The March Hare ** (1956, Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Wilfrid Hyde White, Martita Hunt, Cyril Cusack) – Classic Movie Review 13,665

The 1956 British colour and widescreen whimsical comedy film The March Hare stars Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Wilfrid Hyde White, Martita Hunt and Cyril Cusack, involved in a caper in Ireland to turn an iffy racing horse into a winner.

Director George More O’Ferrall’s 1956 British colour and widescreen whimsical comedy film The March Hare is a quaint, faded fairy tale for adults about a sprite who helps a titled horse trainer to the winning post by whispering a magic word.

Terence Morgan stars as the young Irish baronet Sir Charles Hare, who gambles his all on one of his horses at Ascot, but the race is fixed and the horse is ‘pulled’, and he is forced to sell his ancestral Irish estate, including his home and racing stables. Martita Hunt co-stars as his aunt, Lady Anne, who comes to the rescue. She and Colonel Keene (Wilfrid Hyde White) save one colt from the sale, and rear it with the help of Mangan (Cyril Cusack), who drunkenly controls the horse by the power of the fairies.

Sir Charles Hare names the colt The March Hare, which is an odd name for a horse but a better name for a film than the source novel’s title, Gamblers Sometimes Win.

The fanciful humour is strained, and the lead performances by Peggy Cummins and Terence Morgan do not have enough style for such whimsy, though they do have energy and some charm.

Luckily there is a lively roster of Fifties players to cheer things up – especially including Wilfrid Hyde White, Martita Hunt, Cyril Cusack, Derrick De Marney and Charles Hawtrey – all of whom give reasons to be cheerful even if they were capable of better things. Martita Hunt is a scene-stealer, and so is Wilfrid Hyde White, but Cyril Cusack steals the show as Lazy Mangan. The cast comes complete with BBC radio sports commentator Raymond Glendenning as himself, the Commentator.

The screenplay by written by Gordon Wellesley, Allan MacKinnon and Paul Vincent Carroll is based on the novel Gamblers Sometimes Win by Captain T H Bird.

The bright Eastmancolor and CinemaScope cinematography by Jack Hildyard is a very pleasant surprise, and it certainly adds to the film’s appeal.

Stringer Davis appears (as Doctor) without his wife Margaret Rutherford,, who had suffered a mental breakdown, and was replaced  by Martita Hunt.

In the opening commentary, it is stated that Royal Ascot takes place in July. Though Royal Ascot is usually held in June, in 1955 when The March Hare was filmed, it was postponed till July.

Release date: April 1956 (UK).

It is shot in County Mayo, Ireland, and at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England.

The cast: Peggy Cummins, Terence Morgan, Wilfrid Hyde White, Martita Hunt, Cyril Cusack, Derrick De Marney, Charles Hawtrey, Maureen Delaney [Maureen Delany], Ivan Simpson, MacDonald Parke, Peter Swanwick, Charles Wade, Fred Johnson, Bernard Rook, Reginald Beckwith, Stringer Davis, Clem Lister, Edward Lexy, Harry Towb, Raymond Glendenning.

The March Hare is directed by George More O’Ferrall, runs 85 minutes, is made by B & A Productions (Achilles), is released by British Lion Film Corporation (UK), is written by Gordon Wellesley (screenplay), Allan MacKinnon (screenplay) and Paul Vincent Carroll (additional dialogue), is shot in colour (Eastmancolor) and CinemaScope by Jack Hildyard and Peter Newbrook, is produced by Bertram Ostrer and Albert Fennell, is scored by Philip Green, and is designed by Anthony Masters.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,665

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