My Kingdom for a Cook (1943) DVD-R

Starring Charles Coburn, Marguerite Chapman, Bill Carter,
Isobel Elsom and Edward Gargan
Directed by Richard Wallace

Print: black/white
Runtime: 81 min.
Genre: Comedy

Here's yet another comedy about the wartime servant shortage, with traces of The Man Who Came to Dinner thrown into the mixture. When his cook is forced to stay behind in England, Rudyard Morley (Charles Coburn), a noted author who bears more than a passing resemblance to George Bernard Shaw, searches for a new cook in rural Massachussetts. With rogueish ruthlessness, Morley "steals" the chef of socialite Lucille Scott (Isobel Elsom), who exacts a nastily amusing revenge. All of this complicates the romance between Morley's daughter Pamela (Marguerite Chapman) and Scott's aviator son Mike (Bill Carter). Despite the star power and charisma of Charles Coburn, some of the film's biggest laughs are delivered by lowly supporting players Ed Gargan, Mary Wickes and Almira Sessions.