During WWII, there were tons of propaganda films made in the US and Britain to bolster the war effort. Most of them were pretty good and did a good job of mustering support for the war, though quite a few of them (like this film) seem awfully far-fetched when seen today. Now this ISN'T to say that they are bad films or that they are so difficult to believe that it ruins them--it surely doesn't. You just need to suspend disbelief and sit back and enjoy them for what they were intended.COTTAGE TO LET is a dandy little film that packs some excellent stars and performances into it. It's very heavy with stars, having Leslie Banks, Alistair Sim and John Mills. However, while certainly not a star at the time or even one for many years to come, I really enjoyed young George Cole's performance as the precocious teen, Ronald. Despite all these stars, he managed to more than hold his own as a character who was almost like Sherlock Holmes and Dennis the Menace rolled into one! The story, as I said, is tough to believe. Having one or two Nazi spies in Britain during the war was indeed believable, but having so many more and such a complicated plot wasn't. Plus, while you could believe them perhaps stealing some plans or killing a scientist, having an elaborate plot where they kidnap the scientist and take him all the way back to Berlin UNDETECTED is far-fetched. However, in addition to the good acting, the plot was entertaining--so much so that you could ignore all the impossibilities and improbabilities.Overall, while not a great film, it is a fine example of wartime British cinema and is entertaining and fun.

Puffin Asquith turned out three films in 1941 and one of the others was Quiet Wedding which was, like this one, an adaptation of a stage play - in fact Puffin made something of a speciality of this and adapted several Rattigan plays for the screen most notably the masterpiece The Browning Version - and here the origins definitely show. It's the kind of play that no one writes any more - like Esther McCracken's Quiet Wedding - the typical 'Home Counties' romantic comedy with mandatory French Windows and parlour maids but now tarted up with a 'topical' plot reflecting the war, then in its third year. Sixteen year old George Cole reprised his stage role to good effect and worked well with mentor Alistair Sim, Leslie Banks and John Mills. As in the play - which I haven't seen but it is a reasonable assumption - most of the cast are doubling as Red Herrings (it's the one about the inventor working on vital war work as several Nazi 'agents' prepare to kidnap him) and now we know where James Bond acquired his taste for excruciating puns as Leslie Banks remarks - after seeing off two villains by unleashing, with the help of Cole, a huge millstone, which crushes them 'killed two birds with one stone'. On the whole it's fairly harmless though I doubt anyone will be dashing out to buy the DVD should one exist.

"Cottage to Let" is a long way from being one of the better films about the Second World War made during it, but it does have a curiosity value.It shows its origins as a stage-play, with the action concentrated on a house that curiously combines the roles of a private home, military hospital (staffed by its owner and daughter but apparently lacking trained nurses) and secret laboratory, and which also takes in an evacuee in the shape of George Cole. He does very well in his first film, but at 16 looks a bit too old and big (almost as tall as some of the adult men) in the part of someone I imagine was meant to be a bit younger.Interestingly, one actor appears to play a character that contrasts with his usual roles, and another does.The plot has several holes in it, of the type "how did so-and-so know that", and if I was that bothered or was bored I might run the recording through again to see it it makes a bit more sense. One puzzling scene early on involving a phone call does fall into place much later in the film.

A very brisk, lightly entertaining wartime thriller with quite an exciting ensemble cast, the film is however burdened down by a strange, ill-explained plot, which borders both on being contrived and confusing. The characters are also rather run-of-the-mill, but they do interact quite well together. The picture has some interesting ideas, some neat mirror work, and it is generally amusing stuff. Overall nothing too special or highly memorable, but it has enough mystery elements and thriller elements worked into it that it is able to provide adequate entertainment, even if it is not a perfect watch as such.