Mary Had a Little... (1961) User Reviews

Sex Comedy without the Comedy

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 16 December 2013]

Psychiatrist Malcolm Nettel (John Bentley) claims that he could hypnotize a pregnant woman into producing a perfect baby. Struggling stage producer Scott Raymond (John Watling) overhears and wagers Nettel £5,000 he can't do what he says he can do. Intending to con the psychiatrist, Raymond hires actress Mary Kirk (Agnes Laurent) to pose as a pregnant woman and become Nettel's patient. Complications arise, however, when Mary falls in love with Nettel.

This is apparently Britain's first sex comedy. It's not very funny but it does have some sex appeal. Laurent is very attractive, as is Hazel Court, who plays Raymond's fiancée. Laurent also appears to be dubbed. Perhaps she dubbed her own lines but it's clear there is dubbing as her words aren't always perfectly in synch with her lips. See it for the curiosity factor, as well as the lovely ladies.

One for fans of Agnes Laurent!

[JohnHowardReid · 4/10 · 7 May 2016]

The last film of director Eddie Buzzell – Go West, Song of the Thin Man – is a real disappointment. In fact, one wonders why he agreed to have anything to do with this tosh. Maybe he didn't have the opportunity to read the script beforehand? Maybe he didn't realize that despite the presence of Agnes Laurent, her co-stars, Hazel Court, Jack Watling, John Bentley and Michael Ward, were hardly first-rankers, although Miss Court certainly had a lot of fans for her thrillers, but not for comedies! Yes, for lovely heroine in peril roles she was ideal. But alas, this movie is one of those lifeless farces that are so inept that the players shout all their lines at the very top of their voices in the vain hope that this stratagem will make their dreary, over-talkative material seem at least tolerably amusing! But super- dull dialogue actually sounds even drearier when this sort of attention is drawn to it. Would you believe that no less than SIX writers were involved? Maybe that was the problem! Too many cooks spoil the broth! Admittedly, the players – with one exception – were not much help. The exception is the number one star, namely Agnes Laurent. She really makes a totally fetching heroine. In fact, she is so enticing indeed that the movie is little more than a glorified – though certainly most salubrious – strip-tease!

A lot of fun!

[NJeagle · 7/10 · 17 December 2013]

The basic premise of the story -- a psychiatrist wagering that he can produce a "super baby" through hypnosis -- is silly beyond belief. It's never clear exactly what that means, but it's really beside the point. The main purpose of the story is to provide a humorous backdrop for a non-stop series of mildly suggestive situations, and to show females in various states of undress -- and here it succeeds admirably. Everyone involved seems well aware that the story is just froth, and the campy performances are what make this little gem so enjoyable. Agnès Laurent, as the French beauty queen who agrees to be hypnotized, is nothing short of aces, and the other leads are terrific as well.

I found "Mary Had a Little..." to be great fun from beginning to end. Recommended!