The Admirable Crichton (1957)

★ 6.9 1h 34m IMDb

Lord Loam has modern ideas about his household, he believes in treating his servants as his equals - at least sometimes. His butler, Crichton, still believes that members of the serving class should know their place and be happy there. But when the Loam family are shipwrecked on a desert island with the self-reliant Crichton and lady's maid Tweeny, the class system is put to the test.

The Admirable Crichton

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Cast

Kenneth More
Kenneth More as Bill Crichton Died 1982 · Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England, UK From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kenneth Gilbert More CBE (20 September 1914 – 12 July 1982) was a highly successful English film actor during the post-World War II era and starred in many feat...
Diane Cilento
Diane Cilento as Eliza Tweeny Died 2011 · Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia Diane Cilento (2 April 1932 – 6 October 2011) was an Australian actress. She is best known for her film roles in Tom Jones (1963), which earned her an Academy Award nomination, Hombre (1967) and The W...
Cecil Parker
Cecil Parker as Lord Henry Loam Died 1971 · Hastings, Sussex, England, UK Cecil Parker (3 September 1897 – 20 April 1971) was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969...
Sally Ann Howes
Sally Ann Howes as Lady Mary Died 2021 Sally Ann Howes (20 July 1930 – 19 December 2021) was an English actress and singer. Her career on stage, screen, and television spanned over six decades. She was best known for the role of Truly Scru...
Martita Hunt
Martita Hunt as Lady Brocklehurst Died 1969 · Buenos Aires, Argentina From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Martita Edith Hunt (30 January 1900 – 13 June 1969) was an Argentine-born British theatre and film actress. She had a dominant stage presence and played a wide r...
Jack Watling
Jack Watling as Treherne Died 2001 · Chingford, Essex, England, UK Jack Watling is an English actor, who transitioned from a successful film career in the forties to an equally successful television career from the 1960s onwards. He is the father of the actress Debo...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 7/10 Mar 15, 2019
The Governor and The Daddy.

The Admirable Crichton is an adaptation of J.M. Barrie's role reversal play, taking pot shots at the British class system and starring Kenneth More in the title role, it's something of a little treasure.

Basically the plot sees Butler supreme Crichton become the governor of the desert island that he, and the toff family he serves, have been shipwrecked upon. The point being that these rich toffs, though basically good people, are ill equipped to fend for themselves in the cold hard world. Crichton of course is well prepared for this new life forced upon them. He can cook, swim, catch fish, even start a fire, which none of the rich folk are capable of doing!

We are of course asked to suspend a modicum of disbelief, I mean there are four sexy babes on this island and all of them start to fancy Crichton! Yes it's that sort of film folks. But it's a real well told story that is acted with fine skill, particularly from More and the infectious Cecil Parker as Lord Loam, whilst red blooded men such as myself get the benefit of some rather pretty looking ladies, especially Sally Ann Howes as Lady Mary.

The ending is never really in doubt, but you know what, in this type of picture I didn't want it any other way. Highly recommended escapism. 7/10
John Chard 7/10 Mar 15, 2019
The Governor and The Daddy.

The Admirable Crichton is an adaptation of J.M. Barrie's role reversal play, taking pot shots at the British class system and starring Kenneth More in the title role, it's something of a little treasure.

Basically the plot sees Butler supreme Crichton become the governor of the desert island that he, and the toff family he serves, have been shipwrecked upon. The point being that these rich toffs, though basically good people, are ill equipped to fend for themselves in the cold hard world. Crichton of course is well prepared for this new life forced upon them. He can cook, swim, catch fish, even start a fire, which none of the rich folk are capable of doing!

We are of course asked to suspend a modicum of disbelief, I mean there are four sexy babes on this island and all of them start to fancy Crichton! Yes it's that sort of film folks. But it's a real well told story that is acted with fine skill, particularly from More and the infectious Cecil Parker as Lord Loam, whilst red blooded men such as myself get the benefit of some rather pretty looking ladies, especially Sally Ann Howes as Lady Mary.

The ending is never really in doubt, but you know what, in this type of picture I didn't want it any other way. Highly recommended escapism. 7/10
John Chard 7/10 Mar 15, 2019
The Governor and The Daddy.

The Admirable Crichton is an adaptation of J.M. Barrie's role reversal play, taking pot shots at the British class system and starring Kenneth More in the title role, it's something of a little treasure.

Basically the plot sees Butler supreme Crichton become the governor of the desert island that he, and the toff family he serves, have been shipwrecked upon. The point being that these rich toffs, though basically good people, are ill equipped to fend for themselves in the cold hard world. Crichton of course is well prepared for this new life forced upon them. He can cook, swim, catch fish, even start a fire, which none of the rich folk are capable of doing!

We are of course asked to suspend a modicum of disbelief, I mean there are four sexy babes on this island and all of them start to fancy Crichton! Yes it's that sort of film folks. But it's a real well told story that is acted with fine skill, particularly from More and the infectious Cecil Parker as Lord Loam, whilst red blooded men such as myself get the benefit of some rather pretty looking ladies, especially Sally Ann Howes as Lady Mary.

The ending is never really in doubt, but you know what, in this type of picture I didn't want it any other way. Highly recommended escapism. 7/10
CinemaSerf 7/10 Mar 27, 2022
Many people criticise J.M. Barrie for being far too whimsical with his stories, but there is nothing wrong with some whimsy now and again - and this is a cracking example. The aristocratic "Loam" family set off on their yacht "the Bluebell" for a cruise around the South seas. A storm forces them to abandon ship and they alight on a beautiful desert island where their established, very formal, order is soon re-evaluated - resulting in a pretty comprehensive role-reversal between their butler "Crichton" (Kenneth More) and the entire family led by "Lord Loam" (Cecil Parker) and his daughters who after initially hoping to hold something of their erstwhile rank all realise that they simply must adapt. It's riddled with strong, engaging performances from Sally Ann Howes as the rather aloof "Lady Mary", a superbly loveable "Tweeny" (Diane Cilento) and Martita Hunt is formidable as the "Countess of Brocklehurst". It does take a very genial swipe at the preposterousness of the landed gentry who couldn't tie their own shoelaces, and also at the ridiculousness of the British class system as it most polarised - but it does it in a gently comedic way, and is really quite effective with that - not so underlying - theme. The direction is well paced and there's even a hint of romance... for everyone! If you like the story - try out Cecil B. de Mille's "Male and Female" (1919), but it's not such fun as this flighty, characterful depiction of a good story.

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