Terry-Thomas Movies
For the first three decades of his life, gap-toothed comic actor Terry-Thomas was far from a household name. The London-born performer worked as a clerk, meat salesman, pianist, bandleader, music hall comedian and movie extra before signing with the Royal Signal Corps upon the outbreak of World War II. His film career took off in earnest in 1949, and by 1955 Terry-Thomas was enjoying star billing in a series of officious, twittish roles. Occasionally a sympathetic leading man in such films as Man in the Cocked Hat (1959), the actor was far more effective in roles calling for easily punctured pomposity. Extremely popular in England, Terry-Thomas was comparatively little known in the U.S. outside of the art-house circuit until he starred in the Frank Tashlin-directed farce Bachelor Flat (1961). Though he'd been afforded opportunities to exhibit his versatility in British films, Terry-Thomas was typecast by Hollywood in such broad, unpleasant roles as the jingoistic J. Algernon Hawthorne in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963) and the caddish Percival War-Armitage in Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (1965). On a Tonight Show appearance in the late 1960s, the actor ruefully commented that, while he liked the money he was getting in Hollywood, he wished that his children could see him play a good guy for a change. After 1970, Terry-Thomas accepted whatever parts came his way, with the mediocre outweighing the worthwhile; he was last seen as Dr. Mortimer in a messy parody version of Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles (1978). Retiring to the Caribbean, he was forced to move back to London when his savings were depleted by his ever-encroaching Parkinson's Disease. The world at large was apprised of the actor's illness and reduced financial circumstance when he was featured on a network-TV documentary about degenerative illnesses. He spent his last painful years living off the charitable contributions of his friends and admirers. Terry-Thomas was the author of two autobiographical books: 1959's Closing the Gap and the posthumously published Terry-Thomas Tells Tales; his mid-1960s comedy record album Terry-Thomas Discovers America is today a much-sought-after collector's item. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
- Add It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to QueueAdd It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World to top of Queue
With this all-star Cinerama epic, producer/director Stanley Kramer vowed to make "the comedy that would end all comedies." The story begins during a massive traffic jam, caused by reckless driver Smiler Grogan (Jimmy Durante), who, before (literally) kicking the bucket, cryptically tells the assembled drivers that he's buried a fortune in stolen loot, "under the Big W." The various motorists setting out on a mad scramble include a dentist (Sid Caesar) and his wife (Edie Adams); a henpecked husband (Milton Berle) accompanied by his mother-in-law (Ethel Merman) and his beatnik brother-in-law (Dick Shawn); a pair of comedy writers (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney); and a variety of assorted nuts including a slow-wit (Jonathan Winters), a wheeler-dealer (Phil Silvers), and a pair of covetous cabdrivers (Peter Falk and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson). Monitoring every move that the fortune hunters make is a scrupulously honest police detective (Spencer Tracy). Virtually every lead, supporting, and bit part in the picture is filled by a well-known comic actor: the laughspinning lineup also includes Carl Reiner, Terry-Thomas, Arnold Stang, Buster Keaton, Jack Benny, Jerry Lewis, and The Three Stooges, who get one of the picture's biggest laughs by standing stock still and uttering not a word. Two prominent comedians are conspicuous by their absence: Groucho Marx refused to appear when Kramer couldn't meet his price, while Stan Laurel declined because he felt he was too old-looking to be funny. Available for years in its 154-minute general release version, the film was restored to its roadshow length of 175 minutes on home video; the search goes on for a missing Buster Keaton routine, reportedly excised on the eve of the picture's premiere. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, (more)
- 1962
Terry-Thomas stars in this British comedy as J. Barker-Rynde, a detective assigned to look into some dirty dealings at a health club. The supporting cast includes Lionel Jeffries, Eric Sykes, and Dennis Price. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry-Thomas, Eric Sykes, (more)
- 1966
In this British war comedy, set in WW II, a bomber crew is shot down over Paris during the Nazi occupation. They are helped out of the city by several good-hearted Frenchman. They make it to the steambath where they had an important rendezvous. They then begin the final part of their escape. A cross-eyed German inadvertently helps them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Louis de Funès, Bourvil, (more)
- 1970
Leon (Bourvil) is the owner of a cafe in a small town in occupied France in this comedic war story. Like most French of the time, he tries to get along with the German invaders. When his daughter (Sara Franchetti) brings home a downed British aviator, Leon becomes involved by helping the man escape to England. Through a strange turn of events, he accompanies the pilot back to Britain. Leon is thought to be a spy at first, but soon he is trained by British intelligence to help the Allied cause back in France. This was one of the last films for Bourvil, the beloved French comedian who often played the common man caught up in circumstances beyond his control. Terry-Thomas plays a British captain with typical flair. The color process is not credited. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bourvil, Sophie Desmarets, (more)
- 1957
Lucky Jim is based on the same-named satirical novel by Kingsley Amis. The hero, Jim Dixon (Ian Carmichael), is a well-intentioned junior history professor in an unnamed British university. Hoping to impress the new chancellor, Jim succeeds only in bollixing up everything he touches. When he's not stuck in the middle of a slapstick car chase, Jim is trying to think up an excuse for that slightly inebriated blonde with whom he is innocently sharing a boudoir. Blunder piles upon blunder, until it looks as though Jim's chances at survival in the university are slim to none. But Fortune smiles upon fools and Kingsley Amis heroes, thus there's a happy ending. Lucky Jim delivers the laughs in full measure, though it's hardly the best of the Boulting Brothers productions of the 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, (more)
- 1960
Terry-Thomas plays the military-officer head of an amiable gang of amateur British thieves. He is recruited for this task by wealthy dowager Athene Seyler, who merely wants to retrieve stolen minks from genuine crooks. Any profits accrued by this undertaking are to be turned over to charity. Once we're aware that everyone's heart is in the right place, we can laugh freely at the film's collection of would-be reprobates, and vicariously hold out hopes for their success. Best bit: Terry-Thomas, backed by Anton Karas' "Third Man" theme, skulking into what appears to be a waterfront dive to make contact with a "fence," only to discover that he's stumbled into a Salvation Army mission. Make Mine Mink was based on Breath of Spring, a play by Peter Coke. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry-Thomas, Athene Seyler, (more)
- 1949
When a dim-witted detective poses as a waiter, he manages to locate a gang of criminals at a nightclub. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1966
Herman Munster and his ghoulish clan leave the confines of their 1960s television series The Munsters to try their luck on the big screen in this feature length comedy that chronicles their adventures in merry England where Herman has inherited a large estate. Unfortunately, the Munsters do not realize that their new home is already inhabited by a ring of counterfeiters determined to frighten the family back to the United States. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Fred Gwynne, Yvonne De Carlo, (more)
- 1962
A British officer must save the Barbary apes on Gibralter at all costs in this WW II farce. He does this, because it is believed that if the apes leave the rock, Britain will fall. The trouble begins when the only male ape dies. To save the rest, the officer and his side-kick sneak in to Zurich and steal an ape from a German circus. This results in a promotion for the officer, and now he and his partner are assigned to protect the ravens in the Tower of London. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
An evil scientist attempts to use his newly designed satellite to sterlize everyone on earth. Fortunately two savvy secret agents are set on the case to stop him. Basically this is a low grade, low budget Italian mish-mash of comedy and spy films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Connors, Dorothy Provine, (more)
- 1966
Films like Bang, Bang, You're Dead helped kill the movie career of Tony Randall in the mid-1960s. Randall plays an innocent oil company representative who gets tied up with a gang of crooks in Morocco. The head criminals, played by Herbert Lom and Klaus Kinski, plunge Randall into the middle of a complex espionage scheme involving the Red Chinese. There is one good scene in a massage parlor, but otherwise the film isn't wacky enough to be funny or intriguing enough to be taken seriously. Produced by the indefatigable Harry Alan Towers, who exercises his usual prerogative of hiring so many "guest stars" that hopefully the audience won't notice the plot deficiencies, Bang, Bang, You're Dead was sneaked out to theatres under several titles: Bang, Bang, Bang! Marrakesh, Our Man in Marrakesh, and I Spy You Spy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tony Randall, Senta Berger, (more)
Robin Hood is one of the first animated films produced by the Walt Disney Company after Walt Disney's death in 1967. For the film, the studio's animators took the Disney tradition of adding human-like animal sidekicks to established tales (Cinderella, Pinnochio) a step further by making Robin Hood's legendary characters creatures themselves. Robin Hood (Brian Bedford) is a wily fox; Maid Marian (Monica Evans) is a beautiful vixen; Little John (Phil Harris) is a burly bear; Friar Tuck (Andy Devine) is a soft-spoken badger; the Sheriff of Nottingham (Pat Buttram) is a greedy wolf; and the scheming Prince John (Peter Ustinov) is a sniveling, groveling, thumb-sucking undersized lion with a serpent sidekick named Sir Hiss (Terry Thomas). The film begins after Prince John and Sir Hiss have tricked the true King into leaving the country on a phony crusade. With the help of the Sheriff of Nottingham, they tax the life out of Nottingham's peasants, leaving them all penniless but with the courageous Robin Hood as their only hope. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Brian Bedford, Andy Devine, (more)
In the British farce School for Scoundrels, Ian Carmichael plays a naïve young loser, Henry Palfrey, who is anxious to get ahead in the world. He enrolls in a "school" that specializes in teaching one-upmanship -- the slogan is "How to win without actually cheating." Through fair means and foul, Henry learns how to come out top dog in any situation, with such experts as (the real-life) Stephen Potter (Alastair Sim) as his guide. A perceptive series of comic blackouts exposing the essential hypocrisy in all walks of life, School for Scoundrels was based on the book by Potter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, (more)
- 1969
In this caper movie, a gang of prison inmates sneak out and rob the Royal Mint. They then sneak back to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
This romantic comedy stars Rock Hudson as Carter Harrison, an executive rising through the ranks of a major oil company. When he meets Toni Vincente (Gina Lollobrigida), a beautiful but hot-tempered artist, it's love at first sight and they quickly marry. The bloom is soon off the rose, however, and, five years later, Carter and Toni are about to finalize their divorce. However, just as the final paperwork is about to go through, Carter learns that he's up for a major promotion which would hinge on his being married. Carter is able to engineer a reconciliation with Toni with the help of his friend Richard Bramwell (Gig Young), a PR agent with the firm who hopes that a happy marriage will improve Carter's reputation. Since his separation from Toni, Carter has become known as something of a lothario, a reputation that the family-oriented company would like to avoid. But even though the couple patches things up, Richard has his work cut out for him when Toni announces that she'll be reenacting Lady Godiva's naked ride as part of a protest organized by an artists' group. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Gina Lollobrigida, (more)
Long thought dead, the victim of a horrible accident, Dr. Anton Phibes (Vincent Price) still lives, surrounded by art-deco bric-a-brac and attended by mute beauty Vulnavia (Virginia North). Outwardly normal in appearance, Phibes actually wears a rubber mask, covering his hideously deformed countenance; giving away the artifice is the fact that, when he dines, he takes his food through his neck rather than his mouth. Able to speak only when plugging a wire into his damaged vocal chords, Phibes elucidates his plan to murder the medical team whom he holds responsible for the death of his wife. Each of the killings is patterned after the ten deadly plagues. Phibes saves his worst for last: trapping chief surgeon Dr. Vesalius in his lair, Phibes forces the hapless medico into a race against time to save the life of his own son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vincent Price, Joseph Cotten, (more)
- 1976
This is not the same kind of film as the 1962 production, Tom Jones. In fact, it is a "nudie musical", as evidenced by the presence of singing star Georgia Brown in the dual role of Jenny Jones and Mrs. Waters. The project originated as a Las Vegas stage presentation, with Nicky Henson in the lead. The plot of the Henry Fielding novel about the "boy born to be hanged" is followed in spirit rather than to the letter, with busty Joan Collins thrown in like a lagniappe as a lady highwayman. Wandering through the proceedings are such English stalwarts as Trevor Howard and Terry-Thomas. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicky Henson, Trevor Howard, (more)
Radio personality Levis manages to stop a Buddhist art connoisseur from collecting a rare artifact in this comic thriller. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1957
The British Brothers in Law is a characteristically enjoyable Boulting-brother farce, again extracting humor out of the commonplace. Ian Carmichael stars as a novice attorney, full of notions but coming-on a bit too strong for his fellow lawyers. Thanks to the intervention of irascible judge Miles Malleson, Carmichael is forced to jump in and starts swimming with a particularly prickly case. The experience teaches Carmichael how to bend and shape law to his advantage--and also how to curry favor with the public. Brothers in Law was based on a novel by Henry Cecil. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, (more)
Four stories from Hans Christian Andersen appear in The Daydreamer, a feature using the Animagic process that uses live action combined with stop-motion puppets. Included are "The Little Mermaid," "The Emperor's New Clothes," "Thumbelina," and "The Garden Of Paradise." Songs and dances compliment an international all-star cast of voices used for the characters. Ray Bolger, Margaret Hamilton, Burl Ives, Hayley Mills, Boris Karloff, Cyril Ritchard, Patty Duke, Terry-Thomas and Victor Borge join Ed Wynn in his second-to-last screen role. This was the last film in which fans would hear the voices of Sessue Hayakawa and Tallulah Bankhead. Director Jules Bass provided the lyrics, with Murray Law providing the music for this entertaining children's fantasy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cyril Ritchard, Paul O'Keefe, (more)
- 1956
Alistair Sim plays a mild, innocuous little watchmaker who spends his off-hours as a professional assassin. His present target is windbag cabinet member Raymond Huntley. After various misfire attempts, Sim plants a bomb in a small radio and waits for the tube to warm up--but the authorities by now are on to him. The Green Man has some excellent setpieces, notably a droll snatch of black humor involving a body stuffed in a piano. The film's only debit is that, in the play upon which it is based, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat's Meet the Body, Sim's character is secondary, almost peripheral. By reshaping the film into a star vehicle, much of the play's intimate (albeit ghoulish) charm is dissipated. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alastair Sim, George Cole, (more)
The concept behind the 1977 Hound of the Baskervilles involved having "underground" director Paul Morrissey bring an irreverent slant to the original Sherlock Holmes mystery. The film thus casts Peter Cook and Dudley Moore as Holmes and Watson, with such reliable British performers as Terry-Thomas, Joan Greenwood, Denholm Elliott, Hugh Griffith, Spike Milligan, and Roy Kinnear in cameos. Producer Michael White took on the project; it mirrored his previous experience of combining spoofery and fidelity to source material with Monty Python's Jabberwocky. Examples of the film's zaniness include the casting of a lovable Irish wolfhound as the "deadly" Baskerville mastiff and having Holmes and Watson speak in thick provincial accents. For its American release, Hound of the Baskervilles was whittled down to 78 minutes, with several of its scenes out of sequence. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, (more)
- 1967
The Man from UNCLE comes to the big screen in this spy thriller comprised of episodes from the popular television series. The story centers around the attempts of evil THRUSH operatives who endeavor to abduct a professor who has developed a formula for turning salt water into gold. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
