Dear Octopus (film)

Dear Octopus is a 1943 British comedy film directed by Harold French and starring Margaret Lockwood, Michael Wilding and Celia Johnson. It is based on a 1938 play, Dear Octopus, written by Dodie Smith. It was also released as The Randolph Family.

Plot
Well-to-do couple Dora and Charles Randolph are celebrating their golden wedding, and three generations meet at the Randolph country home. As the relatives gather, each reveals his or her personal quirks and shortcomings. Caught in the middle is family secretary Penny Fenton (Margaret Lockwood), who has the unenviable task of sorting and smoothing out the family's deep-set hostilities and jealousies so that a good time can be had by all.

Cast

 * Margaret Lockwood – Penny Randolph
 * Michael Wilding – Nicholas Randolph
 * Celia Johnson – Cynthia
 * Roland Culver – Felix Martin
 * Helen Haye – Dora Randolph
 * Athene Seyler – Aunt Belle
 * Jean Cadell – Vicar's wife
 * Basil Radford – Kenneth
 * Frederick Leister – Charles Randolph
 * Nora Swinburne – Edna
 * Antoinette Cellier – Hilda
 * Madge Compton – Marjorie
 * Kathleen Harrison – Mrs Glossop
 * Ann Stephens – Scrap
 * Derek Lansiaux – Bill
 * Alistair Stewart – Joe
 * Evelyn Hall – Gertrude
 * Muriel George – Cook
 * Annie Esmond – Nannie
 * Irene Handl – Flora
 * Arthur Denton – Mr Glossop
 * Pamela Western – Deirdre
 * Arty Ash – Burton
 * Graham Moffatt – Fred the Chauffeur
 * Henry Morrell – Vicar

Production
Lockwood made it after The Man in Grey in the spring of 1943. She wrote in her memoirs that "there had been some trouble over the script of this film. Neither Herbert [her agent] nor I had considered the part which was offered to me sufficiently good. After much arguing my part was built up, but even so I was not pleased with the film, and felt that for me it had been a backward step."

Director Harold French later said "I'd liked the play and thought I could make a picture of it and I think I did some of it well." He called it "a lovely film to make, very harmonious cast. I was delighted to get away from war films and make something light and frothy. It was just what the public wanted."

Critical reception
TV Guide described the film as a "routine English comedy of manners", but added, "it has its moments"; while Allmovie wrote "the film is variations on a single theme, albeit consistently amusing ones."

Box office
Kinematograph Weekly listed this film among those which were "runners up" in its survey of the most popular films in Britain in 1943: The Gentle Sex, The Lamp Still Burns, Dear Octopus and The Adventures of Tartu.