''Dear Mr. Prohack'' is a 1949 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Thornton Freeland Thornton Freeland (February 10, 1898 – May 22, 1987) was an American film director who directed 26 British and American films in a career that lasted from 1924 to 1949. Early success He was born in Hope, North Dakota in 1898 and originally ...

and starring

Cecil Parker Cecil Parker (born Cecil Schwabe; 3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English actor with a distinctively husky voice, who usually played supporting roles, often characters with a supercilious demeanour, in his 91 films made between 1 ...

Glynis Johns Glynis Margaret Payne Johns (5 October 1923 – 4 January 2024) was a British actress. In a career exceeding seven decades on stage and screen, Johns appeared in more than 60 films and 30 plays. She received various accolades throughout her ca ...

and

Dirk Bogarde Sir Dirk Bogarde (born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde; 28 March 1921 – 8 May 1999) was an English actor, novelist and screenwriter. Initially a matinée idol in films such as ''Doctor in the House (film), Doctor in the Hous ...

. It is a modern-day version of

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...

's 1922 novel ''Mr Prohack'', as adapted in the play by Edward Knoblock.

Plot

Arthur Prohack, a

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

who is extremely frugal with the government's money, suddenly inherits £250,000 and is convinced to go on six months'

sick leave Sick leave (or paid sick days or sick pay) is paid time off from work that workers can use to stay home to address their health needs without losing pay. It differs from paid vacation time or time off work to deal with personal matters, because ...

. His children Charles and Mary tap him for money for an investment scheme and a theatrical production respectively, whilst his wife Eve buys the family a far larger house, which she fills with an aviary and then aquariums. Charles also buys his father a new car, which on its first drive is involved in an accident with Mimi Warburton. Initially frosty, he takes her on as his private secretary. Charles cancels a meeting with Arthur and arranges a board meeting without him - in vengeance Mimi arranges for Arthur 'accidentally' to take Charles' place at a meeting with Lady Maslam, Charles' patroness. Left behind at home, Charles and Mimi lunch together and fall in love, leading her to try to tender her resignation, as on first taking the job with Arthur she had agreed not to fall in love with Charles. Arthur's friend Sir Paul Spinner arranges to invest some of Arthur's money, whilst Eve arranges an elaborate party to celebrate Mary's engagement to Oswald Morfrey, a sickly but forthright junior official at the Ministry of Agriculture. However, breaking free of Mary's theatrical connections, the couple instead run away together and get married without their parents' knowledge. Arthur hunts them down but Oswald refuses his help. Soon afterwards Spinner informs Arthur that a run on the stock-market means all the money he invested may be lost. Mimi discovers that the investment scheme is also about to be ruined and argues with him at Lady Maslam's home, to which he had just gone to beg Lady Maslam's help. Relieved he is about to be free of the troubles of his new fortune, Arthur retires to bed with a cold and has a

fever Fever or pyrexia in humans is a symptom of an anti-infection defense mechanism that appears with Human body temperature, body temperature exceeding the normal range caused by an increase in the body's temperature Human body temperature#Fever, s ...

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

inspired by

Arthurian legend The Matter of Britain (; ; ; ) is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. The 12th-century writer Geoffr ...

s on the

BBC Third Programme The BBC Third Programme was a national radio station produced and broadcast from 1946 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 3. It first went on the air on 29 September 1946 and became one of the leading cultural and intellectual forces ...

. Mimi wakes him to tell him that Charles has broken up with her and is about to flee to Paris with Lady Maslam, but when Arthur rushes to the airport this proves to be a misunderstanding – Charles has not boarded Lady Maslam's plane and returns home with Arthur to propose to Mimi. Arthur discovers that although Spinner's advice has ruined Charles' scheme, Spinner has in fact managed to avoid the crash himself and make Arthur another £250,000. Arthur reconciles with Eve and makes plans to move back to their old house and help Oswald, Mary and Charles to more stable and healthy homes and jobs. He then returns to work and anonymously donates the new £250,000 to the Treasury under the guise of a massive repayment of back-taxes.

Cast

(in credits order) *

as Arthur Prohack *

as Mimi Warburton * Hermione Baddeley as Eve Prohack *

as Charles Prohack *

Sheila Sim Sheila Beryl Grant Sim, Baroness Attenborough (5 June 1922 – 19 January 2016) was an English film and theatre actress. She was also the wife of the actor, director and peer Richard Attenborough. Career Sheila Beryl Grant Sim was born in Li ...

as Mary Prohack *

Heather Thatcher Heather Thatcher (3 September 1896 – 15 January 1987) was an English actress in theatre and films. Career Dance By 1922, Thatcher was a dancer. She was especially noted for her interpretation of an Egyptian harem dance. Her exotic clothes wer ...

as Lady Maslam * Frances Waring as Nursie * Charles Goldner as Polish manservant * Campbell Cotts as Sir Paul Spinner * Denholm Elliott as Oswald Morfrey *

Russell Waters Russell Waters (10 June 1908 – 19 August 1982) was a British film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then app ...

as Cartwright * Henry Edwards as Sir Digby Bunce *

Frederick Valk Frederick Valk (10 June 1895 – 23 July 1956) was a German-born stage and screen actor of Czech Jewish descent who fled to the United Kingdom in the late 1930s to escape Nazi persecution, and subsequently became a naturalised British citizen. ...

as Dr. Viega * James Hayter as Carrell Quire *

Bryan Forbes Bryan Forbes Order of the British Empire, CBE (; born John Theobald Clarke; 22 July 1926 – 8 May 2013) was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man"Falk Q. . BAFTA. 17 October 2 ...

as Tony *

Jon Pertwee John Devon Roland Pertwee (; 7 July 1919 – 20 May 1996), known professionally as Jon Pertwee, was an English actor. Born into a theatrical family, he became known as a comedy actor, playing Chief Petty Officer Pertwee (and three other roles) in ...

as Plover * Ada Reeve as Mrs. Griggs * Judith Furse as Laura Postern *

Frederick Leister Frederick Leister (1 December 1885 – 24 August 1970), was an English actor. He began his career in musical comedy and after serving in the First World War he played character roles in modern West End plays and in classic drama. He appeared in ...

as The Director General * Elwyn Brook-Jones as Benny Erivangian *

Eric Berry James Eric Berry (born December 29, 1988) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a Safety (gridiron football position), safety for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played co ...

as tailor's assistant (uncredited) * Janet Burnell as Mr. Prohack's personal assistant (uncredited) *

Ian Carmichael Ian Gillett Carmichael, (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who Ian Carmichael on stage, screen and radio, worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career that spanned seventy years. Born in Kingston upon ...

as hat salesman (uncredited) * Anne Gunning as actress (uncredited) * Humphrey Heathcote as Turkish bath attendant (uncredited) * Sam Lysons as club porter (uncredited) * Desmond Newling as pageboy (uncredited) *

Lloyd Pearson Lloyd Mawson Pearson (13 December 1897 – 2 June 1966) was an English actor, who appeared mostly in character roles on stage and screen. He created the roles of Rat in ''Toad of Toad Hall'' in 1929 and Alderman Helliwell in the West End theatre ...

as Mr. Bishop (uncredited) * Charles Perry as butler (uncredited) * Stanelli as orchestra leader (uncredited) * Jerry Verno as taxi driver (uncredited)

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "The earlier sections of the film are sporadically amusing and the idiosyncrasies of Government officials and private individuals nicely observed; but jokes of this kind at the expense of the Civil Service (to whom the film is dedicated), of social or domestic behaviour, pall before long, and need more than well-timed comedy acting by Cecil Parker and Hermione Baddeley and some likeable small part players to save them from banality. The film tails off uncomfortably into farce with an embarrassingly unfunny dream sequence, which emphasises that the director lacks the satirical feeling needed to give the film real point and sharpness." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote: "It's an

novel "modernized"—and it shows its age in this translation." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' said: "Mediocre comedy with an excellent cast, including Denholm Elliott in his debut." Britmovie wrote: "

gives one of his best performances replicating his stage role." In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Amusing central situation gradually wears thin."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dear Mister Prohack 1949 films 1949 comedy films 1940s British films 1940s English-language films British black-and-white films British comedy films English-language comedy films Films based on works by Arnold Bennett Films directed by Thornton Freeland Films produced by Ian Dalrymple Films set in London Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films with screenplays by Ian Dalrymple