Made in Heaven – 1952 | 90 mins | Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Threadbare farce scripted by playwright William Douglas Home, this sprightly comedy was inspired by the ancient English custom of the “Dunmow Flitch”. The amiable comic chaos is steadily directed in a sitcom-like way by John Paddy Carstairs and glossily photographed n Technicolor by Geoffrey Unsworth. The supporting cast of Charles Victor’s sprightly father, Richard Wattis’ convivial vicar and his stern sister Athene Seyler add considerably to the fun.

In Great Dumnow, married couples annually compete to win a sizeable side of New Zealand bacon by swearing on Whit Monday to an uninterrupted year of wedded bliss. However, the chances of the ideally suited Basil Topham (David Tomlinson) and wife Julie (Petula Clark) take a dive with the arrival of glamorous Hungarian housemaid Marta (Sonja Ziemann). Basil and his father Aubrey (Charles Victor) are enchanted by the glamorous domestic but their green-eyed partners are less than impressed. Mrs Topham (Sophie Stewart) conjures up a scheme to keep them out of trouble by entering Basil and Julie as the sole contestants in the Dumlow Flitch trials without their knowledge. Further comic mishaps ensue when Marta’s boyfriend Istfan arrives and Basil has the flitch of bacon stolen from his car by a passing traveller.