Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?

Based on a 1944 West End stage success with Ralph Lynn, this is a classic bedroom farce for those who like them that way -- its theatrical origins acknowledged in the credits and clearly apparent when most of the action takes place with characters popping in and out of a single-room set -- enlivened by a sex-pot performance by Diana Dors as blackmailing first wife Candy.

Celebrated American wartime pilot "Vining" (Bonar Colleano) returns to the UK with his new wife "Gillian" (Diana Decker) to be met by his old chum "Hank" (Sidney James). On the drive to their lodgings his pal regales the new wife with tales of her husband's ex-girlfriend "Candy" (Diana Dors). Unfortunately, the media report his arrival with new wife "Candy" by mistake and when the latter woman discovers this she heads to his home where a mischievous confrontation ensues - who is married to whom? It's only eighty minutes long but it seems much longer. The joke wears thin quickly and the performances from Colleano, the annoying James and a rather irritating contribution for the lawyer "Betterton" (David Tomlinson) stretch this out in an increasingly cringe-making fashion. The jaunty score tries hard to compensate for the predictable storyline and rotten dialogue and I found it quite heavy going.