The Film:
Although the second world war has probably influenced the most films, there isn't that many that was made during the war itself, especially the early years. The war films that were made during these years are either unknown or were flops, which is a shame, as Cottage To Let is one of these unknown films but it is surprisingly enjoyable. Director Anthony Asquith (Pygmalion) managed to gather some well known British talent including Alastair Sim (Green For Danger) and Sir John Mills (Ice Cold In Alex) for this 1941 tale of espionage and spies in a small cottage in Scotland.
Leslie Banks (The Arsenal Stadium Mystery) plays inventor John Barrington who is secretly testing new bomb mechansisms in his a laboratory in his remote country house in the North of Scotland for the Ministy of Defence's air division. What Barrington doesn't realise is that various members of his staff looking after the house are undercover spies for the Nazis. As the house and cottage owned by Barrington is also being used as a makeshift war hospital, the enemy hatches a plan to kidnap him by having a 'fake' British pilot crash land in a loch and be tendered to at the hospital. They are a little surprised though when a young evacuee called Ronald (George Cole - Mary Reilly), who has an obsession with Sherlock Holmes manages to foil the plan after spying on the spies.
Cottage To Let isn't a great film by any means and has one of the worst performances by the usually great John Mills I have yet to see, with the only actor to give a sterling performance being the young George Cole. The story also has a few minor plotholes where questions are left unanswered and I was left a little confused as to why. The idea for the film is actually a great one, and the script is pretty good, but the actual execution makes the film an average wartime thriller with a wasted cast. Watching it would be a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon, but there are many out there that are better. Recommended for the die hard British made war fans.
The DVD:
Video:
Network have provided the show with a 4:3 transfer, the film's original aspect ratio. I'm happy to say it's a good one which has obviously been remastered to high standards. Obviously, being as old as the film is, the print does have noticeable grain throughout, but it has been kept to a minimum and other than the occasional, split second scratch, I have no problems with the work done here at all. As per usual with Network releases, no English subtitles have been provided.
Audio:
Network have provided us with the original English Dolby Digital Mono track here and it's OK. The dialogue is clear at all times anhd music levels are consistent, but I was surprised at the low level of background hiss which can occasionally be a minor annoyance on Network's releases. The sound isn't without problems though and there are obvious sounds of damage with roughly 7-10 split second audio dropouts in the film with three of them coming in the final minute. Thankfully they do not occur during dialogue.
Extras:
Despite claiming to be a Special Edition, Network have actually disappointed me in the extras department for the first time in a while.
The main extra is actually a teleplay made by Anglia in 1975 called The Prodigal Daughter running for 52 minutes and 26 seconds. Starring Alastair Sim, Jeremy Brett, Charles Kay, Carolyn Seymour and Karl Howman, the story is a simple, yet boring one. It's about a distressed young lady who works in a house full of Roman Catholic Ministers and the consequence this is to their futures. I would've certainly preferred a retrospective or one of these decent interviews that we have been getting recently from Network.
Other than this we just have an image gallery that runs for 29 seconds.
