What the Butler Saw (1950) User Reviews

Jane Russell Lookalike Plays her Namesake

[howardmorley · 6/10 · 15 April 2012]

If you thought Hammer Films only produced horror productions, take time to see this rare comic 1950 film.The other user comment has outlined the plot (from an American perspective), so I will give you, dear reader, a British version.The screen writer appears to have been inspired by J.B. Priestley's "The Admirable Crichton".It appears however that instead of most of the action happening on the "Coconut Islands", the Earl (Edward Rigby) and his butler (Henry Mollison as "Bembridge"), including a tropical princess, (Mercy Haystead as "Lapis") have decamped back to England.This incident almost causes a tribal war until the chief is aware his daughter is safe.

Imagine Jane Russell playing her namesake to Tarzan complete with a skimpy, short, leopard skin skirt and not much else except for two tropical flowers in her hair and you get the picture.Contrast this with the stuffy attitudes of the Earl's family and you get the comic contrasting idea.The Earl's aristocratic daughter is attracted to the reporter who comes to the stately home to investigate after his newspaper had been tipped off by the cook's letter to its agony aunt.Michael Ward plays his usual effete self as Gerald who is obsessed with his career at the Foreign Office.

At just over an hour's length the film was enjoyable, the right length & correctly edited."Bembridge" evidently impressed the chief of the "Coconut Islands" sufficiently for him to request his return to the islands as its prime minister along with his princess/daughter.In rainy old Britain the Earl is also happy to return with Bembridge but in true "Admirable Crichton" fashion; with him as Bembridge's butler!!

Interesting idea...dull execution.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 29 September 2015]

The Earl (Edward Rigby) returns to his English manor after serving a decade abroad as the governor of a fictional British territory. However, it turns out that the jungle princess from this foreign land* has stolen inside one of the crates he's brought back. It seems that she's in love with the Earl's butler, Bembridge and has come to the UK to be with him! The stuffy daughter and grandson who live with him at the manor are NOT pleased and it's obvious that they are stuffy idiots. While the Earl is thrilled to have her visit, her disappearance leads to an international incident or even war! And how will the Earl cope with his dull old life in the English countryside?

While the setup for this film is very funny, the overall film came up short for me. Much of it is because too many of the characters seem like caricatures as opposed to believable people. Also, although there were some potentially funny situations, rarely was all that much made of it. As a result, the film is at best a time- passer and not much more. Sadly, it should have been better.

*These 'Cocoanut Isles' are an odd place indeed--in the South Seas and yet they have alligators, crocodiles and leopards!

Amusing B feature

[malcolmgsw · 6/10 · 17 September 2012]

I have seen the story done before but either as drama or rom com.In this film it is played strictly for laughs.With an old pro at the head of the cast,Edward Rigby,it is in safe hands.In most of these type of films the highlight is on the "fish out of water2 theme.Here it is not just on that but bringing down a peg or two the down to earth Earls haughty relatives.Particularly funny is when the love potion ends up in the glasses of the two unlikeliest suitors you could imagine.Unlike the other films all ends well as the Earl and the butler accompany Lapis back to her tropical island.A lot funnier than you would ever imagine.Good ensemble playing and a witty script help matters considerably.

How did they do it?

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 3 June 2017]

Watching a film like What The Butler Saw will make you and anyone else watching wonder how the British put together an empire on which the sun never set. Not with the silly people in this film.

Edward Rigby and his faithful butler Henry Mollison are returning from a Pacific tropic isle where Rigby has been the colonial governor there for a decade. Rigby's a sly old devil who really enjoyed life in the South Seas.

But stowing away in one of the crates he brought back was island princess Mercy Haystead who's developed a thing for the butler although God only knows why. But the rest of the family they are mortified as only upper crust aristocratic twits can be.

There are some amusing moments but this pale imitation of P.G. Wodehouse doesn't really cut it. Wodehouse had the good sense not to give Jeeves a love life.

Not the best British comedy, far from it.

A Surprise Package

[crossbow0106 · 7/10 · 18 August 2008]

This farce is about an Earl returning from his stint as a General at a tropical island with his butler to find that amongst their crates of stuffed game the daughter of the tribal king managed to stowaway, so now you have a "savage" amongst the aristocracy. Mercy Maystead, in her debut performance, plays Lapis. She speaks her language, which only the butler knows. The earl and the butler try to hide the somewhat scantily clad (she is covered up, just not head to toe) princess, but soon the rest of the family realizes. Word gets out and the press is involved. This film is just over an hour, a perfect length for a film like this. The jokes do not become too labored. Its a good film, nothing essential. You may wonder why a tropical island princess is lily white, but don't b other. A nonsense comedy about stuffed shirt Brits. Its fine, check it out.

Dead Before Its Release

[boblipton · 3/10 · 30 May 2017]

Edward Rigby has just returned from the Coconut Isles, where he has been ... head of the British mission for ten years. His butler, Henry Mollinson, returns with him to a houseful of stuffy relatives. Meanwhile, Mercy Haystead, the princess of the Islands, has stowed away in the crates of animals Rigby has shot. Hilarity ensues.

Or at least it would, if there were any life in this lifeless relic. The movie is called a rarity, but it still turned up and I watched it regardless. The film makers were going for some sort of P.G. Wodehouse effect, but lack much in the way of comic pacing. New points, like love potions, keep popping up in order to stretch the effort out to second feature length, but despite the hard work of the actors, there's nothing to be done with the script.

Well, the butler done did it again.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 21 June 2022]

A very funny sophisticated British comedy with a bit of Somerset Maugham attached, this won't tax the viewer because it's barely an hour. Edward Rigby is a delightful old codger, a British Charles Coburn, who seems to delight in mischief, quite amused upon returning from a trip to the south sea Islands with his butler (Henry Mollison) to discover that the Island princess (Mercy Haystead) has shanghaied herself in his trunks so she can be with Mollison whom she has fallen in love with.

It's hysterically funny as her presence is discovered, causing residents of the stuffy household to scream when they see her running around in a sarong. One of the relatives of Baron Rigby is a younger, more effected variation of Rex Harrison, snobby and curling his lip every time he speaks. The staff and other relatives are put off by the scandal this could cause because the princesses unseen father is declaring war on other local islands and is considering declaring war on England because he believes that Rigby kidnapped her.

Everything gets even sillier when the lovelorn princess creates a love potion intending to give to Mollison that gets mixed up and served to other guests. The princess has no way of realizing that customs of her Island are not acceptable in snooty Great Britain, and shows up for a banquet completely unclothed, obviously the custom of where she lives. Rigby is a a lot of fun to watch, the type of rich old coot who loves to see snooty and uptight aristocrats shocked. He steals the film very easily. Haystead however is nothing like any movie Island princess I've ever seen, and not a threat to either Dorothy Lamour or Maria Montez in taking away their princesses of the sarong.

Begging you for Mercy.

[southdavid · 2/10 · 24 March 2022]

Another film watched for the "House of Hammer" Podcast, "What the Butler Saw" is a "Comedy" released by Hammer in 1950. It's pretty awful and, judged by today's standards, fairly racist.

A Britsh nobleman, The Earl (Edward Rigby) returns home having overseen a South Seas Island Kingdom as part of the Empire. Whilst unpacking, he and his faithful Butler, Bembridge (Henry Mollison) discover that the Princess of the Island, Lapis (Mercy Haystead) has stowed away as she is in love with Bembridge. Whilst the household adjusts to the new arrival, the foreign office are concerned about an impending war in the region, caused by the disappearance of the Princess.

Man, it's pretty racist. "why you're not black, you're fine" is but one frankly appalling line of dialogue. Mercy Haystead looks like she comes from somewhere as cosmopolitan as Knightsbridge, despite the flower behind her ear and the flintstones-esque outfit she's wearing; and the way cast react to her is, frankly, ludicrous. They talk about love potions, cannibalism and voodoo, as well as the black magic she can cast on the house.

It's bad, but this is viewing the film through modern eyes. At the time though, it's hard to think that the film could have been much of a success. For a comedy, it's really not funny at all. Neither a farce, nor a comedy of wits, it's a tedious tread through a number of plots, none of which are properly explored and together don't add up too much. The performances are really poor, particularly from the rest of the Earl's family of upper-class twits, whose only job is to react to Lapis.

The early films of Hammer have been a mixed bag, but "What The Butler Saw" was a real low water mark.

Hammer's unsuccessful comedy

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 10 April 2018]

WHAT THE BUTLER SAW is a rare foray into comedy for Hammer Films, a tale of upper class twits and far-eastern exoticism wrapped up in a Wodehousian whole. The whole thing is cheap and rather static, shot in just a couple of rooms in a country house as were so many of Hammer's pictures from the time. The plot sees an eccentric earl coming back from the 'Coconut Islands' (I'm not making this up) with his butler in tow; unfortunately for them, a young native girl has stowed away in the luggage and proceeds to wreak havoc in the house. Some of the jokes aimed at the stuffy upper classs hit home, and the actors - including WENT THE DAY WELL's Edward Rigby - try their very best, but mostly this is an embarrassment, reeking of old-fashioned racism and racial stereotypes and feeling very, very dated indeed.

Utterly delightful ending makes up for some dreary moments in middle

[morrisonhimself · 9/10 · 26 December 2017]

What a surprise "What the Butler Saw" turned out to be. Some benefactor to mankind using the name "flashbackcaruso" has posted this apparently "rare Hammer film" on YouTube. THANK YOU, flashbackcaruso!

From the very retro title to the sometimes superlative cast -- "The Earl" especially -- this was an intriguing experience.

Much of "What the Butler Saw" looks like a stage play. It's essentially one set, with a few rooms, and not a lot of action.

Some of the dialog and plot are at least slightly contrived, and some of the acting, especially by "Gerald," is over-done, but "The Earl," by the veteran Edward Rigby, is so perfect, I am horrified that I knew nothing about him before.

He died the year after this film was released and the world is a poorer place without him. Whatever else he might have done, and at IMDb he has 78 credits, he and this role are perfectly complementary.

Getting her first screen credit, the adorable Mercy Haystead looks about as "South Pacific native" as, say, Jane Russell, whom she does slightly resemble. Over the next dozen or so years, she had an average about about two roles a year, then retired, into a reportedly very happy and successful marriage. Again, the world was poorer without her presence on the screen. She was adorable.

Being British, the cast was generally excellent, as was the directing.

The story was a bit contrived, and occasionally the action was telegraphed, but ultimately it was resolved beautifully -- and surprisingly.

I want to thank, again, flashbackcaruso for uploading this charming and delightful movie, previously completely unknown to me, but now one I want to recommend to everyone for a light and very pleasant hour.