Two More Mills : "Cottage to Let" & "The October Man"

This blog was begun on the night of March 31, 2021 :

Tonight, we've got not only John Mills on board, but director Anthony Asquith as well, in "Cottage to Let"(1941), a British spy thriller with a comedic touch. "Mrs. Barrington", a lady of the Scottish countryside, has advertised her cottage for rent (as per the title), but WW2 has broken out and her home is requisitioned for other uses, as a military hospital and also a relocation site for city children endangered by the Blitz. As the movie opens, Mills, a fighter pilot, has just bailed out of his Spitfire after being shot down over Scotland. Landing in a loch, he is rescued by local villagers who take him to the Barrington cottage for medical treatment. As he arrives, the scene at the house is rather chaotic, for a schoolboy has been bused in, and there is also a chap (Alastair Sim) who'd applied for a room before the requisition. Mrs. Barrington tells him he can't stay, but he insists. "I've got my receipt", he tells her, forcing her to relent.

So there's your setup, a cast of Veddy British characters, all holed up in a country cottage, in what will become a Ten Little Indians plot involving a German spy. In addition to the people I've mentioned, there is also Mrs. Barrington's husband, a scientist whose laboratory is hidden in a back room of the house. He and his assistant are working on a Top Secret project for the military - a new bomb sight - and the other tenants are instructed never to enter the lab. As an aside, I must mention that there is a brief discussion about the correct pronunciation of "laboratory". The Butler says it's "la-BORE-a-tory", while the Sim character says it's "LAB-ra-tree". Notice that the American pronunciation is a mixture of the two : "LAB-ra-tory".

At any rate, as you can imagine, no one pays any attention to Mrs. Barrington's decree that the lab is off limits, especially not the schoolboy (George Cole), a Sherlock Holmes aficionado who fancies himself a detective. After sneaking in and discovering the nature of the project, he's the first to propose that there's a spy among the tenants. He confesses his suspicion to John Mills : "I think it's the Butler", but Mills can do nothing about it because he's still recovering from his wounds and is bedridden. 

The script was adapted from a play and the dialogue is non-stop. It's also delivered largely in Britspeak, in a variety of accents, so you'll have to pay close attention to understand what's being said (and you'll inevitably miss a few lines). The plot is not highly developed, but because this is a light comedy the entertainment value of the movie is really about the interaction of the characters, who are all so impossibly English. The process of identifying the spy is rather like a game of "CLUE", and of course everyone in the cottage is a suspect, except the kid.

"Cottage to Let" is a single location film for the most part, but one with a deluxe budget so the art direction is first rate and highly detailed. Asquith is great with his actors and gets a high degree of personality out of each one, especially Alastair Sim and young George Cole. Though John Mills is billed as a star, he doesn't have a lot of screen time compared to those two, but he will still play an important role in the outcome.

I went into the movie expecting a more tightly wound plot (comedy or no comedy), but wound up enjoying it on it's own merits as a fast-talking display of wartime Britishness. I'll therefore give "Cottage to Let" Two Solid Thumbs Up with a strong recommendation to see it just because it's fun. Also, the print is Criterion perfect, so it looks fantastic.  /////

The previous night we got more Mills for our money in "The October Man"(1947), in which he's just been discharged from a hospital after recovering from a brain injury. He was injured in a bus accident that killed a little girl in his care, the child of a friend. Mills remains traumatized and his doctor warns of possible setbacks. One then manifests that very night. He stops at a bridge and is tempted to throw himself in the path of an oncoming train. He feels responsible for the little girl's death, even though his doctor - and her parents - have assured him it wasn't his fault, and it wasn't - they were on a public bus.

Mills withstands the urge to kill himself and checks into a small hotel he's been directed to, which acts as a halfway house as he prepares to re-enter society. Only a half-dozen people live there, but they are all characters, such as the Nosy Lady at the card table, who somehow knows the details of Mills' accident and spews insulting theories about his mental state. There's also the Nice but Troubled Young Woman, 30ish and single but involved with several men, or so it is rumored. She's in debt and appeals to Mills for money. This is overheard by Mr. Peachy, another nosy parker who lives directly under the troubled woman's apartment and eavesdrops on everything she says and does. I have to make an aside to ask "who would name a character 'Mr. Peachy'"? It seems ridiculous yet it's a stroke of genius.  :)

Mr. Peachy is an Officious Type, neat and nebbish, who reports back to the landlady that the young woman is having men in her room. Then one night she is found murdered, after stepping out to mail a letter. Unfortunately for John Mills, he'd also been outdoors that night in the same vicinity. Given that he's been labeled a mental case by the Nosy Card Table Woman, and that Mr. Peachy has reported him for being in the Young Woman's room, Mills becomes the prime suspect in the woman's murder.

Why does Mills keep getting blamed for stuff he didn't do? Remember, this happened to him just the other night in "The Long Memory".   

In any event, the police suspect Mills but don't have enough evidence to arrest him, again just like in "The Long Memory". So he goes about his business of trying to get over his brain injury, and pretty soon he has a job and a nice girlfriend (Joan Greenwood). They plan to marry, but despite her emotional support, Mills still has debilitating flashbacks from the accident. Adding to his stress, the letter has been found that the dead woman was going to mail. I can't make known it's contents, but after Mills hears about it he will be forced to confront Mr. Peachy and a revelation will occur, one that even the Nosy Card Table Woman will have to admit is compelling.

Once again, the characters are more important than the plot, and in this case the story revolves around Mills' mental health, making him once again the type of Sympathetic Figure he seems to have excelled at. While it's not complex, and not as much fun as "Cottage to Let", I'm still gonna give "The October Man" Two Solid Thumbs Up, just because it's got Mr. Peachy, and it's a John Mills movie, which automatically rates it Thumbs Up to whatever degree.

I hope you've gotten your Mills' worth, and we'll see you again next time, likely with more Mills on the menu.

Have a great afternoon, and tons of love as always!  xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)