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- 1961
This scattered, slightly anarchic and uneven comedy stars the inimitable Terry-Thomas as Reggie Blake, a writer whose books are created by the adventures he experiences, thanks to the brainstorms of his editor. His latest adventure finds him truly lost in the desert and adopted by a tribe of Bedouins before he is finally rescued and brought home. His adventure is a bust from all angles; first his editor rejects the book that came of it, and secondly his wife (Janette Scott) rails against his newfound "self" (he has adopted Bedouin dress). The result is that the couple split their living space and their responsibilities down the middle, providing a series of ludicrous situations spoofing the gender assumptions in marriage. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Janette Scott
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)
- 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)
Set in the 1950s in Britain, this award-winning social comedy by director and co-writer John Boulting features Ian Carmichael as the inept Stanley Windrush, a hopeless twit with -- we are to believe -- an Oxford degree. Unlike others in his social circle, Stanley wants to work. When he tries out for jobs in industry with the full expectation of working his way into a management position, he sets off disasters and alienates his interviewers. So his uncle gives him a job in his munitions factory, knowing what an idiot he is, and relying on him to eventually cause a strike (the uncle needs this for his own reasons). Fred Kite (Peter Sellers in a performance that would launch him as an international star) takes Stanley under his wing yet that does not exactly turn out as expected either. Stanley screws up by accidentally being too efficient, and the entire British work force is affected. If one can accept a portrayal of factory workers as shiftless men unwilling to work, and managers as good 'ole boys whose jobs are gained only by networking, then this film will be all the more entertaining. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Peter Sellers, (more)
- 1959
This is an uneven though occasionally hilarious comedy about a remote British colony and diplomatic blunders. Terry-Thomas as a British diplomat and Peter Sellers as a nasty, vile Prime Minister on the island, tend to overshadow the roles they are playing. Carlton-Browne (Terry-Thomas) is sent to the remote island of Gaillardia to prevent any other powers from tapping into its potentially rich mineral deposits. The fact that the Brits have ignored Gaillardia for the last fifty years or that Carlton-Browne is a walking disaster does not stop the Foreign Office. Circumstances quickly spin out of control as the island colony heads toward revolution with a new, young king (Ian Bannen) on the throne. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, (more)
- 1958
An uneven but at times hilarious slapstick comedy, Too Many Crooks features an inept gang of four would-be criminals who manage to botch every job they plan. After a few dismal failures they try to rob the wealthy, philandering Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) and fail again. Unwilling to let go of a good resource when they see it, the gang decides to kidnap his daughter, drug her, put her in a coffin in a hearse, and take off to their safe hideaway in a mad, mad dash. The plan amazingly succeeds except for one minor detail -- they have kidnapped the tycoon's wife, and he could not be happier. The offended spouse sees red at her philandering husband's attitude and sets the stage for revenge. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Cole, Brenda de Banzie, (more)
- 1958
This soft-pedalled British comedy was adapted from Quiet Wedding, a play by Esther McCracken that had previous been filmed in 1940. On the eve of their nuptials, David (Ian Carmichael) and Janet (Janette Scott) have a serious falling out. It isn't really the couple's fault, however; as usual, their relatives have messed things up with their well-intentioned meddling. Patching up their differences, David and Janet decide that the best strategy is to hide out until the wedding, and to that end they embark upon a long motor trip. Unfortunately, a zealous traffic cop nearly prevents the couple's appearance at the altar. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ian Carmichael, Janette Scott, (more)
Producer/animator/special-effect maven George Pal made his feature-film directorial bow with the colorful MGM musical fantasy Tom Thumb (the title of the film was spelled in lower case in the opening credits, and in all studio publicity material). Russ Tamblyn stars as the teeny-tiny titular protagonist, while veteran musicomedy favorite Jessie Mathews and stellar character actor Bernard Miles portray Tom's normal-sized parents. Journeying to the Village, Tom is pounced upon by villains Ivan (Terry-Thomas) and Tony (a corpulent Peter Sellers), who intend to exploit our 5 1/2-inch-tall hero. In-between his misadventures with the villains, Tom helps to expedite the romance between young forester Woody (Alan Young) and the magical Forest Queen (June Thorburn). Throughout, the special effects and oversized sets are first-rate, as are the "puppetoons" sequences featuring such delightful characters as The Yawning Man (voice by Stan Freberg). Written by several hands, the film's songs are hummable, if not particularly memorable. It is said that some children in the audience in 1958 were genuinely frightened by the more horrific aspects of the story (including the threatened execution of Tom's parents); it may be, however, that the adults were more scared than the kids. Incidentally, while most of Tom Thumb was filmed in MGM's London facilities, the special effects were produced in Hollywood, requiring Russ Tamblyn to do a lot of travelling. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Russ Tamblyn, Alan Young, (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)
Released in the U.S. as Your Past Is Showing, the British The Naked Truth is a wickedly funny satire of the tabloid-press industry. Dennis Price plays a scandal-sheet publisher named Nigel Dennis who lives high on the hog by blackmailing his wealthy targets. Several of Dennis' victims, including peer Lord Mayley (Terry-Thomas) and model Melissa Right (Shirley Eaton), plot to kill the extortion-grabbing publisher, to no avail. During a wild ride in a malfunctioning blimp, Dennis manages to accomplish by accident what his enemies have tried to do to him on purpose. Though second-billed, the real star of The Naked Truth is Peter Sellers as a smarmily "sincere" TV personality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount, (more)
- 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)
- 1956
Writer/artist Roland Searle's diabolical "belles" of St. Trinian's Girls School return in this raucous British comedy. Because the girls cannot behave themselves, their headmistress (Alastair Sim in drag!) has been thrown in jail, and the school is surrounded by police and army troops. The students escape their durance vile by winning an all-expense-paid trip to Europe (by cheating, of course). While laying waste to the Continent (with Terry-Thomas driving the bus), the girls are enmeshed in a diamond theft instigated by the father (George Cole) of one of the students. The film ends with an elongated water polo game, played with the ladies' usual sense of sportsmanship and fair play. In the 1950s and 1960s, the "St. Trinians" series was as popular a British movie attraction as the "Carry On" films--but unlike "Carry On", they don't play quite as well with American audiences. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terry-Thomas, George Cole, (more)
- 1956
The Boulting Brothers enjoyed one of their biggest box-office successes of the 1950s with the wry service comedy Private's Progress. Though billed fourth, Ian Carmichael plays the central character, feckless British soldier Stanley Windrush. Interrupting his college education to serve his country, Windrush flunks out of officer's candidate school and is demoted to private. Much of the humor arises from the bookish hero's confrontation with the ruder and cruder side of army life, as represented by rough-hewn fellow private Cox (Richard Attenborough). As Major Hitchcock, Terry-Thomas offers a brilliant parody of the "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" school of military service, while Dennis Price is equally amusing as a nonplussed commanding officer named Tracepurcel (!) Also worth watching is future "Dr. Who" star William Hartnell as a loudmouthed sergeant. Halfway through the film, the plot rears its ugly head as the protagonists become involved with the covert reclamation of art treasures confiscated by the Nazis during WW2. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price, (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)
- 1949
A persistent case of hiccups causes all sorts of problems for a pretty young socialite in this comedy. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1949
When a dim-witted detective poses as a waiter, he manages to locate a gang of criminals at a nightclub. ~ All Movie Guide
Radio personality Levis manages to stop a Buddhist art connoisseur from collecting a rare artifact in this comic thriller. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1948
In this upbeat film four war-time performers known for their concert parties, have a reunion. They decide they are still good together and form a successful nightclub act. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1936
Robert Young decides to create a "scoop" by fabricating the impending arrival of a female big-game hunter named Mrs. Smythe-Smythe. Jessie Matthews decides to pose as the fictitious woman, the better to embarrass Young. The comic complications are obliged to share screen time with Matthews' inevitable songs, the best of which is the title tune. Not all of Jessie Matthews' films played as well in America as they did in Britain: It's Love Again is a delightful exception. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jessie Matthews, Robert Young, (more)
