Thank You, Jeeves! (1936)

In the period when I was a really voracious reader of books, all Wodehouse's works were not only banned and removed from sale in shops and taken off the shelves in libraries, but they were piled into huge bonfires and burnt. Plum was regarded as a traitor and as far as I am aware, he has never been formally re-instated even when the true facts became known. Although I'm the sort of person who haunts bookshops and libraries, I've never ever seen a Wodehouse book, or even a reproduction of the cover art of a Wodehouse book, let alone have I actually held one in my hand. Needless to say, none of Wodehouse's movies have ever been aired on local TV, so I pounced on this Fox DVD and managed to smuggle it through Customs. I might have saved myself the trouble. There is nothing controversial in "Thank You, Jeeves", but it is mildly amusing – thanks more to the strenuous efforts of the players than anything much in the way of rolling-on-the-floor hilarity in the text itself. If this sort of Bowery Boys' slapstick (complete with Willie Best), is the best that Wodehouse has to offer, maybe it explains why all his books and movies are still shunned in my country, even though the ban itself has presumably been lifted.

Although he's third billed in this film, David Niven finally was noticed by critics in the role of eternal playboy Bertie Wooster. But the first billed individual here Arthur Treacher was typecast for the rest of his life playing P.G. Wodehouse's dour butler Jeeves.This was a B film for 20th Century Fox one of the first under the banner of the new company and it doesn't quite make an hour's running time. Still both Niven and Treacher got their starts.Niven has been described as the man who carried more films with charm than any other actor. That's what Bertie Wooster's about, a rich young and bored heir who is forever getting in situations because he doesn't have to work for a living. This was Wodehouse satirizing the British upper classes between the World Wars. Yet Wooster is likable and charming if completely useless.One fine boring evening Virginia Field changes all that by crashing the Wooster living space being pursued by some men. Then she leaves after spending the night and Niven wants to find her and over Treacher's objections they pursue her as well as her original pursuers.Arriving at an inn they blunder into things without knowing exactly who the players are. In the end thanks to Jeeves it all turns out all right.I remember Arthur Treacher years ago when he was through acting and was an announcer for the Merv Griffin Show. I got to meet him and let us say he was Jeeves to the nines.Thank You, Jeeves is one of two films Treacher played Jeeves, but he played a lot of butlers after that. That's because he was so good at them.

This must be, by a very large margin, one of the worst adaptations of all time of Wodehouse's immortal Jeeves and Wooster novels.It features an intelligent sex-mad Bertie, a singing, dancing, and pugilistic Jeeves, an unnecessary black saxophonist, and so on and so on.One can only hope that Wodehouse (whose name appears in very small type in the credits) simply took the money and ran.If I could give it zero out of ten (or even better, minus several hundred, I would) but as the system doesn't allow me to I give it a resentful zero. How on earth did it get to rate 6.3?The mind boggles.

I must point out to you at the onset that I have NEVER seen one of Jeeves & Wooster films nor have I ever read anything by P.G. Wodehouse. So I cannot compare this film to any of the films or stories--and I have no idea how close this film is to the actual characters. But, I do have some of the Fry & Laurie versions on my Netscape queue and might just try one or two of his novels and will update this review at a later date.This B-movie reminds me a lot of the Bulldog Drummond films, though instead of making the leading man a brave and macho hero, Wooster is still brave but a bit daft. This man is no action-hero--more a man looking for excitement and blundering into it. This made for a pleasant character--but one that is hard to love. However, his manservant Jeeves was terrific and I loved the very low-key performance that Arthur Treacher gave. He was sophisticated, proper and yet, oddly, surprisingly tough. And, despite being in the employ of Wooster, it seems that Jeeves was the smarter and more competent.The film begins with the upper-class twit, Wooster, lamenting that he'd bored and craves adventure. In true movie form, a plot drops right into his lap involving a woman on the run from a gang that is trying to steal top-secret plans. Unfortunately, Wooster thinks SHE is the spy and, for a while, does his best to help the gang. Ultimately, it's up to Jeeves to save the day. Along the way, they pick up some comic relief and the total package is quite trivial--but quite fun. Thanks to a breezy script and decent acting, it's well worth seeing....and a bit silly. My score of 7 is relative to other B-films...making it a bit better than average and worth seeing.