Production Code in mid-1934, all sorts of stuff was banned in American movies...sex, sexual innuendo, married couples sleeping in the same bed...and more. So, compared to these very chaste films, "The Little Hut" is a bit on the sleazy side. However, it was STILL 1957 so this means that this sex comedy really says nothing and talks around sexuality.

Lady Susan Ashlow (Ava Gardner) is married to a pretty awful man, Lord Philip Ashlow (Stewart Granger). Sure, he loves her...but he doesn't show it very well. In fact, he's a workaholic and leaves her alone nearly all the time. In fact, she spends much MORE time with their mutual friend, Henry (David Niven). It's almost like Henry and Susan are married...except for physical intimacy.

One day, Philip brings a bunch of friends aboard his yacht for some much needed time off from work....and Henry is among them. The boat hits a storm and the ship sinks...and the three of them manage to board a dingy along with Philip's dog. Soon they find a deserted island and they try to make the best of it. Over time, however, having sexy Susan about and Henry being secretly in love with her brings some problems...and Henry proposes the two men 'share' Susan! What's next?

The film offers a sexy situation without the sex. It also offers a few laughs and isn't a bad film at all...though it also manages to just be good but no more. Negatives are the really awful and fake looking storm, the fact the film is about sex but it never really talks about it as well as an ending you may or may not like. On the plus side, the three actors are quite good and they give it their best.

This was adapted from a French stage farce, which in turn was "borrowed" (I'm being generous here) from a Spanish stage play. Somewhere along that lineage it seems to have lost any wit or charm it may ever have had, and we wind up with a truly icky Hollywood movie starring British actors Stewart Granger and David Niven as best friends vying for the attention and affection of Ava Gardner. To admit my bias here: I think Ava Gardner was the best looking human being ever to grace Hollywood celluloid, and as usual, she's luminous here. So there's no problem believing both men are utterly obsessed with her (along with a third male character who shows up toward the end, but whom I won't spoil for you). To ensure that this love triangle comes to a point, they're all stranded on a desert island, Gilligan style. Well, of course they are. In fact, Granger reminds me of the Professor a little bit, but w/o a radio made of coconuts. The real problem with this movie's suspension of disbelief is: what does Gardner see in either man? Is the condition of merely having an English accent supposed to afford somebody magnetism, sophistication, an endearing sense of humor, and sex appeal? 'Cause these guys prove the fallacy of all that. To see why either was a star, go back 5 years to see Granger in Scaramouche & forward 5 years to see Niven in the Guns of Navarone. But ignore this rom-com.

Not everyone who sees "The Little Hut" will understand the humor displayed. It is a more worldly comedy from another time--fifty years ago. What made us laugh then or 100 years ago or even now, is different, because we are products of the time period and location in which we live.

Ava Gardner portrays Lady Susan Ashlow, a play on a previous character from "The Sun Also Rises", Lady Brett Ashley (also released 1957). Stuart Grainger, who co-starred with her in "Bhowani Junction" the previous year and David Niven, who co-stared with her later in "55 Days At Peking" also star. It's tongue-in-cheek repartee are over the heads of most of the "X" generation that only can read enough to access information on the internet. If you've never read a book, don't bother seeing this movie--you won't get it. But if you remember: Kennedy, cocktail hour, the bomb, etc. you will understand and enjoy this movie.

The Little Hut is the first film starring Ava Gardner that I was quite disappointed with, the story about a kind of love triangle with a bizarre kind of humor that never really becomes funny.

Ava is stranded on a desert island with her husband and a friend she occasionally has fun with and soon a rivalry arises between the two men who compete for her affection .

David Niven plays the 2nd man who quickly gets the short end of the stick and almost only because he is a simp of the most irritating kind, his character is portrayed in such an exaggerated way that it quickly starts to irritate you as a spectator.

But the story is simply too boring, the humor is too mediocre and even the beautiful appearance of Ava Gardner cannot save the film from destruction.

If you're looking for a very light comedy to pass the time, starring three very attractive stars, you could do worse than The Little Hut - a hit in its own day, but rarely talked about since.

It's a shipwrecked-on-a-desert-island comedy about a married couple and a friend who's in love with the wife. The couple are Stewart Granger and Ava Gardner, the friend is David Niven.

It's the sort of very British (though originally French) comedy where the men dress in black tie for dinner on this deserted little island. Basically, Granger is so proficiant at survival that he hardly seems to mind having been shipwrecked. He goes around building things and creating a reasonably civilized environment. Displaying little emotion and deadpanning his dialogue, Granger is very good; maybe only Cary Grant could have played it better. As the friend who lives in the little hut, whom wife Ava uses to try to make hubby jealous, Niven is, as usual, delightful. Ava herself, in a rare comedy, is at the height of her beauty and turns in an adroit, sophisticated performance.

At any rate, today what goes on in this little comedy may seem completely out of touch, because morals, and the conventions of society, and sexual politics, are all somewhat different, especially in the way the movies treat it all. There's not a lot of wit any more, and a filmmaker would very likely be pilloried for suggesting that there's a difference between men and women. But it's actually a sophisticated piece whose themes are as old as the Garden Of Eden.

If you want to see an offbeat little comedy of the sexes with a good cast and witty situations, this may be for you.

In London, bureaucratic diplomat Henry Brittingham-Brett (David Niven) has been having an affair with Susan Ashlow (Ava Gardner) who is married to busy famous industrialist Sir Philip Ashlow (Stewart Granger). She insists on sailing on their yacht and Philip reluctantly agrees. It's the most light love triangles. Susan feels neglected by Philip and best friend Henry cannot get over her. She wouldn't mind having them both. The three of them and their dog end up in a lifeboat together in a storm. They find their way to a tropical island. Philip builds a big hut for him and Susan, and a little hut for Henry.

This is light weight. It practically floats away in the ocean. These characters have no weight. She is especially problematic. I think that this is supposed to be a screwball rom-com. I don't like any of them. It might be funny if one is geared towards the 50's sitcom with separate beds except they're very British. This is basically Gilligan's Island with less sex appeal. This may be funny to some people but it isn't funny for me.

If this movie had been presented as a wacky fantasy and the fantastical element pumped up, it could have passed as having sufficient amusement value. Instead, this predicament these society elite travelers find themselves in is sold as a totally believable story. Trapped on a secluded island we have the two men parading around in pristine, white starched shirts and evening wear with Ava seeming to have a limitless clothing wardrobe at her disposal. Many more examples of this misguided production could be cited. What overall distinguishes it, however, is that it stands as an embarrassment to the three actors involved.

The BBFC do not mention that on its original release this was given an ' X ' certificate for adults only in the UK, and was cut for an ' A ' certificate when children under 16 could see it with an adult. I have original film magazines of the time that says so, and also newspaper cuttings. Nancy Mitford wrote the script from a French play by Andre Roussin. It is great fun from beginning to end. and the wonderful Ava Gardner is great at comedy, with both David Niven and Stewart Granger giving equally fine performances. It is underrated and I have no idea why. The subject matter of a threesome on a desert island plus a fourth towards the end ( hilarious ) could have been too much for the critics of the time. Despite the situation which lightly resolves around sex would have been perhaps better received if it had been a foreign film and not from respectable English people of the 1950's. The only DVD of it can be found in Italy and is in English and I urge everyone who loves sophisticated comedy to get hold of it or wait for rare showings on television. The little hut has its secrets and I give no spoilers, but just a hint. There is a telephone between the big hut and the little hut is hilarious and Ava Gardner is superb at using it. I give it a 10 because it is well directed, perfectly acted and has surprises that surprise every time, and I cannot even count the number of times I have seen this film. I cannot praise it highly enough, and it will dissolve any depression or sadness. The joy of life itself and how many times do you see that on the screen ?

The script of "The little hut" was written by the French writer André Roussin (1911-1987), based on his play "La petite hutte"(1947). Both play and script are, in fact, a plagiarism of another play in Catalan, written by the novelist and play writer Carles Soldevila (1892-1967), "Civilitzats tanmateix" ("Nevertheless civilized")(1921). This play was known in France much before the robbery of Roussin, through a translation by Adolphe de Faigairolle and Francesc Presas, published in 1927 in the magazine "Candide". Recently "Civilitzats tanmateix" has become a musical by Albert Guinovart, with the title of "Paradís" (Paradise).