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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
Should you watch Leave It to Me today? If you have an hour to kill and a soft spot for pre-war British charm, sure. If you need tight plotting or anything resembling real tension, you will probably find yourself checking your phone every five minutes. It’s a very 1933 kind of movie—plenty of stiff collars, forced laughter, and people being surprised in hallways.
Gene Gerrard is the engine here. He’s got that frantic energy, like he’s constantly trying to remember if he left the stove on while simultaneously reciting bad poetry. Watching him pivot from 'helpful agency guy' to 'fumbling poet' is basically the whole show. It’s not genius, but he sells it with enough wide-eyed panic that you stop caring about the logic gaps.
The whole bit where he has to pretend to be a poet is painful in the best way. He clearly doesn't know a sonnet from a sandwich. There’s a scene where he’s cornered by a bunch of wealthy socialites waiting for a verse, and the look on his face? Pure terror. It reminded me a bit of the frantic pacing in The Poor Nut, where things just spiral because someone wasn't honest about who they were in the first place.
The jewel heist subplot is mostly just background noise. It’s there so there’s a reason for everyone to run around in circles. Honestly, the villains are so forgettable that I had to rewind once just to make sure I knew who was actually trying to steal the necklace. It didn't really matter.
There’s this one moment during the ball where everything goes quiet for a second too long. It’s an odd, static beat that feels like someone forgot to yell 'action' again, or maybe the film just needed to take a breath. I kind of liked it. It felt human, like the movie itself was getting tired of the party.
It’s not as polished as the big Hollywood stuff from the era, but that’s the point. It feels like a stage play that wandered onto a set. If you like this kind of thing, you might also find a strange sort of comfort in Who Cares, which has a similar 'let’s just make this happen' energy.
Don't expect a masterpiece. Just expect a guy in a tuxedo looking very confused for about 75 minutes. Sometimes that’s plenty. 🎩✨
IMDb 5
1931
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