Mister Drake's Duck

{{Short description|1951 British film by Val Guest}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Mr Drake's Duck
| image = "Mister_Drake's_Duck"_(1951).jpg

| caption =
| director = [[Val Guest]]
| producer = [[Daniel M. Angel]]
| writer = [[Ian Messiter]]
Val Guest
| narrator =
| music = Bruce Campbell
| cinematography = [[Jack E. Cox]]
| editing = [[Sam Simmonds (film editor)|Sam Simmonds]]
| starring = [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]]
[[Yolande Donlan]]
[[Jon Pertwee]]
| distributor = [[Eros Films]] (UK)
[[United Artists]] (US)
| released = {{Film date|df=y|1951|2|7}}
| runtime = 85 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = £100,000{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article59514539 |title=Star's snap decision to play opposite unknown redhead. |newspaper=[[The Sunday Times (Western Australia)|Sunday Times (Perth, WA : 1902 - 1954)]] |location=Perth, WA |date=9 April 1950 |access-date=5 August 2012 |page=12 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
}}

'''''Mister Drake's Duck''''' is a 1951 British [[science fiction film|science-fiction]] [[comedy film]] directed by [[Val Guest]] and starring [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]], [[Yolande Donlan]], [[Jon Pertwee]], [[Wilfrid Hyde-White]] and [[Reginald Beckwith]].{{Cite web |title=Mister Drake's Duck |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150029871 |access-date=21 April 2026 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}} It was written by [[Ian Messiter]] and Guest, and concerns a farmer who discovers that one of his ducks has started laying [[radioactive]] eggs.{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/42858?view=cast|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090119190100/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/42858?view=cast|url-status=dead|archive-date=2009-01-19|title=Mr. Drake's Duck (1951) - BFI|work=BFI}}

==Plot==
Mr. Drake inherits Green Acres Farm in [[Sussex]], in the English countryside, where he moves with his new American bride Penny. Because of a misunderstanding, Penny unexpectedly finds that she owns 60 ducks. She is astonished when one of the ducks begins laying radioactive eggs. As the news spreads, the Drakes come under siege by the army. Green Acres Farm is designated a prohibited area, and of all its inhabitants and visitors are made prisoners. The military launches Operation Chickweed to identify and seize the radioactive duck.

==Cast==
* [[Douglas Fairbanks Jr.]] as Donald Drake
* [[Yolande Donlan]] as Penny Drake
* [[Jon Pertwee]] as Reuben
* [[Wilfrid Hyde-White]] as Mr. May
* [[Reginald Beckwith]] as Mr. Boothby
* [[Howard Marion-Crawford]] as Major Travers
* [[Peter Butterworth]] as Higgins
* [[A. E. Matthews]] as Brigadier Matthews
* [[Tom Gill (actor)|Tom Gill]] as Captain White
* [[John Boxer (British actor)|John Boxer]] as Sergeant
* [[Ballard Berkeley]] as Major Deans
* [[Roger Maxwell (actor)|Roger Maxwell]] as Colonel Maitland
* [[Ben Williams (actor)|Ben Williams]] as auctioneer

==Production==
In a 1988 interview, Guest recalled that the film was based on a radio sketch by Ian Messiter called ''The Atomic Egg''. Guest wrote a film treatment for Yolande Donlan, originally called ''Mrs Drake's Duck,'' but the title was changed when Douglas Fairbanks Jr agreed to star. "They got on very well Yo and Doug and we all had a lot of laughs," said Guest. Nat Cohen invested in the film.{{cite web|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/val-guest|website=British Entertainment History Project|first=Roy|last=Fowler|date=1988|title=Interview with Val Guest}}

==Reception==
''[[Picturegoer]]'' wrote: "Much on the same lines as ''[[Passport to Pimlico]]'', this picture is amusing and ingenious, if a trifle slow in its construction. ... Yolande Donlan is excellent as the wife, and Douglas Fairbanks, jr., is very good as her handsome husband."{{Cite journal |date=8 March 1951 |title=Mister Drake's Duck |volume=21 |issue= |pages=18 |id={{ProQuest|1705090400}} |magazine=[[Picturegoer]]}}

''[[Picture Show (magazine)|Picture Show]]'' wrote: "Original and nonsensical comedy ...Delightfully acted by Douglas Fairbanks Jr and Yolande Donlan, it scores also in gorgeously funny character cameos by too many of the cast to mention here. Well worth seeing."{{Cite journal |date=5 May 1951 |title=Mister Drake's Duck |volume=56 |issue=1466 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|1879604999}} |magazine=[[Picture Show (magazine)|Picture Show]]}}

''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "Val Guest's script and direction is effective enough to overcome the trivialities of the plot and to insure that the pic will be a boxoffice winner in Britain. Its American prospects, too, are quite substantial and are heightened by the Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., name. The yarn is typical English humor, poking fun at the army and officialdom in general. Since the incidents are seen through the eyes of two Americans, it develops an unusually strong Anglo-American flavor. ... The good script is a real help. The few character parts are also well done. Wilfrid Hyde-White is first-rate as a civil servant from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries; Howard Marion-Crawford personifies the major in charge of the operation; Jon Pertwee contributes a fine study of the dour form foreman; Reginald Beckwith scores in a small part as a bank manager; and A. E. Matthews excels as a War Office brigadier."{{Cite journal |date=14 February 1951 |title=Mister Drake's Duck |volume=181 |issue=10 |pages=13 |id={{ProQuest|1286000125}} |magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]}}

[[A. H. Weiler]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote: "''Mister Drake's Duck'' is responsible for some chuckles, a few good-natured gibes at the British armed services and civil servants and the international race for atomic supremacy. ... They are, of course, laboring one joke, but do come up with enough laughs to make ''Mister Drake's Duck'' a pleasant if slight lampoon."{{Cite news |last=Weiler |first=A. H. |date=1952-01-28 |title=Atomic Era Hits Farm |page=15 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}

==References==


==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0043821}}

{{Val Guest}}

[[Category:1951 films]]
[[Category:1950s science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:British science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:1951 English-language films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Val Guest]]
[[Category:1951 comedy films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1951 British films]]
[[Category:English-language science fiction comedy films]]
[[Category:1951 science fiction films]]