Watch One Wild Oat

One Wild Oat is a 1951 British comedy film directed by Charles Saunders and produced by Guido Coen. The movie stars Robertson Hare as a man who accidentally got married to his cleaning lady, Vera Pearce. Stanley Holloway plays his brother-in-law, who is understandably appalled by the whole situation. The plot revolves around two brothers, Herbert (Robertson Hare) and Reggie (Stanley Holloway). Herbert is a well-to-do barrister who is also a major hypochondriac. He is convinced that he has every malady in the book, and he is always visiting doctors and taking various medications. Meanwhile, Reggie is a car salesman who is a bit of a rogue. He is married to the glamorous and sophisticated Mary (June Sylvaine), who is not very fond of Herbert.

Things take an unexpected turn when Herbert wakes up one morning and finds himself in the same bed as his cleaning lady, Agatha (Vera Pearce). They are both fully dressed, but they have clearly been in some sort of compromising situation. Herbert is horrified by what he thinks has happened, and he immediately sets about trying to get a divorce. However, he soon discovers that he can't get a divorce without first proving that he was insane at the time of the marriage.

Herbert's attempts to prove his insanity lead to a series of amusing misadventures. He visits a quack doctor who gives him a potion that turns him into a raging lunatic. He tries to get himself committed to a mental institution, only to find that they are all full. He even tries to convince his own brother that he's gone mad, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Reggie is doing his best to keep Mary from finding out about the situation. He takes her on a romantic getaway, but they end up staying in a rundown hotel where they are serenaded by a drunken Welshman (played by popular comedian Norman Wisdom in an early role). Reggie also has his own problems to deal with, as he owes a large sum of money to a local gangster.

One Wild Oat is a classic British comedy with all the hallmarks of the genre. The humor is dry and understated, and the characters are all endearingly eccentric. Robertson Hare is excellent as the fussy, neurotic Herbert, while Stanley Holloway provides the perfect foil as the more down-to-earth Reggie. Vera Pearce is charming as Agatha, the unlikely bride, and June Sylvaine is suitably glamorous as Mary.

The film is also notable for its supporting cast, which includes a number of familiar faces from the British film industry. Norman Wisdom is a standout as the drunken Welshman, and Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford (who appeared together in a number of classic British films) have a memorable cameo as two snobbish aristocrats.

Overall, One Wild Oat is a charming and witty comedy that will appeal to fans of classic British cinema. It may not be as well-known as some of the more famous Ealing comedies, but it deserves to be remembered as a minor classic in its own right.

One Wild Oat is a 1951 comedy with a runtime of 1 hour and 15 minutes. It has received mostly poor reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 5.0.