A Gem from the Thirties!

[klondike]

Get out your compass, your pick & your spade, cause this lost little treasure is definitely worth digging for!
And if you're as lucky as I was, you might be able to unearth it on VHS at your local video rental stop!
It's called Storm in A Teacup, a quite ascerbic British comedy of manners from '37; it's propelled by the pivotal leads of Vivian Leigh and a fresh-scrubbed, horsefaced young Rex Harrison, not yet quite comfy in those worsted tweeds soon to become his hallmark; but just as with Capra's standard-setting You Can't Take It With You, the prism of supporting characters that revolve about their twinned axis is far more the bread & butter of this movie's story.
And the priceless truffle in this dysfunctional dagwood is Sara Allgood (best remembered to us cine-mavens as Mother Morgan from How Green Was My Valley) - as Honoria, an ice cream hawker in the semi-mythical Scottish resort town of Baiki, a charming, indefatigable, shrewd woman who is resolutely commited to her Patsy, a heart-stealing Bearded Collie on trial for his life.
Literally.
No Greyfriar's Bobby this, though; there's class snobbery, yellow journalism, infidelity, perjury, great bagpiping, horrid architecture, smart-aleck domestics, corrupt politicians, and a flood of vibrant Gaelic gossip that flashes like the lightning overhead through the pubs & shops & cottages of Baiki, as real a place surely as Bedford Falls or Pilgrim's Farm.
So go ahead, take the LMS overnighter up from Houston Station; you can catch the ferry in Oban, then it's less than 40 minutes in clear weather to Baiki, and the only passport you'll need is a thirst for eccentricity.

[MissGoddess]

I love this little gem and have been hoping that a new, restored dvd release (preferrably on Region 1) will be forthcoming, perhaps in a Vivien Leigh box set. It was released as part of a set several years ago under the AMC banner but those are, alas, gone with wind...unless you want to pay a hefty price for so-so transfers.

It makes a great companion piece to the Charles Laughton/Rex Harrison/Vivien Leigh charmer, The Sidewalks of London.