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Being a well off, if eccentric, dowager, Dame Appleby has plenty of spare rooms to rent out. In her particular corner of England she has gathered together a wonderfully diverse and slightly deranged trio. Maj. Albert Rayne (Terry-Thomas) lives on his war pension and longs for a return to military precision (even if his only command was of the mobile bath unit). Formidable Nanette Parry (Hattie Jacques) spends her days teaching etiquette to hopeless cases, fervently wishing that she was elsewhere. Elizabeth Pinkerton (Elspeth Duxbury), the underdog of the house, mends broken china and knocks back substantial quantities of "nerve tonic". In effect Lily is the only one who does anything positive, everyone else is just drifting along.
One door along Lionel argues bitterly with his wife Dora Spanager (Joan Heal), the direct outcome of having been unfaithful. As a gesture of his innocence he pretends to throw an expensive mink coat over the balcony, in reality hiding it just outside the door. Spotted by Lily in this nefarious act, she takes advantage of the subterfuge and swipes the coat; it'll make a wonderful present for her best friend, Dame Appleby. Unfortunately, of course, the Dame is slightly suspicious of this valuable offering and eventually wheedles the truth out of Lily. To make amends for Lily's misplaced generosity, she wants the mink given back to the Spanager's without them ever knowing it was missing. What she doesn't anticipate is the aptitude of her cock-eyed team; perhaps they could work in reverse and move into the field of charitable crime?
A comedy of errors, misunderstandings and off-balance characters, Make Mine Mink is one of the better movies of this type. The basic idea of throwing four or five utterly different people together and watching the sparks fly has been seen many times over; in this respect Make Mine Mink is nothing new. The difference lies in those chosen to inhabit the roles, hopefully cast members who will generate that all-important chemistry. Here the justifiably admired duo of Terry-Thomas and Hattie Jacques form a solid foundation, anchoring the talents of Seyler and Duxbury. Together they play off one another, batting witty comments back-and-forth and generally making fun of anything within reach. When criminal exploits inject an extra fizz into their otherwise mundane existence, the jokes take off and the cast never looks back.
Reinforcing this intrinsically amusing situation is a script that piles on the laughs, the result of having been adapted from an original stage-play. After the trial by fire that is theatre, all the screenwriters had to do was retain the best lines and expand the feel of the story. In the latter regard they are mostly successful, even though Make Mine Mink was never going to be a film that required huge open spaces. The cast gets out and about on a number of amateurish episodes, barely evading the police force time and again. On one of these journeys Seyler attempts to track down a fence, a fellow known as Freddie Warrington. Since this is none other than a young Kenneth Williams, it's a cameo worth looking out for.
A fine irony within Make Mine Mink is that while Lily is the sole "professional" crook, she's the only one totally innocent of the fur-stealing caper. By letting her get involved with Jim Benham (Jack Hedley), an upcoming policeman, there's the additional dynamic of wondering whether she'll get framed for the robberies. With her form it would seem almost a foregone conclusion. The problem then is that on one hand you want to root for the modern-day Robin Hood's, because their scams are being committed for only the best of intentions, while on the other there's the danger to Lily. It's a fine conflict of interest and Make Mine Mink handles this thread with a sure touch.
Overall Make Mine Mink is a pretty consistent British farce with a few standout moments; as a taster, imagine Terry-Thomas skulking out of the dockside shadows to The Third Man theme. It's a classic moment in a film that hangs together beautifully.
This film was nominated for review by Rosemary Friedman.
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