Francesca Rudkin: Mr Blake at Your Service, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Mr Blake at Your Service  

A widowed British businessman takes a job as butler of a manor house in France to remember his late French wife. His life takes a turn as he navigates the eccentric behaviour of the lady of the manor and the household staff. 

 

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare  

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and a group of military officials hatch a daring plan to neutralize Hitler's fleet of German U-boats during World War II. Made up of a motley crew of rogues and mavericks, the top-secret combat unit uses unconventional techniques to battle the Nazis and change the course of the war. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks at BOD Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Francesca Rudkin is our film reviewer and she's with us.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Now.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hey, Francesca, good morning. Have you been watching the opening ceremony?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
I am about to go and do that. I that
exercise this morning.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Ah, look at you class joy classics. See everyone else.
The Olympics is an opportunity for them to sit on
the couch while they watch the words best athletes. You
are just putting us all the shame, making sure that
you're going out and putting yourself amongst those best athletes
before you do any viewing.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Don't you worry?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Don't you worry.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
I am exceptionally good at sitting on accounts.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Very good. Okay, We've got two films to discuss this morning.
Let's start off with the film showing in cinemas at
the moment. Tell us about mister Blake at your service.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
So this is a rather charming, delightful, modest little film.
It's a gentle, sweet comedy at stars John Nasovich as
a widowed English businessman. He is grieving the loss of
his wife. She died about four months ago and he's
just sort of struggling to find his place in the world.
So he decides to return to the French estate, to
the manor house where he met his wife, and he

(01:17):
just wants to go and spend some time there quietly reflecting,
feel like he's close to her, and just recover a
little bit. But when he arrives, there's a little bit
of a miscommunication and it is presumed that he is
applying for a job there to be the butler, and
they kind of relatively quickly along him and the chef
kind of work out the mistake, but he sort of

(01:38):
agrees to help out. And we've got this beautiful old home.
The owner she is also a widow. They really can't
afford to run it. They need to turn it into
kind of accommodation. There's a brilliant chef who's trying to
run everything. There's a quind of a quirky groundsman, and

(01:59):
then there's this wonderful woman who sort of helped out.
You just got this eclectic group of people who are
stuck in a bit of a right and needed better help.
And it turns out that mister Blake is exactly what
they mean. Look, this is a very hopeful. It's sweet
and charming. It's a comedy, but it's probably not laugh
out loud. It's more just puts a bit of a

(02:20):
smile on your face. It's quite a predictable narrative that
sort of unfolds. But what is the reason why it's
really easy to joy is because it's a film sort
of fill of hope. It is a film about kind
of getting out of a right and how this one
person can bring people back together and remind them of
who they are and who they're not. It's a bit
of a meditation on loss and regret and that it's

(02:40):
never too late to repair relationships. This was released and
it sort of finishes in Christmas time in the film.
And this was released just before Christmas in France, and
I can completely understand how it would be sort of
that feel good sort of festive season flick, but very
very pleasant. I would say that this is one of
those lovely Sunday afternoon flicks that you might just go

(03:01):
to the cinema and enjoy.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Ah very good. Okay, cool, So that's mister blake at
your Let's have a listen to another film. This is
the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
Gus March Phillips. I have a mission. I want you
to lead.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
Time to do this on my own team.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
You won't like them. They're all bad.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
They'll need to be.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
This one is streaming on Prime Video tell Us about
the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
So this is sort of based on, kind of inspired
by a true story. It's based on the book called
The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, How Churchill Secret Warriors set
Europe a blaze and gave birth to modern black Ops.
A very long title for a book, but it kind
of does explain what's going on here. So this Henry

(04:01):
caviln Allen Richardsons, who people might know from the TV
show Reacher, And it's kind of like an old school
boys kind of adventure story and old fashioned kind of
schoolboys adventure story where the good guys who happen to
be a bunch of rogue kind of misfits and outlies
take on the Nazis in their own unique way. So
they go on a mission that is approved by Winston Churchill,

(04:23):
but will never publicly be admitted to be approved if
everything goes terribly wrong, called Operation Postmaster, and they have
to get behind enemy lines in West Africa to destroy
German U boats that are cutting off Britian's supplies supplied
and also stopping with US from entering the war. So
it's thought to be a very impossible kind of mission,
but very desperate they send this sort of motley crew

(04:46):
off and off they go. This is plenty of deadpan
lines in it. End Fleming is a character quick, sort
of wise cracks, dashing, very manly characters and very competent
female character as well. Lots of gunfire and knife work.

(05:06):
Can kind of these these guys. Nothing is uh, you know,
not doable to these guys. I was watching this film
and I thought to myself, ject, this does feel like
a bit of a a bit of a not quite
Guy Ritchie film. Actually, it turns out that actually is
directed by Guy Richie, so I was a little disappointed.

(05:27):
I was like, I feel like you're trying to be
a Guy Richie film, but you haven't quite got there.
It doesn't quite have because it doesn't quite have the
there's a seed or the energy energy something. And I
was like, oh, I think there we go, and it
is a Richie film, but it's look, it's great entertainment.
And yeah, I didn't didn't quite fire as well as

(05:47):
I was hoping it would, because I think the subject
material and the characters and the actors were all there.
But it's still good, good, good entertainment. Yeah. It kind
of kind of harks back to a lot of sort
of richer old session films as well. It's got a
bit of an adventure feel to it.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
Nice, Okay, cool. That's the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. So
that is streaming on prime video. Francesca's first film, Mister
Blake at Your Service, is showing in cinemas now, Jack,
that odd Fellow's mint lolli ad always makes me laugh,
you know, the one with the high heels, the guy
with the high heels and his pink tights, says Brendan Divenus.
Is ah, what about Talks Talks Undies? Ooh, talks Talks

(06:28):
Undies toalkstalk Undies? Was good?

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Was?

Speaker 2 (06:31):
It? Probably is pretty close to being on the list,
isn't it? If you only thought it's ninety two? Ninety
two is our text number? Tell us what you reckon?
The best ads are in New Zealand, ever, accord to
ten you were Jack Tame. This is Newstalk ZEDB.

Speaker 1 (06:45):
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