All at Sea is a 1935 British comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Googie Withers, Tyrell Davis and Rex Harrison. It was written by Charles Bennett, Ian Hay and Kimmins based on Hay's 1931 play Mr Faint-Heart and was made as a quota quickie by Fox Film at Wembley Studios. The plot follows a young man who falls in love during a cruise, and takes up a false identity as a famous writer to impress her.
Contents
Preservation status
The British Film Institute National Archive holds a collection of stills but no film or video materials.
Premise
When mild mannered Joe comes into an inheritance, he leaves his job as a clerk, and embarks on a sea cruise. Posing as a successful writer, Joe attracts various attractive women to him on the voyage, but his deceptions start to land him in trouble.
Cast
Tyrell Davis as Joe Finch
Googie Withers as Daphne Tomkins
James Carew as Julius Mablethorpe
Cecily Byrne as Mary Maggs
Rex Harrison as Aubrey Bellingham
Dorothy Vernon as Mrs. Humphrey
James Harcourt as Mr. Humphrey
Colin Lesslie as Tony Lambert
Critical reception
Kine Weekly wrote: "The plot appears to be threadbare in parts when magnified to the full dimensions of the screen, but its artless blend of sentiment, romance and humour should nevertheless sausfy the unsophisticated. ... Tyrrell Davis is quite good as the hesitant self-conscious Joe, but Googie Withers is very colourless as Daphne, and Rex Harrison overacts as Aubrey."
The Daily Film Renter wrote: "This slender story has been directed with very little imagination, most of the entertainment deriving from the shipboard atmosphere, which is well done. There are no big situations, save, perhaps, for the clerk's self-denunciation before his fellow fassengers at the concert, but even this hardly provides dramatic punch. The whole thing meanders along in meaningless fashion."
Picturegoer wrote: " It is a very thin affair; artless and lacking in polish."
TV Guide called it a "Tepid programmer."