Tony Hancock Movies

Years before the story proper in The Wrong Box gets under way, a "tontine" is drawn up on behalf several young British boys. Each of the boys' parents had placed 1000 pounds in a pool, to be invested and expanded upon. The resultant fortune will go to the last surving member of the tontine. A series of montages depicts the various demises of the heirs (our favorite occurs when one of them is inadvertently beheaded while being knighted by Queen Victoria). Finally, only two of the tontine participants are left: aged brothers Ralph Richardson and John Mills. On his last legs, Mills is determined that Richardson will not outlive him, and to that end attempts to kill his brother; each attempt fails spectacularly, with the doddering Richardson none the wiser. Standing to benefit from the tontine are Mills' dimwitted med-student son Michael Caine and Richardson's greedy nephews Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. When Richardson is supposedly killed in a train wreck, Cook and Moore don't want the authorities to find out, so they appropriate what they think is their uncle's corpse and ship it home in a box. Thus it is that Caine finds the body of a perfect stranger on his doorstep. The farcical complications begin flying about thick and fast from this point onward. Among the participants in this wacky gigglefest are such formidable talents as Peter Sellers, Tony Hancock, Wilfred Lawson, Thorley Walters, Norman Rossington, Irene Handl and Cicely Courtenedge. Based on a novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, The Wrong Box is a delightful harkback to the glory days of Britain's Ealing comedies. We were so wrapped up in the story that we didn't even notice all those TV antennae sprouting up on the rooftops of Victorian London. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Tony Hancock, as big a comedy star as it was possible to be in the Britain of 1963, decided to pull a "Charlie Chaplin" with The Punch and Judy Man. He plays an end-of-pier seashore entertainer who is loved by children but reviled by adults. Hancock's efforts to establish himself as a man of importance invariably end in disappointment and despair. Not even Tony Hancock's legion of fans could be persuaded to drink up the bathos ladled out in The Punch and Judy Man. Ironically, Hancock in real life ended up committing suicide in 1968. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this comedy, the routines of two British army barracks are disrupted when they are invaded by a Hollywood film unit while their CO is away. Trouble ensues when he returns unannounced. Now the filmmakers must convince him to allow them to keep filming. To do so, they employ the charms of a full-bodied blonde starlet. Filming finally resumes, but then a larger military impresario decides to drop by for a snap inspection; the film crew is unable to offer an acceptable explanation for their presence in the camp. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi