All for Mary

Sadly, the whole here does not quite equal the theoretical sum of the parts. The humour starts off well enough as two men - "Capt. Norton" (Nigel Patrick) and the rather dapper "Humpy Miller" (David Tomlinson) meet on a plane to Switzerland. They don't exactly hit it off, and that situation only gets worse when they discover that they are staying in the same resort - and, finally, that they have both set their sights on the same lady "Mary" (Jill Day) before, wait for it - they both come down with chickenpox and are looked after by the undoubted star of the show, nanny "Cartwright" (Kathleen Harrison). What now ensues is a series of overly contrived, set-piece scenarios that see both men vying for the upper hand, and frankly, the humour falling down the cracks. Everyone is just trying just too hard here - from the writers to the director to the stars trying to make a cinematic silk purse out of a theatrical sow's ear. Harrison does salvage it to some extent, and it's quite an harmless watch - but it plays way too much to stereotype for me.