Mister Drake's Duck (1951)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Val Guest

Writers:

Val Guest (writer)
Ian Messiter (story)

Release Date:

21 September 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi | Comedy

Tagline:

The hilarious story of the duck that lays ATOMIC eggs!

Plot:

Mr. Drake and his wife live a nice, quiet life on their Sussex farm, until one of their ducks lays a radioactive egg made of uranium...

Plot Keywords:

Satire

Cast

Douglas Fairbanks Jr.	...	Donald 'Don' Drake
Yolande Donlan	...	Penny Drake
Jon Pertwee	...	Reuben
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Mr. May
Reginald Beckwith	...	Mr. Boothby
Howard Marion-Crawford	...	Maj. Travers
Peter Butterworth	...	Higgins
A.E. Matthews	...	Brig. Matthews
Tom Gill	...	Capt. White
John Boxer	...	Sergeant
Gilbert Davis	...	Sergeant Major
Ballard Berkeley	...	Maj. Deans
Roger Maxwell	...	Col. Maitland
Harry Fowler	...	Corporal
Bruce Belfrage	...	Air Vice Marshal

Runtime:

85 min | USA:75 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Angel Productions

An English version of Green Acres with uranium.

In one of his last feature films Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. plays American expatriate Donald Drake who has inherited a farm in Sussex where he has brought his new bride to settle. Kind of an English version of Green Acres. His bride is also an American, Yolande Donlon. She's very much like Eva Gabor and there are the English rustic types just like on Green Acres.

Yolande goes on a shopping trip to town with their hired hand Jon Pertwee and while waving to him at an auction she accidentally buys five dozen ducks. So far so good, but one of the ducks turns out to lay uranium eggs with a lead shell. In come all the British armed services, quarantining the Fairbanks farm and turning his honeymoon into a nightmare. Adding to their problems the Doug and Yolande are also trapped with Jon Pertwee and their loan officer from the bank, a handyman, and an official from the Agricultural Ministry all of whom happen to be on the premises when the quarantine order is issued.

It's an amusing film, nothing terribly spectacular about it. I always enjoy seeing Jon Pertwee in anything. Back when the Doctor Who show was run on American television he was my favorite of all the actors who played the Doctor.

Yolande Donlon was competent enough, but if the film had been made five years later, Marilyn Monroe would have been a natural for the part.

My only question is, why didn't the British Army just take the ducks instead of quarantining the farm. Because there would have been no film at all.