Yes, Madam?

{{Short description|1938 film}} {{Other uses|Yes, Madam (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}} {{Use British English|date=May 2016}} {{Infobox film | name = Yes, Madam? | image = | caption = | director = [[Norman Lee (director)|Norman Lee]] | producer = [[Walter C. Mycroft]] | based_on = | writer = {{ubl|K.R.G. Browne (play)|[[William Freshman]]|[[Clifford Grey]]|[[Bert Lee]]}} | narrator = | starring = {{ubl|[[Bobby Howes]]|[[Diana Churchill (actress)|Diana Churchill]]|[[Wylie Watson]]}} | music = [[Harry Acres]] | cinematography = [[Walter J. Harvey]] | editing = [[Walter Stokvis]] | studio = [[Associated British Picture Corporation]] | distributor = Associated British Film Distributors | released = {{Film date|1938|11}} | runtime = 77 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget =£39,784<ref>{{cite magazine|title='The highest salary ever paid to a human being': Creating a Database of Film Costs from the Bank of England |last=Chapman|first= Llewella|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|magazine=Journal of British cinema and television, 2022-10|volume=19|number=4|pages=470–494 at 480}}</ref> | gross = }} '''''Yes, Madam?''''' is a 1938 British [[musical film|musical]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Norman Lee (director)|Norman Lee]] and starring [[Bobby Howes]], [[Diana Churchill (actress)|Diana Churchill]] and [[Wylie Watson]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/58794 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116062718/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/58794 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-01-16 |title=BFI | Film & TV Database | YES, MADAM? (1938) |publisher=Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk |date=2009-04-16 |access-date=2012-03-16}}</ref>

==Background== The film was adapted from a play by K. R. G. Browne, itself based on a novel by the same author.<ref name="Kineweekly">Excerpt from ''[[Kine Weekly]]'', 10 November 1938, quoted in "The Museum of London and The National Film Archive present Made in London" programme notes, 20th season, September to December 1990.</ref> The film was shot at [[Elstree Studios (Shenley Road)|Elstree Studios]],<ref>Wood p. 99</ref> with sets designed by the [[art director]] [[Cedric Dawe]].

==Plot== Two cousins, Billy Quinton and Sally Gaunt, have to spend a month in [[Domestic worker|service]] to qualify for an [[inheritance]] from an eccentric uncle. They find themselves in the same household, as valet/chauffeur and as maid, where they are tracked down by their arch-enemy Tony Tolliver, who will get the money should either of the cousins fail in their task by getting the sack. Tony therefore tries various schemes to get them sacked – succeeding, but still failing to get the legacy.<ref name="Kineweekly"/>

==Cast== * [[Bobby Howes]] as Bill Quinton * [[Diana Churchill (actress)|Diana Churchill]] as Sally Gault * [[Wylie Watson]] as Albert Peabody, a retired button manufacturer * [[Bertha Belmore]] as Emily Peabody, his unmarried sister * [[Vera Pearce]] as Pansy Beresford, an actress * [[Billy Milton]] as Tony Tolliver * [[Fred Emney]] as Sir Charles Drake-Drake * [[Cameron Hall (actor)|Cameron Hall]] as Catlett, former burglar, now manservant to Tolliver * [[Geoffrey Sumner]] as Scoffin * [[Arthur Hambling]] as a police constable

==Music and dance sequences== Set pieces taken from the stage production included a scene with a 'sloshed Emney',<ref>Excerpt from Film-making in 1930s Britain by Rachael Low, quoted in 'The Museum of London and The National Film Archive present Made in London' programme notes, 20th season, September to December 1990.</ref> Czecho-Slovakian Love - "Here beneath the white lights gleaming above" (Pansy and Bill) and 'Yes, Madam' - "I'm in love, I confess" (Bill and Sally).<ref>Script of 'Yes, Madam' accompanying Network on Air DVD release 'British Musicals of the 1930s: Volume 4' 7954378 (2015).</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Wood, Linda. ''British Films, 1927-1939''. British Film Institute, 1986.

==External links== *{{IMDb title|0032148}}

[[Category:1938 films]] [[Category:British musical comedy films]] [[Category:1938 musical comedy films]] [[Category:Films shot at Associated British Studios]] [[Category:1938 English-language films]] [[Category:Films directed by Norman Lee]] [[Category:British black-and-white films]] [[Category:1938 British films]] [[Category:English-language musical comedy films]]