Over Acting for the Force's Sweetheart
Forces sweetheart, Judy James (Hy Hazell), has returned to town and that means a multitude of admirers have descended on the hotel where she is booked to stay. Two of those admirers happen to be Flt-Lieut. John Robinson (Michael Bentine) and Private Llewelyn (Harry Secombe - Oliver!) who are a hapless pair who end up causing chaos and confusion where ever they go as they hope to meet her.
I am trying to wonder how "Forces' Sweetheart" ever came to be for the simple reason it is a troublingly weak comedy which I wonder whether the outline was written for and then the rest was adlibbed as they filmed it. What that means is we have this storyline about singer Judy being in town and then there being chaos which ensues due to the various men who come to the hotel to meet her, from aging performers to amarous young men in the forces. But then we have what feels like Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine trying to provide the movie with some comedy but basically resorting to overacting the whole time it ends up mostly being unfunny.
But what "Forces' Sweetheart" has is a scene where Harry Secombe gets to sing and in doing so surprises a room full of people with his amazing voice. And whilst I can't listen to a lot of Harry Secombe singing I can appreciate a song once in a while with his voice being a highlight in this movie which is short on highlights.
What this all boils down to is that if you stumble across "Forces' Sweetheart" and think that it will be hilarious as it stars Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine, well I hate to disappoint you but it isn't and it ends up quite a tedious movie with too much over acting from Secombe and Bentine.
