Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

ianlouisiana "Cottage to let" borrows heavily from the works of such popular British novelists of the 1930s as John Buchan,Dornford Yates and "Sapper".Kidnapped scientists,plucky schoolboys,cold -eyed detectives,dastardly German spies and pretty girls with summer dresses and wide-brimmed hats filled their pages.Now considered "Fascist",racist","imperialist"and probably several other "ists" I've never heard of,in more sensible times they were thought of as "good reads",nothing more,nothing less. In the movie the inventor of a secret bombsight is kidnapped by dastardly German spies and saved by the intervention of a plucky schoolboy and a cold - eyed detective. There is a splendidly Hitchcockian Auction scene where Mr John Mills as an injured RAF pilot picks up a warming pan by the handle and asks "What's this - a banjolele?"thus encapsulating in one word the whole era. Mr Alistair Sim is a sardonic Scottish detective,Miss Jeanne de Casalis (on the wireless as Mrs Shufflewick/Pennyfeather) splendidly dotty as the spooneristic posh lady. Young master George Cole is a role model for schoolboys carving Spitfires from bits of firewood during the blackout. Thoroughly enjoyable wartime entertainment at the expense of the dastardly Germans(sorry,our European partners - oops!I now await the midnight knock on the door)

csrothwec An enjoyable piece of British wartime entertainment, probably to be appreciated more now than by audiences at the time, (who would have found it very 'stagey' and lacking in action, I suspect). The plot is nothing in particular and its stage origins are all too apparent in the set locations, which cover the cottage of the title acting as a lodging house, home for evacuated children from London and a military hospital (????) whilst, up at 'the Big House', there is a 'top-secret' research laboratory, (which you know is 'top secret' as one of the (numerous) doors has a sliding panel in it),(but which actually seems to have more people entering and leaving it in the course of the film than the lounge of the 'Dog and Duck'), country gentry residence and garden fête venue. The real strength of the film, though, is its very strong cast. Leslie Banks is quite watchable on as the lead and John Mills is his usual, (for the period), photogenic, brylcreemed RAF fighter pilot hero, (or IS he?), who delivers in the usual sound manner. George Cole makes his first film appearance as one of two Cockney scamps evacuated to the 'cottage', (although the other one disappears from view entirely after the first five minutes!), and one can already see him mentally in a mini-sheepskin coat and with a cigarillo in hand as he begins his apprenticeship for greater glories to come in his career. Alastair Sim is, as usual, extremely good value for money and always watchable. The REAL star, though, I thought, was Jeanne De Casalis as the dotty 'Lady of the Manor', showing marvellous comic timing, interacting with all the rest of the cast flawlessly, (catch her expression when the little girl who has just handed her a bouquet of flowers at the opening of the fête wants it back!), and having me in stitches with her spoonerisms, ("Are you the lad with the manor? I'm sorry, I meant the man with the ladder?"), and, above all, her speech opening the fête; ("In the words of our dear Prime Minister, never was so much owed by so few to so many"). Somehow, one just cannot see film-makers of the time doing the same to speeches of their leader in the Kremlin! I shall certainly watch out for any other films starring this lady.

writers_reign Puffin Asquith turned out three films in 1941 and one of the others was Quiet Wedding which was, like this one, an adaptation of a stage play - in fact Puffin made something of a speciality of this and adapted several Rattigan plays for the screen most notably the masterpiece The Browning Version - and here the origins definitely show. It's the kind of play that no one writes any more - like Esther McCracken's Quiet Wedding - the typical 'Home Counties' romantic comedy with mandatory French Windows and parlour maids but now tarted up with a 'topical' plot reflecting the war, then in its third year. Sixteen year old George Cole reprised his stage role to good effect and worked well with mentor Alistair Sim, Leslie Banks and John Mills. As in the play - which I haven't seen but it is a reasonable assumption - most of the cast are doubling as Red Herrings (it's the one about the inventor working on vital war work as several Nazi 'agents' prepare to kidnap him) and now we know where James Bond acquired his taste for excruciating puns as Leslie Banks remarks - after seeing off two villains by unleashing, with the help of Cole, a huge millstone, which crushes them 'killed two birds with one stone'. On the whole it's fairly harmless though I doubt anyone will be dashing out to buy the DVD should one exist.

Marlburian "Cottage to Let" is a long way from being one of the better films about the Second World War made during it, but it does have a curiosity value.It shows its origins as a stage-play, with the action concentrated on a house that curiously combines the roles of a private home, military hospital (staffed by its owner and daughter but apparently lacking trained nurses) and secret laboratory, and which also takes in an evacuee in the shape of George Cole. He does very well in his first film, but at 16 looks a bit too old and big (almost as tall as some of the adult men) in the part of someone I imagine was meant to be a bit younger.Interestingly, one actor appears to play a character that contrasts with his usual roles, and another does.The plot has several holes in it, of the type "how did so-and-so know that", and if I was that bothered or was bored I might run the recording through again to see it it makes a bit more sense. One puzzling scene early on involving a phone call does fall into place much later in the film.