Under Your Hat is a 1940 British musical comedy spy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Jack Hulbert, Cicely Courtneidge and Austin Trevor.
Production
The film was an independent production made at Isleworth Studios. It was based on a popular stage musical starring Hulbert and Courtneidge, a husband-and-wife team who had made a series of successful comedy films during the 1930s. The sets were designed by art director James A. Carter. Musical numbers included "Can't Find That Tiger" sung by The Rhythm Brothers.
Synopsis
The film is set in pre-Second World War England where a leading film star Jack Millett and his wife Kay attempt to recover a secret carburettor stolen by enemy agents. Suspicious that Jack may be embarking on an affair with his glamorous co-star Carole Markoff, Kay follows him to the South of France, where in fact he is due to receive the carburettor from a contact at a night club, as he has actually been recruited as an undercover man for the government. (There is a literary pun when the secret agent bringing the parcel, assuming Kay knows all about the identification code and is due to meet him, says dramatically "You are She", and Kay replies "Really? I didn't know I looked so Haggard.") Eventually, the parcel is retrieved, Markoff is revealed as a spy, and Jack and Kay fly back to London with the carburettor.
Cast
Jack Hulbert as Jack Millett
Cicely Courtneidge as Kay Millett
Austin Trevor as Boris Vladimir
Leonora Corbett as Carole Markoff
Cecil Parker as Sir Jeffrey Arlington
Anthony Hayes as George
Charles Oliver as Carl
H. F. Maltby as Colonel Sheepshanks
Mary Barton as Mrs. Sheepshanks
Glynis Johns as Winnie
Myrette Morven as Miss Stevens
Roddy Hughes as Film Director
John Robinson and The Rhythm Brothers as Themselves
Don Marino Baretto as Band Leader
Paul Sheridan as Minor role
Eunice Crowther as Minor role
Charles Eaton as Minor role
Paul Henreid as Minor role
Terry-Thomas as Party Guest
Critical reception
TV Guide found the film "redolent of the Thin Man series, with the added fillip of the musical-stage talent, but lacking the charisma of the stars of that series"; while Sky Movies wrote, "although Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge had passed their mid-Thirties' peaks as box-office attractions when they made this film version of one of their hit stage shows, it does mark something of a return to form for both of them, with a lively if improbable plot involving spies, and the two stars cheerfully indulging their penchant for disguise. Glynis Johns has a small supporting role, and sharp eyes may catch a glimpse of the young Terry-Thomas."
References
Bibliography
Murphy, Robert. Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain, 1939-1949. Routledge, 1992.