His Lordship: A bit dusty, but charming enough

Is this thing worth the watch?

Honestly, only if you have a massive soft spot for mid-1930s British cinema and the kind of forced, fast-talking humor that makes you feel like you're trapped in a drawing room for eighty minutes. If you want high-stakes drama or anything even remotely grounded in reality, you will probably hate this.

The plot is a total mess of 'let's pretend' shenanigans. Bert Gibbs goes from being a nobody to a Lord, which is the kind of leap that usually triggers a bunch of frantic, door-slamming nonsense. It feels like a precursor to the kind of frantic energy you see in something like The Gate Crasher, where the absurdity is the point.

Anna Lee is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. She manages to make the 'movie star' character feel like a real person, even when the script is clearly just shuffling her around like a chess piece to force the romance plot along. The way she handles the dialogue is much sharper than anyone else in the room.

There is this one scene where they are sitting around talking about the engagement that just goes on forever. The camera barely moves. It’s almost like the director stepped out for a tea break and just left the actors to figure it out themselves. It’s weirdly hypnotic, in a 'why am I still watching this?' kind of way.

The mother character is… a lot.

• She spends half the movie clutching her pearls.
• The other half is spent making everyone else miserable.
• It's honestly impressive how much stress she packs into one scene.

It’s not as energetic as Hurry Up, and it definitely lacks the visual flair of a big production like The Big Parade. But there is a specific, quaint vibe to the whole thing that I can't quite dismiss. It feels like a dusty old photo you find in a shoebox—faded, slightly out of focus, but kind of sweet.

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it sprints through a scene like it's trying to catch a bus, and then it just slams on the brakes for no reason. It’s not a polished film. It’s barely a sturdy one. But if you’re in the mood for something that doesn’t ask you to think too hard, you could do worse.

Also, notice the way Bert’s suit fits him differently as the movie progresses. It’s a tiny detail, but it’s like the wardrobe department just gave up halfway through. 🧐