Molly and Me

Molly Barry, an English variety performer who cannot find work, takes a job as housekeeper to a crusty gentleman in London in 1937. John Graham is a retired politician and the order of his house has long been frozen. After Molly arrives his relations with his son mend, the schemes of his former wife come to nothing, and his political ambitions revive. The film gives this not as a romance but as a house coming back to life. The distance between the woman’s past on the stage and her present work stands inside the account. The comedy comes from the distance between master and servant being broken again and again. The story is adapted from a novel by Frances Marion. Gracie Fields and Monty Woolley take the leads, with Roddy McDowall also in the cast. Lewis Seiler’s seventy seven minute American film was completed in 1945.