Forgotten Brit-coms now on Blu-ray

By Christopher P. Jacobs
Movies Editor

As more film classics are released to Blu-ray, so also are a number of fairly routine but no less interesting older titles. The British Film Institute (BFI) now has three discs of thematically paired double-features in a series spotlighting early 1950s productions from the low-budget independent British studio Adelphi. A fourth is due out the end of this summer. All are beautiful film-like high-definition transfers from archival materials, often the original 35mm negatives. Best of all, the Blu-rays are region-free.

This continuing BFI series of Adelphi Collection films reveals some unassuming but eminently entertaining programmers as well as a few little comic gems that have been unfairly underrated and all but forgotten (especially in the US). Many feature veteran British filmmakers near the start or end of their long careers. Some films are very British in their outlook, while others can easily stand up against classic Hollywood productions in their broad appeal.

While it’s doubtful these discs will ever get mass-market distribution, and may never sell to more than a small number of die-hard British film enthusiasts or aficionados of the 1950s, they really have much to recommend them to any casual fan of older movies. And at under $20 apiece including shipping from England (a net cost of under $10 per film), each of these double-features is well-worth checking out.

Picture quality ranges from good to excellent, and sound quality is fine. Unfortunately, except for the first disc in the series (which includes a short as well as the second feature), the only bonuses are an informative booklet of background material, photos with each disc, and the inclusion of chapter stops and optional English subtitles.

“Penny Points to Paradise” (1951), is primarily of interest to fans of legendary comedian Peter Sellers and the old radio comedy series “The Goon Show.” Sellers doesn’t star, but has two supporting roles in his first feature film. This adequately amusing, if sometimes disjointed, British comedy stars fellow Goon Show comics Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan as best friends, one of whom has just won a small fortune betting in a soccer pool. Naturally everybody seems to want to find a way to share in his new wealth, including various women and a couple of con artist
counterfeiters.

Sellers and Milligan also appear in “Let’s Go Crazy” (1951), a 33-minute short that actually shares the disc’s cover title rather than appearing as the bonus item it really is. This is also somewhat hit-or-miss, a modestly entertaining selection of music and comedy bits strung together with the thinnest of ad-libbed plot lines.

The disc’s second feature showcases Sellers as narrator and voice actor. “The Slappiest Days Of Our Lives” (1953) is a 76-minute compilation of clips from mainly silent Mack Sennett comedies. Scenes and shots are rearranged into a new story about Stan Laurel, with Sellers doing voices and tying them all together with narration. Not a great classic by any means, it’s cute and it’s a chance to see a bunch of silent footage in slightly higher quality than usual.

“PENNY POINTS TO PARADISE” on Blu-ray—Movie: B- / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: B-

“SLAPPIEST DAYS OF OUR LIVES” on Blu-ray—Movie: C+ / Video: B+ / Audio: A - / Extras: NA

Maurice Elvey was an extremely prolific British director from 1913 through 1957, especially noted for his 1927 classic “Hindle Wakes.” Diana Dors was an ebullient blonde starlet often called a British Marilyn Monroe for both her film career and often stormy private life. The second Adelphi disc features two fine examples of Dors’ work directed by Elvey. They’re a fascinating glimpse into everyday life in postwar Britain, with an earthy blend of cheerful cynicism and low humor rather than the more polished and urbane wit of, say, the Ealing comedies.

“Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary” (1953) is the main feature, a vehicle for the comedic talents and physical attractions of the 21-year-old Dors, then a rapidly-rising star who would soon be out of the price range of the small Adelphi Studios. The plot of this saucy bedroom farce may be familiar, but the fine timing and execution keep it fresh and entertaining throughout.
Several years after World War II, an American officer (Bonar Colleano) arrives in England with a brand-new wife (Diana Decker), while wartime buddy Hank (Sidney James) keeps gleefully recounting the times they used to have with his wildly vivacious and curvaceous first wife, Candy (Diana Dors). Within hours, Candy shows up at their apartment claiming that his California divorce is not valid in England so they’re still legally married. He immediately calls his mild-mannered lawyer (David Tomlinson) to fix things, but they all wind up spending his honeymoon night in the same apartment trying to hide the facts of the dilemma from the confused and frustrated new bride.

Though certainly no Cary Grant, Colleano does a respectable job as the harried husband, and Dors shines as the sexy ex-wife who revels in her effect on men, particularly the shy lawyer she’d previously dropped to marry the handsome American serviceman. Tomlinson (best-known to American audiences as the father in “Mary Poppins”) is also excellent, and Sidney James as the no-nonsense friend is the usual endearingly blunt persona he’d develop further in the “Carry On” films. Decker is quite good as the new wife, and stage actress Audrey Freeman (Tomlinson’s real-life wife) is a delight in her only screen appearance as a love-hungry housemaid.

“My Wife’s Lodger” (1952) is a very British film that’s a wry comic variation on some of the working-class themes treated much more seriously in any number of dramatic films. Its approach to family strife is also strongly reminiscent of material handled by W. C. Fields. It follows the adventures of a hapless middle-aged WWII veteran who returns home to find his children now independent-minded teens and his always-critical wife apparently enthralled by the smarmy lodger (named Roger) who now shares their house.

Dors lights up the screen in the supporting role of the daughter, but the film really belongs to writer-star Dominic Roche, who based most of his career on his “Willie Higgenbottom” persona. It’s often a surprisingly dark situation comedy, but various plot developments gradually build to an appropriate climax and a rather unexpected resolution. Dors even gets to sing near the end.

“MY WIFE’S LODGER” on Blu-ray—Movie: B / Video: A / Audio: A - / Extras: D+

“IS YOUR HONEYMOON REALLY NECESSARY” on Blu-ray—Movie: A - / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: D+

Volume 3 in the series features “The Crowded Day” and “Song Of Paris,” two films by John Guillermin (best known for his Hollywood work including “The Towering Inferno,” “Death On The Nile,” “The Blue Max,” and the 1976 “King Kong”).

A generally pleasant drama with touches of comedy and a few darker episodes in the “Grand Hotel” mode, “The Crowded Day” (1954) follows the lives of a variety of department store employees from early morning to late night on a single day during the Christmas season.
It remains an impressive film overall, with strong acting and reasonably interesting characters with believable problems. It’s also a good glimpse into the life of everyday people, their customs, and attitudes in mid-1950s Britain. Guillermin’s sure direction of the multiple overlapping story lines, some striking cinematography, and a large cast of veteran actors as well as rising stars, place it on solid footing with the more prestigious British studios.

“Song Of Paris” (1952) gets second-billing on this disc, but may be the most entertaining film yet released in the collection. Financed and released by Adelphi, it was actually made by another British B-production company, the Vandyke Picture Corporation, co-starring French actress Anne Vernon and Russian-born American comic Mischa Auer, with archetypal Englishman Dennis Price leading the British contingent of the cast.

“Song Of Paris” is a screwball romantic comedy (with a few songs by Vernon) that’s very reminiscent of Hollywood comedies from the 1930s and 40s. Price plays the strictly-business head of a London company that manufactures stomach pills who must reluctantly travel to Paris to learn why French sales have fallen off. There he inadvertently gets involved in a publicity stunt with a beautiful cabaret singer (Vernon) who has been trying to fend off the unwelcome romantic attentions of a persistent but penniless and highly jealous count (Auer). Not long after Price gets safely back to his London office, Vernon shows up looking for a job, leading to the obvious misinterpretations by his staff, friends, and family about what all went on during his brief visit to Paris. Price gradually learns to loosen up and defy his domineering mother (a highly amusing Hermione Baddeley) with the help of his sister (Joan Kenny) and the very willing Vernon. Of course the count soon shows up to complicate things even further.

Besides the American-style screwball comedy situations, “Song Of Paris” revels in poking fun at both British and French stereotypes. Baddeley has a great line about how good the family business sales will remain because a new British restaurant is opening “so they’ll need plenty of stomach pills.” And there are plenty of knowing winks and asides when the staid Price tries to find a secluded apartment for Vernon so the count won’t be able to track her down.

“SONG OF PARIS” on Blu-ray—Movie: A - / Video: A+ / Audio: A- / Extras: D+

“THE CROWDED DAY” on Blu-ray—Movie: B+ / Video: A / Audio: A / Extras: D+

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