Up with the Lark

A 1943 British wartime comedy starring music-hall veterans Ethel Revnell and Gracie West. Currently streaming on Prime Video.

Why this film matters (and why it doesn't, depending on who you ask)

Up with the Lark is a 1943 comedy built around the Women's Land Army — the British government program that sent civilian women to work farms while men were off fighting. The setup is pure fish-out-of-water: city recruits, no farming experience, suddenly mucking out stables and plowing fields. Revnell and West play the comic leads, and the film leans hard on their two-decade partnership from the music-hall circuit to carry scenes that would otherwise creak.

The IMDb rating sits at 5.1 out of 10, which tells you something — though it's worth asking whether a modern audience rating a 1943 wartime comedy on the same scale they'd use for a Marvel film is actually useful information. Hard to say. What matters more is whether you care about Revnell and West's particular brand of physical, slightly gawky comedy, and whether the land girls setting — the real historical detail, the farm work, the contrast between these women's backgrounds and where they've landed — gives you enough texture to stay engaged.

Director Philip Brandon made this one smack in the middle of the Second World War. That context shapes everything. British wartime comedies served double duty: they entertained, sure, but they also quietly promoted the home-front effort. The Women's Land Army was exactly the kind of cause the government wanted a positive public face on. Films like this were part of that machinery, whether audiences knew it or not.

The Revnell and West factor — why they're the actual reason to watch

The thing nobody mentions about Up with the Lark is how much it depends on Revnell and West trusting each other on screen. They'd been performing together since the 1920s. Their timing — honed across hundreds of theatre nights — gives even the thinner material a sense of inevitability, a feeling that these two know exactly where the laugh lives and how to get there without overshooting.

Revnell's physicality dominates. She plays her character as perpetually one step behind the situation, reacting to the rural world around her with a kind of baffled dignity that actually lands in the better scenes. West anchors things slightly more — though not by much. Together they create a comic rhythm that feels organic rather than written down, which is the whole point of a long-running double act.

What's striking is how the transition from live performance to film occasionally shows the seams. Variety performers from the music-hall tradition sometimes looked awkward on camera — the broad gestures, the timing built for the back rows of a theatre, didn't always translate to close-ups. But Revnell and West make it work more often than not. There's warmth there.

Lesley Osmond brings a more conventional dramatic register, and her presence helps the story breathe when the comedy needs space. Anthony Hulme provides romantic interest without overwhelming the film's female-centered energy — which, for 1943, was worth noting. Two women front and center, driving the story forward.

The land girls setting — what actually makes this film stick

Here's what distinguishes Up with the Lark from purely theatrical comedies of the period: it looks like it belongs where it is. The farm settings, the practical work, the visual contrast between these women's backgrounds and their new circumstances — it all gives the comedy a grounding that a stage show filmed in a field never quite achieves. You can feel the mud. The work looks real.

That specificity matters. The Women's Land Army wasn't hypothetical comedy setup — it was a real wartime initiative that employed over 80,000 women by the war's end. The film doesn't pretend otherwise. It uses that historical texture, even if the comedy itself is lighter than air. When Revnell's character fumbles with farm equipment, you're not just watching a bit — you're watching someone genuinely out of place in a real landscape.

Movie OTT's streaming tracker flags films like this one specifically because of that textual specificity. Wartime British comedies that ground themselves in actual social programs — rather than pure fantasy — tend to age better than you'd expect. The land girls premise keeps this one from feeling completely dated.

Cast and crew breakdown

| Role | Actor | |------|-------| | Comic lead | Ethel Revnell | | Comic lead | Gracie West | | Dramatic anchor | Lesley Osmond | | Romantic interest | Anthony Hulme | | Director | Philip Brandon |

Released in the United Kingdom in 1943, the film doesn't appear in major box office records that survived into modern archives — unsurprising for a modest British quota production. No major awards nominations are documented. The film carries no MPAA rating (British origin, wartime era).

Where to watch — and what to expect

Up with the Lark streams exclusively on Prime Video. That's it. You won't find it on other major platforms. If you're already subscribed, there's zero barrier to entry — it's worth an hour of your time if you're curious about either Revnell and West specifically or wartime British cinema more broadly.

Movie OTT tracks streaming availability across major platforms in real time, so if you want to check current status before searching, the where-to-watch widget at the top of this page will reflect any changes. Streaming rights for older, niche titles do shift. A film like this one — archival, not a blockbuster — can move without much warning.

Should you actually watch this?

If you liked classic British music-hall comedy or wartime-era cinema, yes. The Revnell and West partnership is the reason. The land girls setting is why it still feels like it means something beyond just "two women doing broad comedy bits."

If you're looking for something laugh-out-loud funny by modern standards? Manage expectations. You're watching a 1943 comedy, and some of the humor won't translate. The pacing feels slow. The jokes are setup-heavy. That's not a flaw — that's just what comedies were.

The honest take: watch them in order if you're exploring British wartime cinema. Start here, then move to something like Millions Like Us (also 1943, also Women's Land Army adjacent, but more dramatically serious). Each builds on what the other does.

Final thought

Up with the Lark won't change your life. But as a snapshot of British wartime comedy — built around beloved variety performers, rooted in a real social moment, and genuinely trying to make people laugh during a hard stretch of history — it earns its place in the archive. Revnell and West are the reason. The land girls setting is why it still registers. Prime Video's got it, and you've got an hour. Go.