Poet’s Pub – 1949 | 97 mins | Comedy, Thriller | B&W

Plot Synopsis

A loosely structured comedy allowing for a series of vignettes based around an ancient coaching inn. The story was adapted from the 1929 novel by Scottish writer Erik Linklater.

Oxford undergraduate and struggling poet Saturday Keith (Derek Bond) has his literary work savagely panned by reviewer Professor Benbow (James Robertson Justice). An angry Keith flees to the countryside to seek inspiration, but after stopping over at the rundown Downy Pelican hotel with its inhospitable manager, he loudly complains about the food and service. A nearby diner, Lady Mercy Cotton, calls him over a reveals she is the owner – and wishes Keith to take over as manager. He accepts.

Keith sets about renovating and restaffing the ancient coaching inn, and soon the hotel is awash with odd characters staying for an Elizabethan Pageant being held in the grounds. Amongst the guests are American art collector Van Buren (John McLaren); the dreaded Professor Benbow; his daughter Joanna (Rona Anderson); local folklore expert Miss Horsefell-Hughes (Joyce Grenfell) and the furtive Williams (Andrew Osborn). It transpires that Van Buren and Williams have an ulterior motive for being at the hotel, to seek a concealed valuable antique glove, and Williams kidnap the professor’s daughter when she comes into possession of it.