Norman Wisdom Movies

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

Not quite a full-fledged musical, As Long as They're Happy can be described as a romantic comedy with song-and-dance interludes. Adapted from the London stage hit of the same name, the film stars Jack Buchanan as stockbroker John Bentley, whose household is thrown into a tizzy when popular singing star Bobby Denver (Jerry Wayne) visits his home. Bentley's three daughters Gwen (Janette Scott), Pat (Jeannie Carson) and Corinne (Susan Stephen) are immediately smitten by Bobby, though each reacts to his presence in a different manner. Mrs. Bentley (Brenda de Banzie), hoping to loosen up her staid hubby, pretends to be likewise enamored with the singer. The film did the most amount of good for recording artist Jeannie Carson, who landed her own American TV sitcom as a result of her appearance herein. Also well cast in As Long as They're Happy are sex-symbol Diana Dors in an extended cameo role, and "Carry On" regular Joan Sims as a comic maid. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Combining music, comedy, and pathos, this tale of a gullible singer and the people around him is simple but effective. Norman Wisdom stars as Norman Truscott, someone with a good singing voice who wants to perform but lacks the confidence to get up on stage. His voice teacher (Hattie Jacques) and his girlfriend Judy (June Laverick) both know he can do it, but he actually cannot perform unless Judy is there next to him, playing the piano. Meanwhile, Norman manages to drive his psychiatrist crazy and generally wreaks havoc wherever he goes. When the unscrupulous singer Vernon Carew (Jerry Desmonde) takes unfair and wholly illegal advantage of Norman's singing, he inadvertently leads to the solution of at least a few of the man's problems. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Norman Wisdom made his third film appearance in the slapstick musical Man of the Moment. This time, Norman is a clerk in the British ministry who is forced to sub for an ailing delegate at a Geneva Peace Conference. In his usual bumbling fashion, our hero becomes intimately involved in the affairs of a tiny Pacific-island monarchy. As a result, the island's queen refuses to participate in any sort of negotiations unless Norman sits in at the proceedings. The nervous British government immediately bestows a knighthood on the hapless delegate. . .and then the fun begins, as several scurvy types try to kill off Norman and topple the Queen from her throne. Featured in the cast of Man of the Moment is Norman Wisdom's music-hall straight man Jerry Desmonde in a prominent but thankless role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beloved British comedian Norman Wisdom made his second film appearance in One Good Turn. This time, nebbishy Norman plays a jack-of-all-trades, employed by an orphanage. After a steady series of slapstick setpieces, our hero sets about to save the orphanage from the hands of its creditors. Those who've noted a remarkable resemblance between the vehicles of Norman Wisdom and Jerry Lewis will not be dissuaded by One Good Turn, in which the star ladles on the sentiment and pathos with a trowel. Like most of Wisdom's films, One Good Turn did better in the U.S. as a "Late Late Show" entry than a theatrical release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively British satire, a plucky milkman who works for an independent family-run dairy fights to keep a large trust from overtaking his business. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Narrator Rudy Vallee announces that he knows we are a "real high class audience," thus he has "some swell story to tell." Thus begins The Night They Raided Minsky's, set in the rarefied world of burlesque in the 1920s. Amish girl Rachel Schpitendavel (Britt Ekland) comes to New York in hopes of securing work as a dancing interpreter of religious stories. She gets a job at Minsky's burlesque house, where the dance numbers are "Biblical" only when some gum-chewing stripper performs Salome's Dance of the Seven Veils. The many subplots leading up to Rachel's accidental invention of the striptease during a midnight Minsky's show involve many: top banana Chick Williams (Norman Wisdom) and womanizing straight-man Raymond Paine (Jason Robards Jr.); Billy Minsky (Elliot Gould), whose efforts to stage girlie shows at the National Winter Garden are looked down upon by Minsky Sr. (Joseph Wiseman), who holds the lease on the theater; gangster Trim Houlihan (Forrest Tucker), who intends to shut down Minsky's if he can't get a piece of the action; Ekland's preacher father Harry Andrews, who shows up in New York just in time to see his daughter bare all in front of a cheering audience; and Vance Fowler (Denhom Elliot), self-appointed protector of public morals, whom Paine hopes to embarrass by having Rachel perform her religious dance. A straightforward adaptation of Rowland Barber's novel The Night They Raided Minsky's would seem to be called for here, but novice director William Friedkin and film editor Ralph Rosenblum seem determined to turn the film into a kaleidoscope Hard Day's Night clone. Happily, producer Norman Lear is able to accommodate several nostalgic re-creations of such burlesque chestnuts as "Crazy House" and "Meet Me Round the Corner," as well as six delightful in-period songs penned by Bye Bye Birdie's Charles Strouse and Lee Adams, the best of which is the ribald "Perfect Gentleman." Bert Lahr makes his last appearance on screen in the role of washed-up funnyman Professor Spats; he died during production, and had to be extensively doubled throughout. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, set during WWII, a street laborer likes to harass the British soldiers and ends up drafted into becoming part of the British army labor regiment. Unfortunately, a mix-up occurs and he ends up being parachuted behind Nazi lines where he is mistaken for a Nazi officer. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

This humorous video is a compilation of a multitude of comedic clips from various British films spanning from 1930 to 1970. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

In this British comedy, a luckless London window washer loses his job and ends up working in an enormous country estate that boasts more windows than any place in England. Things get worse when the self-centered heir of the manor forces the worker to accompany him to a local hotspot. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

Timothy Bartlett (Norman Wisdom) is a middle-aged banker who is sent to a seaside resort for a banker's convention. He fears the meetings will be frightfully dull, but things change when two amorous hippie girls take Timothy for a sail on the sea of love. Timothy goes middle-aged crazy, making a spectacle of himself in hippie clothes as he tries to fit into the swinging scene. Nude dips in the ocean are followed and preceded by wild parties as he tries to recapture the days of his flaming youth. After he feels remorse and embarrassment over his behavior, he calls on his wife to join him at the convention to rekindle their love in this lowbrow comedy. The British rock group The Pretty Things provides the music. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide