School for Scoundrels
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Movie Reviews of School for Scoundrels
Movie Review: Great Brit comedy
Summary: 5 Stars
The original School for scoundrels is well played by all in the cast especially Terry-Thomas. A must for any Brit comedy collection.Movie Review: Lifemanship and Oneupmanship !
Summary: 4 Stars
Released theatrically in 1960, "School for Scoundrels" remains a charming, witty British comedy that benefits greatly from a perfect cast. Ian Carmichael was a "natural" to play Henry Palfrey, an "upper class twit" who always seems to lose out in life and make a fool of himself. He meets an attractive young woman, April Smith (lovely Janette Scott), but before he can make much of an impression, he finds that he is competing for her attention with the more worldly and opportunistic "bounder", Raymond Delauny (Terry-Thomas, stealing scenes as always). Since Raymond has a flashy sports car, Henry decides that he needs some "wheels" too. Of course, two unscrupulous salesmen take advantage of his innocence and sell him the clunker from Hell.
This unfortunate history is why Henry enrols in Professor Stephen Potter's school for lifemanship, oneupmanship etc. Potter (inimitable Alastair Sim)considers that people are "winners or losers"--that you are either "one up" on the other person or "one behind". His school teaches unfortunates like Henry how to get the better of the other guy, how to be successful in business and, of course, how to come out "on top" with women ! We follow Henry through various "classes" so that he can no longer be a chump or a sucker. The second half of the film deals with Henry putting his new "education" into practice, chasing Ms. Smith and dealing with the odious cad, Delauny.
As I have mentioned, the cast is great--Carmichael, Scott, Sim and priceless Terry-Thomas are superb. There are also nice turns by Dennis Price and Peter Jones as the oily car salesmen, John LeMeseurier as an overly officious head waiter and a cameo by Hattie Jacques as one of Potter's "instructors". Several scenes stand out but the tennis game between Henry and Delauny, and the later "rematch", are definitely worth the "price of admission".
The DVD exhibits a nice, widescreen, black and white picture, but there are no extras.
If you like comedies from what many--including myself--consider to be Britain's "golden age", "School for Scoundrels" belongs in your collection. With this cast and a sparkling script, you are in for a very pleasant hour and a half. Enjoy !
Movie Review: The Game of Laughsmanship; Four-and-a-half stars.
Summary: 4 Stars
At the hands of anyone other than this cast of stellar actors, "School for Scoundrels" would constitute lightweight fare, perhaps worthy of an amusing television sitcom. With players of the calibre of Alistair Sim, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, and Dennis Price, however, the film still sparkles with laughter, as so many of the British comedies of the Fifties and Sixties did.
Alistair Sim chews the scenery with his usual panache, and delights in the process. Ian Carmichael is charming as the milquetoast twit who learns "lifesmanship" from Sim and emerges victorious over the caddish Terry-Thomas in pursuit of the girl, played with charm by Janette Thomas; and Dennis Price, undertaking a more supporting role than usual, brings his smooth brand of snake-oil to one half of the Winsome Welshmen--a pair of unscrupulous London used-car salesmen; they foist a white elephant of an automobile on Carmichael, whose revenge on them, with Sim's aid, is delightful to behold.
The film is provided only with Spanish subtitles, which might make it difficult for the English-speaking hearing-impaired, but the sound is clear, and the actors' diction is impeccable (although I didn't understand Terry-Thomas's "Hard Cheese!"--bellowed on the tennis court on the first go).
I was afraid that the comedy might have lost some of its sparkle in the ensuing years, but it has not. It is full of good fun and laughter.
Movie Review: "Hard Cheese, Old Man!"
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a mostly engaging British comedy from the classic period of the last century. It features a rich assortment of skillful actors, including Dennis Price (of the incomparable "Kind Hearts and Coronets"), the wonderful, gap-toothed Terry-Thomas, and the always droll Alastair Sim. Its theme is an entertaining one, that life's "losers" can defeat the vulgarly power hungry who surround them daily by mastering Stephen Potter's principles of gamesmanship, or, even better, by realizing that a noble sincerity, not the invention of a new ploy, may trump even such gamesmanship.
The principal limitation of this film, however, is that the parts are of variable comic quality. While the tennis match scene in the early part of the action, for example, is hilarious, the used car dealer episode is not only too obvious but unduly dragged out. The concept at the heart of the film, I'd argue, is superior to the uneven, final shooting script. No doubt, the recent release of a pretty awful updated version of the work occasioned the DVD remastering of this far better original. Still, anybody hankering for the best of Alastair Sim or Terry-Thomas should look elsewhere, pestering the appropriate forces for an American DVD release of, say, the marvelous "Green Man."
Movie Review: School for Comedy
Summary: 4 Stars
Directed by Robert Hamer. With (a very young and handsome) Ian Carmichael, (a terribly nasty - and funny) Terry-Thomas, and (a manic) Alastair Sim. I've seen this movie so many times... from the time I was a child and didn't understand it all until now and understand it all too well... I've loved it every time. No -- no laugh 'til you cry. No embarrass your fellow human sight jokes. No punching and violence like the Three Stooges. No Obscenities. No Chases. No Belittling. Just humor. Soft, enjoyable fun. A story about an underdog who wins by winning. Yes, a happy ending! And (I'm sorry) it may even make you think (or maybe give you a few pointers on Lifemanship)!