The Wife Takes a Flyer Reviews

Tone is a British-based pilot whose plane is downed over Nazi-occupied Holland during WW II. He finds refuge in the home of Bennett, a Dutch woman who is nearing divorce. She passes Tone off as her mentally deranged, but not dangerous, husband. Nazi major Joslyn has been billeted in Bennett's spacious home, and the slapstick interactions between Joslyn and Tone comprise the bulk of the film. Tone finally steals a German plane and escapes to England with Bennett. The rude, crude, forced satires of a dangerous enemy enraged some viewers at the time of the film's release. The Nazis were slaughtering noncombatants and were not to be taken lightly. Ernst Lubitsch's TO BE OR NOT TO BE, released earlier that same year, was a far better film in the same vein. Joslyn's comic characterization is the best thing in this picture.