True as a Turtle *** (1957, John Gregson, June Thorburn, Cecil Parker, Avice Landone, Keith Michell, Elvi Hale, Betty Stockfeld) – Classic Movie Review 13,762

John Gregson and June Thorburn star as honeymooning newly-weds who join a party in the English Channel on rich Cecil Parker’s yacht Turtle and get mixed up with crooks, in the 1957 British comedy film True as a Turtle.

Director Wendy Toye’s 1957 British Eastmancolor comedy film True as a Turtle is based on a novel by John Coates, and stars John Gregson, June Thorburn and Cecil Parker, along with Avice Landone and Betty Stockfeld, plus Keith Michell and Elvi Hale in their film debuts.

John Gregson and June Thorburn star as honeymooning young marrieds Tony and Jane Hudson who join a party in the English Channel on a trip to France on a small boat called Turtle, owned by an industrialist friend, Dudley Partridge (Cecil Parker), and get mixed up with crooks.

This amiable if a little leaky Rank Organisation Film Productions comedy has some script problems, and just is not quite funny enough, or witty and clever enough. But it has its charms (chiefly the performers) and it is cheerfully and gamely helmed by Toye, one of Britain’s few women directors of the era.

It has the benefit of a good, cheery cast, swimming around there in for it. Captain Cecil Parker, Avice Landone as his wife Valerie, Elvi Hale as their cousin Ann, and Keith Michell as family friend Harry Bell help to raise quite a few smiles, even a few laughs.

Michell is thought to be one of the criminals, but he is revealed as a casino official on the trial of phoney gaming counters that he thinks Landone has been using. After more confusions, a pea-souper and a yacht breakdown, it all ends happily ever after, of course.

True as a Turtle is a daft, sometimes silly entertainment, but it is always pleasant, amusing and enjoyable enough old-style British comedy fun. John Gregson and June Thorburn are nice, appealing stars and Cecil Parker is the standout turn as the blustering, bumptious Dudley Partridge.

Talking appealing, Keith Michell and Elvi Hale make their film debuts and were both nominated for 1958 BAFTA Film Awards for Most Promising Newcomer to Film.

It is the last feature of Betty Stockfeld, playing Lady Brazier.

The screenplay is by John Coates, Jack Davies and Nicholas Phipps, based on Coates’s 1955 novel.

It was shot in July 1956 at Pinewood studios and on location, mainly on the River Hamble, south Hampshire, England. The yacht club location is the Royal Lymington Yacht Club.

Wendy Toye recalled: ‘We used to go out on a fairly big launch to get on to this small boat at about 6.30am, all having bacon and egg sandwiches. Really the nicest times of one’s life, they were, with the crew.’

Cast: John Gregson, June Thorburn, Cecil Parker, Avice Landone, Keith Michell, Elvi Hale, Betty Stockfeld, Jacques Brunius, Charles Clay, Gabrielle Brune, Michael E Briant, Pauline Drewett, John Harvey, Beth Rogan. Clement Freud appears uncredited as Croupier.

Michael E Briant had the misfortune to contract typhoid fever during the French location shoot.

Release date: February 1957.

Running time: 96 minutes.

Elvi Hale (29 January 1931 – March 1, 2025)

Elvi Hale (born Patricia Elvira Hake on 29 January 1931) was nominated for a BAFTA award for most promising film newcomer for True as a Turtle (1957). She played Heather, Leslie Phillips’s love interest in the film of The Navy Lark (1959) and starred in a fine Edgar Wallace mystery, Man Detained. She played Anne of Cleves in the 1970 TV mini series The Six Wives of Henry VIII, with Keith Michell in his Emmy-winning role of Henry.

She retired in 1990. She died on March 1, 2025, aged 94.

She was married to the actor George Murcell from 1960 till his death on December 3, 1998.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,762

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com