Here
we go with another in my series of blogs looking at some of the cream of
British comedy film making from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Although this
blog is all about the Carry Ons, believe it or not, there were some
other joyous comedy films made away from Peter Rogers Productions.
However, given the quality of the actors Peter employed to make his
series, it's no wonder that most of them popped up elsewhere.
So far I've looked at the wonderful 1959 crime caper Too Many Crooks , the 1954 domestic comedy starring Dirk Bogarde, For Better For Worse , the big screen spin off Please Sir! and the wonderful Up Pompeii and the brilliant John Gregson and Diana Dors vehicle, Value for Money.
More recently I blogged about the Sid James and Kenneth Connor comedy horror What A Carve Up! and just last week I blogged about the Gordon Jackson drama, Floodtide
Today I'm going to blog about the 1959 comedy film, I'm All Right Jack.
Who's in it?
I'm All Right Jack boasts one of the strongest casts of any British film comedy of the era. Ian Carmichael stars as the innocent of the piece, Stanley Windrush. Peter Sellers takes on one of his best loved film roles as Union boss Fred Kite and Terry-Thomas stars as Major Hitchcock, boss of the factory.
The film also features several high profile guest stars in Margaret Rutherford as Stanley's Aunt Dolly, Richard Attenborough as Sydney DeVere Cox and Dennis Price as Tracepurcel.
Carry On Faces?
Loads! Liz Fraser grabs her first big starring role in the film playing Fred Kite's daughter Cynthia. Playing her mother in the film is reliable character actress Irene Handl. Familiar Carry On supporting actor Victor Maddern has a sizable role as factory worker Knowles while some of the other workers are played by the likes of Fred Griffiths, David Lodge, Cardew Robinson and Terry Scott.
Harry Locke, a regular in three of the medical Carry Ons, plays a trade union official while the diminutive Ian Wilson pops up as an Evangalist. One of my favourites, Esma Cannon, also has a small role as Spencer, Margaret Rutherford's maid.
Carry On Nurse actor John Van Eyssen appears in a small role as a reporter alongside the brilliant Michael Ward. Another stalwart, Brian Oulton, turns up early on in the film as the Appointments Board Manager while Carry On Cruising actor Ronnie Stevens plays Hooper at the Num Yum's factory, alongside Martin Boddey, as an Executive. There are also blink and you'll miss them appearances from Robin Ray, son of Ted and brother of Andrew, and Marianne Stone as a T.V assistant (After all, which British film of the era could proceed without Marianne Stone?)
And one final Carry On connection. I'm All Right Jack's narrator is E.V.H Emmett - a regular newsreader and voiceover actor who provided narration for the 1964 classic, Carry On Cleo.
What's it about?
After leaving the army and returning to university, newly graduated upper class Stanley Windrush
is looking for a job but fails miserably at interviews for various
entry level management positions. Stanley's uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel and his old army comrade, Sidney DeVere Cox, persuade him to take an unskilled blue-collar job at Uncle Bertram's missile factory, despite Aunt Dolly's misgivings.
At first suspicious of the overeager newcomer, communist shop steward Fred Kite takes Stanley under his wing and even offers to take him in as a lodger. When Kite's curvaceous daughter Cynthia drops by, Stanley readily accepts.
Meanwhile, personnel manager Major Hitchcock is assigned a time and motion study expert, Waters,
to measure how efficient the employees are. The workers refuse to
cooperate but Waters tricks Windrush into showing him how much more
quickly he can do his job with his forklift
truck, than other more experienced employees. When Kite is informed of
the results, he calls a strike to protect the rates his union workers
are being paid.
This is what Cox and Tracepurcel want; Cox owns a company that can take over a large new contract with a Middle Eatern country at an inflated cost. He, Tracepurcel and a Mr Mohammed, the country's representative, would each pocket a third of the £100,000 difference.
Things don't quite work out for either side. Cox arrives at his
factory to find that his workers are walking out in sympathy for Kite
and his strikers. The press reports that Kite is punishing Windrush for
working hard. When Windrush decides to cross the picket line and go back
to work (and reveals his connection with the company's owner), Kite
asks him to leave his house. This provokes the adoring Cynthia and her
mother to go on strike. More strikes spring up, bringing the country to a standstill.
Did you know?
The film is a sequel to the Boulting Brothers' earlier hit film, Private's Progress, with Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Richard Attenborough and Terry-Thomas reprising their roles from that 1956 film.
Peter Sellers won a BAFTA award for best actor for his role as Fred Kite.
You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram
This is part of a brand new series of blogs looking back at some of my favourite Norman Wisdom films. Although never as fruity or innuendo-laden as the Carry Ons, Sir Norman's films share a similiar feel to many of the early Carry Ons. Indeed they quite often shared the same production base - Pinewood Studios - and Wisdom's films often co-starred some very familiar Carry On faces.
Norman Wisdom was one of the most bankable British film stars in the 1950s and early 1960s. His stardom lasted long after his peak at the box office too. He appealed to a cross section of society and young and old loved him in equal measure. His cheeky, child-like charm, excellent comic timing and sheer energy catapulted him to fame and he's very clearly one of our most talented comedy stars full stop.
To start this blogging series I'm going to look at one of Norman's earlier film hits - Trouble in Store from 1953.
What's it about?
Norman, a lowly stock clerk at Burridge's department store, is in love with another employee, Sally Wilson
though he has been unable to muster the courage to let her know how he
feels. After he antagonizes the new head of the store, Augustus Freeman, he is promptly fired. On his way out, Norman helps Miss Bacon carry her bulging suitcases, unaware that she is an audacious shoplifter. Freeman sees Norman assisting a "customer" and rehires him.
Meanwhile, Peggy Drew, the store's personnel manager, flirts with Mr. Freeman, while plotting with her boyfriend Gerald to rob the place. Norman is fired and rehired again and again, as his
escapades somehow manage to benefit the store. He also finally becomes
acquainted with Sally, chasing her down through the city streets to
return her purse. Norman inadvertently uncovers the robbery plot, scheduled to coincide
with a big sale the next day. But, he is unable to get Sally or anyone
else to take him seriously.
Who's in it?
Norman is joined by one of his regular co-stars and stooges, the wonderfully suave Jerry Desmonde (read more about him here). Also along for the fun are Moira Lister, part of the Hancock's Half Hour team in its early years, Lana Morris as Norman's love interest and the inimitable Dame Margaret Rutherford as shoplifting Miss Bacon!
Carry On faces?
Trouble in Store features an early supporting role for future Carry On leading lady Joan Sims, playing shop assistant Edna. Reliable, instantly recognisable character actor Michael Ward also crops up as Wilbur. There are also small roles for regular Carry On faces Cyril Chamberlain, Esma Cannon and Ian Wilson.
Did you know?
Allegedly, Jill Craigie, who wrote
the first draft of the script, is reported to have asked for her name
to be removed from the credits after learning of Norman Wisdom's involvement.(Boo hiss!)
Despite this, Sir Norman went on to win a BAFTA award for best newcomer for his performance in this film.
You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram
This is the first in a new series of blogs where I ask some of my favourite regular contributors and film fans to select five of the biggest influences on their lives from the world of film, television and theatre. These are all very personal choices and I find it fascinating to find out who everyone picks.
We're starting off today with Sarah Miller Walters and although she's been a bit cheeky and chosen six famous faces instead of five, but given her sixth and final choice, I could hardly refuse could I?
Margaret Rutherford
If British cinema was a ship,
the figurehead would be Margaret Rutherford. She would lean out from the prow
with a jutting chin and her capes a-flutter. Everybody knows and loves
her. But delve a little deeper and be prepared for surprises. Her father spent
time in Broadmoor, and had murdered his own father. Her mother committed
suicide. Combined with Margaret’s own bouts of depression, this was behind her
conscious decision to not have children. Remarkably, she decided to dedicate
her life to joy instead. I can’t help but think that any modern-day actor would
use a history like Margaret’s as an excuse for bad behaviour and drug or
alcohol abuse. It seems that her only vices were a fondness for sandwiches and
afternoon naps.
Margaret’s films continue
to delight so many people and her face remains known and loved 45 years after
her death (sadly just weeks before I was born, how I wish I had been alive at
the same time as Margaret!) Her significance to me is simply that I always
wanted to be her. I never aspired to glamour. I just wanted the nerve to wear
capes and hats with the same aplomb. I wanted to be as knowledgeable a
historian as she portrays in “Passport to Pimlico” and to ride a bike with the
same exuberance as she does in “Blithe Spirit”. WHAT a gal!
Joyce Grenfell
This is another face that
needs no introduction to anyone with at least a passing interest in 20th
century British culture. From the 1940s to her death in 1979, Joyce was a
regular on our radio, television, stage and cinema screen. Her most famous film
role is Policewoman Ruby Gates from the St Trinians film series, but many will
also be familiar with her Nursery School Teacher monologues.
“George, don’t do that.”
Joyce wrote all of her own
monologues - there are so many of these, please do explore beyond the nursery
teacher. It is as a writer that she holds particular interest for me. I think
that Joyce and I have something in common – and that is a desire to be
continually writing things down. She was a prolific letter writer and several
absorbing volumes have been published. These offer a unique first- hand account
of life in general during a fascinating period of history; as well as an
insight into the life of a celebrity. She is both a historical icon and a
resource. Follow @CallMeSossidge on Twitter!
Lilian Baylis
Lilian’s name is not as
familiar as my previous two choices and this is a great shame. It is
unfortunate that those talents not actually there before us on the screen or
the stage and therefore not in the public eye are more easily forgotten. Lilian
is a theatrical hero and I would like to help keep her legend alive. To this
end, I have recently been conducting some research into her life and work.
Lilian was the manager of
the Old Vic theatre from 1912 until her death in 1937. During this time she
also founded Sadlers Wells and sowed the seeds of what would become the
National Theatre. She was determined that theatre was for all, not just those
who could afford it.
Most fascinating is the
roll call of names of actors who learned or polished their trade on her stage.
Read books and programmes and name after name leaps out at you. John Laurie,
Athene Seyler, Eric Portman, Sybil Thorndike, James Mason, Edith Evans, Roger
Livesey, Flora Robson. This is just dipping a toe in the water. Better still,
Lilian was a Character. A one-off. She had to be to succeed as a female theatre
manager in those days. Stories of her eccentricities abound and are the icing
on the cake of a fantastic life. Do look her up.
Will Hay
One of my earliest film
related memories is of watching the Will Hay film “Where’s That Fire?” I don’t
know how old I was – possibly not even old enough to understand some of the
jokes. But I do know that I laughed myself silly at the scenes where Hay
and his sidekicks are trying to install a pole in the fire station. And I still
do now. One of my favourite ever films is ‘Oh, Mr Porter!’ Again, it never goes
stale. Hay’s sense of comedy is timeless, he knew what he was doing. A
successful music hall act, he managed to move his act onto the screen – which
is probably not as easy as he makes it look. Away from his performing
career he was an astronomer and an extremely intelligent man who died much too
soon, aged just 60.
George Formby
To many, George Formby is
the ugly feller from Wigan with the ukulele and repertoire of cheeky songs.
These can still raise an eyebrow and a smile today. His films are great
entertainment too, and they are also a historical resource. It was my use
of Formby’s films in a study of wartime propaganda when I was a student that
was behind the idea for my blog, ‘The History Usherette.’ In the 1930s, his
films tackled subjects that were relevant to ordinary people. And when war
came, he was keen to boost morale through his screen work as well as his
concert tours. His films reflect on what would have been common concerns to his
audience. As a result, this offers a great insight into the years between 1935
and 1945. I wrote an essay about this in one of my books if you would like to
know more (Matinee Musings by The History Usherette).
Kenneth Williams
Those of us who were born
in the early 1970s grew up with Kenneth Williams. When we were young, he was
that feller on ‘Jackanory’ with the funny voices. Then he was the narrator behind
the tea-time cartoon ‘Willo The Wisp’ featuring the hilarious Evil Edna. As we
got a bit older, we started to see the Carry On films on television on weekend
afternoons, and he was the only guest worth watching on the otherwise boring
chat shows that our parents watched.
I was 15 when he died and
was sad about it, while still knowing relatively little about him. Then his
diaries were published and I read them – and new vistas opened up. I bought
cassettes of ‘Round The Horne’ and ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’; I learned the story
behind Julian and Sandy’s bona slang. Kenneth Williams is a national
institution who holds an enormous power to entertain and educate long after he
so sadly trolled off and left us, still wanting more.
I hope you have enjoyed the
blog - and thanks again to Sarah for taking the time to do it! You can follow
Sarah on Twitter here and
there is plenty of wonderful Joyce Grenfell fun @CallMeSossidge
And you can find out more
about Sarah's wonderful books here
