Foreign Affaires

Foreign Affaires is a 1935 British comedy film directed by and starring Tom Walls. It also features Ralph Lynn, Robertson Hare, Norma Varden and Cecil Parker. The screenplay is by Ben Travers, and the cast included cast members from the Walls and Travers Aldwych Farces.^[1]

Foreign Affaires
Directed by	Tom Walls
Written by	Ben Travers
Produced by	Michael Balcon
Starring	Tom Walls Ralph Lynn Robertson Hare Norma Varden
Cinematography	Roy Kellino
Edited by	Alfred Roome
Music by	Jack Beaver
Production company	Gainsborough Pictures
Distributed by	Gaumont British
Release date	1935 (1935)
Running time	71 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

The film is set on the French Riviera where two hard-living British spongers become mixed up in illegal gambling and a scam in which wealthy gamblers' jewels are replaced with fakes.^[2][3]

Cast

• Tom Walls as Captain Archibald Gore
• Ralph Lynn as Jefferson Darby
• Robertson Hare as Mr Hardy Hornett
• Norma Varden as Mrs Hardy Hornett
• Marie Lohr as Mrs Cope
• Diana Churchill as Sophie
• Cecil Parker as Lord Wormington
• Kathleen Kelly as Millicent
• Gordon James as Rope
• Ivor Barnard as Count
• Mervyn Johns as Courtroom interpreter
• Basil Radford as Basil Mallory
• Martita Hunt as Woman at Lord Wormington's house

Production

Ben Travers wrote various stage farces that had been filmed, but this was an original script. Filming took place in August 1935.^[4]

Travers said the original title of the screenplay was Foreign Affairs and "it was typical of British film mentality that, without my being consulted, it was renamed Foreign Affaires. The movie provided aan early film role for Mervyn Johns who Travers said "so completely stole his one scene with Tom and Ralph that his part was almost completely cut out of the finally-edited version. But I am always pleased to have given Mervyn his first job in the pictures."^[5]

Reception

Variety called it "an agreeable vehicle for the buffooneries of Tom Walls and Ralph Lynn, which hitherto have been more acceptable for local taste than further afield. In this instance the appeal should be more extensive. There is a refreshing toning-down, less of Walls’ leerful eye and Lynn’s crass idiocy. Whole thing is more natural, and the ensuing events are feasible for a change without undue strain on credulity."^[6]