Three months ago, A. E. Matthews, veteran British actor, came to Boston in a play called "Yes, M'Lord." He is now back again, in a screen form of that play, and reproduces the talent which made the play an excellent drawing-room comedy.

Matthews, now over 80 years old, has the part of a bumbling earl more interested in shooting marauding rabbits than in the "important" events and intrigue going on around him. The only changes in his part from play to movie are the deletion or dilution of certain picturesque passages.

The more flexible medium of the screen has helped the plot considerably. As the play was staged with only one set, some of the factors leading up to the complicated political plot had to be left out. In the picture, the opening and transitions are much smoother, though the possibilities of varied scenery are not imaginatively handled.

Mr. Beecham, the Earl's butler and a member of parliament, is played superbly by Cecil Parker. He is the man who provides the situation humor of the picture; the Earl's remarks are little gems that are usually quite irrelevant to the main flow of action. The other players are all well-cast and move gracefully out of the way when Mr. Matthews' commentaries reach a crescendo of bumbling.

There is a great amount of humor squeezed out of the essentially trite plot of "The Amazing Mr. Beecham." The lines are witty throughout, no words are wasted, and the story is kept from lagging. Though the irrelevant comments of the Earl could be considered the theme or the raison d'etre of the movie, enough social commentary is sprinkled into the dialogue to keep audience interest alive on more than one level.

Co-featured at the Exeter is Carol Reed's "The Fallen Idol," a suspenseful and cleverly-designed mystery piece built around the problem of telling the truth at the right time.