Alive and Kicking

Sybil Thorndike, Kathleen Harrison and Estelle Winwood are a joy to behold here, playing three old ladies who escape from a home and set themselves up on an isolated island as the relatives of millionaire Stanley Holloway. Eyes twinkling with mischief as they carve a niche in the local knitwear trade, they are easily on a par with those other matronly menaces, Josephine Hull and Jean Adair in Arsenic and Old Lace. Director Cyril Frankel's engaging piece of Irish whimsy is slight but diverting, and also notable as the film debut of Richard Harris.