A Female Falcon
David Walsh (Michael Denison) admittedly knows little about the jewellery business but that is what he finds himself in after inheriting his father's and with it Elizabeth (Dulcie Gray) who not only worked for his father but knows the business better than anyone. But having become infuriated with David for more reasons than one, Elizabeth left the office and found herself caught up in a robbery of another business, forced to get in to the car with 3 crooks having seen one of their faces. Now being kept hostage of sorts in the country house they are hiding out in Elizabeth sets about foiling these crooks who end up becoming quite likeable.
"There Was a Young Lady" is a perfect example of one of those old British comedies which are pleasant, fun to watch and quite sweet but 24 hours after watching have kind of been forgotten. In some ways it is because it is so simple that it ends up forgettable as on one hand we have Elizabeth ending up a hostage but one who cleverly gets the crooks to do what she wants whilst David slowly puts some clues together to find out where she is. Along the way there is some confusion and a little bit of chaos but there is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the story, comedy or characters.
But as I said, "There Was a Young Lady" does work and a big part of that comes down to the choice of actors with ones again Bill Owen putting in a fun performance as a likeable crook. But truth be told this is a movie all about husband and wife team Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray although as they spend the majority of the movie apart in many ways it is mostly Dulcie Gray. And Dulcie Gray is very likeable as Elizabeth, especially in the way she out smarts others in a sort of motherly way.
What this all boils down to is that "There Was a Young Lady" is just a pleasant British comedy from back in 1953 which although still works is also quite forgettable.
