Second Fiddle (1957 film)

Deborah and Charles are an engaged couple, and both are young executives at the successful Pontifex Advertising Agency in London. Deborah writes very successful jingles for television commercials, whilst Charles creates advertisements for print publications. However, the Pontifex board of directors will only allow the employment of single women on their staff, so Deborah worries about her future with the company if they get married, although Charles believes a successful man should be able to support a stay-at-home housewife.

Just before they get married, Deborah is asked to compose a series of jingles in a very short time and then take them to the company's New York office to run an advertising campaign there. This results in her spending most of her time at the office and seeing very little of Charles. Meanwhile, a promotion which Charles was hoping for goes to someone else. After their wedding, Deborah has to immediately fly to New York, and while she is away Charles is flattered by the attentions of his attractive secretary Pauline and spends time with her outside work. At the same time, he is annoyed that Deborah seems to be writing to everyone else in the office but he has had only one postcard, despite her promise to write letters.

Eventually, a campaign by the staff to change the company's policy on the employment of married women leads to a long debate by the board of directors which is dominated by the owner of the company, Lord Pontifex. Eventually, alarmed at the prospect of losing Deborah, he agrees to the change, and the staff have a party to celebrate.

On returning from their delayed honeymoon, Charles and Deborah arrive at their apartment and find the letters she had sent from New York but which Charles hadn't collected, and they also find many gifts from their clients, with more than one of many of them. Deborah announces that she is pregnant.

• Adrienne Corri as Deborah
• Thorley Walters as Charles
• Lisa Gastoni as Pauline
• Richard Wattis as Bill Turner
• Bill Fraser as Nixon
• Aud Johansen as Greta
• Madoline Thomas as Fenny
• Brian Nissen as Jack Carter
• Ryck Rydon as Chuck
• Jill Melford as Dolly
• Joy Webster as Joan
• Dino Galvani as Dino
• Johnny Briggs as Jimmy
• Launce Maraschal as Pontifex
• Frederick Piper as Potter
• Beckett Bould as General
• Madoline Thomas as Emily Pfennig ("Fenny")
• Christina Lubicz as waitress in the Tahiti

DVD Compare wrote, "it’s a film that is photographed in a very static way, in a studio setting (Shepperton Studios) and with much use of long takes and theatrical ‘side-on’ blocking of actors – but this fits the material like a glove. It's a funny, enjoyable film which also slyly comments on issues of gender at work and at home."[2]

• Second Fiddle at IMDb