Storm in a Teacup (1937)

Best movie of this year hands down!

To me, this movie is perfection.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

I love animals! And I love Rex Harrison and Vivien Leigh. The honest journalist and the feisty daughter of a local politician make a perfect couple of animal rights activists, falling in love while rescuing a dog. The film shows awareness that fascism is on the rise and the British humorous attitude about it, cleverly making an antifascist social commentary while dealing with animal rights. I know it sounds boring, but it isn't. The world of 1937 was free-spirited, even with fascism looming over, and film was still a new and exciting art form. Screwball comedies champion free women and free men.

This rarely-shown gem of a movie is a great early showcase for both Vivian Lee and Rex Harrison, before either became a famous star. It is also a prime example of a genre of movie that the British do very well and which Hollywood rarely ever touches: political satire. When Hollywood does try this sort of thing it us usually heavy-handed. Not so here. Everything is handled with a light touch, and it's all very "tongue-in-cheek". Cecil Parker is the pompous and arrogant mayor of a small Scottish town, who is also running for a seat in Parliament (it's the sort of part in which Cecil Parker always excelled). While the mayor is busy being interviewed by a cub reporter on the local newspaper (Rex Harrison), the mayor hasn't time to be bothered with listening to the plea of an impoverished woman (the aptly-named Sara Allgood) whose dog had been impounded by the police for non-payment of it's license fee. Harrison decides to include the incident in his newspaper article, and events snowball from there."Storm in a Teacup" is exactly that, so don't expect "All the King's Men", "The Best Man", "Advise and Consent" or "Seven Days in May". However, it is very funny, and well worth a look if it should happen to come around again.

The provost (mayor?) of a small town in Scotland is an arrogant petty tyrant who is adamant that a poor woman's dog be put down because she can't afford the license fee. The woman, Mrs Heggaty, goes to the provost's house to beg for her dog's life. Even when Provost Gow's daughter offers to pay the fee and fines, he says no because it's a matter of principle and throws Mrs. Heggaty out of the house. A reporter who has newly arrived to the town ( and who also has fallen for the provost's daughter) observes this and later writes a scathing news article about this resulting in the town's people getting in an uproar. The article also gets national attention which puts a halt to the provost's higher political ambitions. The provost is livid and has the reporter arrested for slander. Memorable scenes include the provost, calmly and with great dignity walking a gauntlet of angry and derisive townspeople and the scene when seemingly hundreds of dogs run rampant through the provost's house. One of the funniest scenes occurs at the reporter's trial. An Irish maid, who is prone to using American slang, is testifying and at one point says to the prosecuting attorney "Sez you." The judge asks for an explanation of the term and the attorney give a lengthy, pedantic, and accurate definition of the term. The judge responds with an "Oh, yeah." Rex Harrison and Vivien Leigh were very good but it's Cecil Parker as the provost who gives the most notable performance (well, he did have the meatiest role). Sara Allgood also does a nice job as the distraught Mrs. Heggaty who so loves her dog, Patsy. This is a heart warming and delightful film.

You would probably have to be my age or older and to have lived in the London (England) area as a child; the only area then with television coverage in the UK; to know that the only film BBC television had access to in those days, when the film studios were determined that films would only be seen at the cinema, was 'Storm in a Teacup' staring Rex Harrison. During that period, 1949 - 1953, it was shown each Christmas as a special treat! Soppy film or not, it really was a treat then to see a film in the comfort of one's home.Perhaps someone could add how it was that the BBC obtained this one and only film that allowed them to technically break the embargo.