Lonsdale's play was set in 1920s London, but when writer-director-producer Clive Brook decided to adapt it for film, he moved the story back to the Victorian era, reasoning that the escapades of two couples involved in a platonic trial marriage would come off as far more risqué in that heavily-starched and morally uptight time.
From the screenplay he developed with Terence Young, who later directed three of the early James Bond films, Brook achieved a highly cinematic style, employing a documentary-like prologue, briskly cut montages, and a dream sequence with special effects and a talking moose head. In a nod to the play's stage roots, the actors sometimes unabashedly play directly to the audience/camera; at other times, they argue with the narrator, emphasizing the artifice of the film. The result is a highly entertaining romp that bears some resemblance to Oscar Wilde, particularly in lines such as, "She's not crying because I said she was forty-one, she's crying because she is forty-one."
For all the masterful use he makes of the medium, Brook never wrote, directed, or produced another film before or after this. A mainstay and matinee idol of the British stage for many years, he made his film acting debut in 1913. He made occasional forays into Hollywood, appearing opposite Tallulah Bankhead in Tarnished Lady (1931), Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express (1932), and an all-star ensemble cast in his last screen appearance, John Huston's The List of Adrian Messenger (1963), his first feature film in nearly 20 years.
Beatrice Lillie, of course, was an even rarer screen commodity, perhaps owing to her unconventional looks and style, a shame considering the great gift for physical comedy she displayed in her first film, the silent Exit Smiling (1926). After On Approval, the Canadian-born actress did not appear on the big screen again until her penultimate film, a guest spot in a movie consisting almost entirely of guest spots, Around the World in Eighty Days (1956). She bowed out after Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), already showing early signs of the Alzheimer's disease that would lead to her death at 94 in 1989. Her fame, however, was widespread, thanks not only to her frequent stage work but also to numerous recordings and occasional television appearances.
Although she doesn't bother trying to sound the part, Googie Withers plays an American named Helen Hale, one of the other women in this curious ménage-a-quatre. Withers was one of the most popular British stars of her era, debuting on screen in 1935 and working steadily through her last appearance, a small role in Shine (1996). A versatile performer, she was equally at home in comedies such as this and dark thrillers: The Lady Vanishes (1938), Dead of Night (1945), Night and the City (1950).
The costume designs are by Tony- and Oscar-winner Cecil Beaton, best known for his period work on Anna Karenina (1948), Gigi (1958), and My Fair Lady (1964).
England has long been known for its peerless post-war comedies, particularly those made at Ealing Studios and often featuring Alec Guinness. On Approval is unique in having been released in the thick of World War II, when bombs were dropping on London with devastating frequency. Brook makes use of this reality by starting the film with battle scenes and the voice of famed Gaumont-British newsreel narrator E.V.H. Emmett. Instead of intoning gravely about the current state of affairs, Emmett begins the film saying, "Oh dear, is this another war picture?" Then he takes the audience back through the prior decades to happier times, landing at last in the 1890s where the story takes place. It was a very clever way to ease viewers away from their war-weariness and into an amusing and historically irrelevant farce. Like his fellow countryman Charles Laughton, whose only directorial effort was the brilliantly chilling The Night of the Hunter (1955), Brook's cinematic achievement here leaves us wondering what else he might have done, given the will and opportunity.
Curiously, considering the very Britishness of the subject and style of Lonsdale's original play, it debuted not in London but on Broadway. A year later, it moved to a West End theater and became a big home-grown hit.
Director: Clive Brook
Producers: Sydney Box, Clive Brook
Screenplay: Clive Brook, Terence Young, based on the play by Frederick Lonsdale
Cinematography: Claude Friese-Greene
Editing: Fergus McDonell
Art Direction: Tom Morahan
Original Music: William Alwyn
Cast: Clive Brook (George), Beatrice Lillie (Maria), Googie Withers (Helen), Roland Culver (Richard), O.B. Clarence (Dr. Graham)
By Rob Nixon
