David Lean wasn't known as a comedy director but his touch was spot on here. I guess it wasn't a comedy per se... more a romantic comedy? Light northern family comedy.
Charles Laughton is excellent as the blustering shop owned - one of his northern businessmen he played from time to time. Brenda de Banzie is excellent as his daughter - very non-sell out casting. She's handsome looking, but not movie pretty - most directors would've cast an ingenue. John Mills (a last minute replacement for Robert Donat) is effective too.
Laughton's drunk antics maybe aren't as funny as the film thinks it is (eg the scene with the puddle) but when he's not drunk he's very good. De Banzie has one of the best British female roles of the 1950s - she's smart, determined, drives the action, bullies Mills into marriage.
Like all Lean films, it looks wonderful. Main problem - the film pretty quickly has no where to go. She bullies Mills into marriage, they set up shop, it works, Laughton comes back begging... felt like it needed another twist, like a rival for Mills or de Banzie or the sisters to interfere or something. Because it clocks in at nearly two hours.
Still, a bright, enjoyable movie.
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