Arthur Mullard Movies
British actor Arthur Mullard played comedic character roles in films and on television during the '70s. A former pugilist, he started out as an extra and as a stunt double for Scottish funnyman Archie Duncan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1977
Here's another the raunchy British "Adventures" series, released on the heels of Adventures of a Private Eye. Christopher Neil plays the title character, a bloke named Sid South. In course of his job, Sid runs up against thieves, would-be spies, motorcyle salesmen, and a bevy of cute female tennis players. It was perhaps a "given" that he'd also run across a character named Crapper. The delightful Anna Quayle lends a bit of comic dignity to proceedings. Star Neil also wrote the film's incidental music. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
The British sitcom Yus My Dear was a spin-off of the comedy series Romany Jones, focusing on two of the earlier program's secondary characters, Wally and Lilly Briggs (Arthur Mullard, Queenie Watts). Having spent most of their lives moving from one trailer park to another, Wally and Lilly put their caravan in mothballs and settled down in a government-subsidized apartment house. Though he endeavored to bring in a steady paycheck as a bricklayer, Wally was constantly undermined by his shiftless brother Benny (Mike Reid). Originally telecast from January 9 to November 28, 1976, Yus My Dear eventually weighed in at 19 half-hour episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Arthur Mullard, Queenie Watts, (more)
- 1973
- R
Vault of Horror is the first sequel to 1972's horror hit Tales from the Crypt. It is also known as Tales from the Crypt, Part II. It continues it's predecessor's popular formula of using established stars in five witty short horror episodes. The first, "Midnight Mass," shows that having a vampire for a relative can be upsetting, to say the least. In "The Neat Job" a nagging neat-freak is neatly nullified. In "This Trick'll Kill You," a colonial overlord learns that it's not safe to steal magic tricks from natives. "Bargain in Death" exposes the greed of two insurance swindlers, and "Drawn and Quartered" takes "The Picture of Dorian Grey" one better. Among the stars appearing in these episodes are Terry-Thomas, Glynnis Johns, Curt Jurgens, Denholm Elliott and Tom Baker. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1969
- R
Three sailors on shore leave engage in a series of comedic sexual pursuits in Lock Up Your Daughters!. Jim Dale, Ian Bannen, and Tom Bell hit dry land with one thing on their minds -- something that lands everyone in jail in this comedic romp. Susannah York, Glynis Johns, and Elaine Taylor become the objects of the lovesick sailors' alleged affections. The farcical proceedings are witnessed by Lord Foppington (Christopher Plummer), the aristocratic dandy who shudders in horror over the trouble the three salts cause in their efforts to spice up their love lives. This film version is taken from the musical of the same name, sans the music. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christopher Plummer, Susannah York, (more)
- 1969
- PG
Herbie Hassler (Telly Savalas) and Marty Miller (Warren Oates) are American gangsters who plan to rob an opulent aristocratic home of valuable art treasures. Under the orders of crime boss Nick Marco (Cesar Romero), the duo charms Lady Fitzmore (Edith Evans), a wealthy dowager and proprietress of a monied estate. The plan is to work in collaboration with a British gang lead by Finley (Harry H. Corbett). When the time comes to initiate the big heist, the sentimental American crooks can't bring themselves to rob their eccentric but lovable hostess. They confess the plan and work with Lady Fitzmore and Lord Fitzmore (Nicky Henson) in an effort to catch their British burglar counterparts in this delightful crime comedy. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Telly Savalas, Edith Evans, (more)
- 1968
Originating in the first half of the 20th century, the satirical "Beachcomber" column was a regular feature of the British periodical The Daily Express. Though initially written by D.B. Wyndham-Lewis, the column became most closely associated with J.P. Morton, whose surreal, stream-of-consciousness sense of humor influenced several generations of British comedians, among them the great Spike Milligan. It was, in fact, Milligan who brought Morton's zany musings to the TV screen in a weekly, half-hour comedy anthology, World of Beachcomber. In addition to Milligan, the series boasted such stellar guest performers as Michael Redgrave, Fred Emney, and Hattie Jacques, while among the writers was Barry Took, one of the prime movers of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Nineteen episodes of World of Beachcomber were telecast beginning January 22, 1968, and ending October 27, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Frank Thornton, (more)
One of the stars of Walt Disney's Mary Poppins, Dick Van Dyke, is re-united with that film's composer and lyricist, Richard M.Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, in this big budget and bloodless children's fantasy musical, based on the children's book by James Bond author Ian Fleming. Van Dyke plays Caractacus Potts, a failed inventor who lives in a big house with his two children -- Jemima Heather Ripley and Jeremy Adrian Hall -- and eccentric father Lionel Jeffries. Potts has to raise 30 shillings so his children can buy a broken-down racing car from the junkyard. After a disastrous attempt to sell his invention of whistling sweets to Lord Scrumptious (James Robertson-Justice), the local candy maker, he finally gets enough money for the car by doing a Dick Van Dyke dance routine at the county fair. Potts takes the car and miraculously transforms the vehicle into a shiny new car named Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. While on a picnic with the children and Truly Scrumptious (Sally Ann Howes), Lord Scrumptious' beautiful daughter, Potts concocts a fantasy tale about the magical powers of the car, which can now float on water and fly. In the tale, Baron Bomburst (Gert Frobe) wants the car for himself and kidnaps the automobile and the inventor. But Bomburst captures Grandpa by mistake along with the wrong car, so Potts, Truly, and the children have to enlist Chitty Chitty Bang Bang on a rescue mission to Bomburst's lair to save Grandpa. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, (more)
- 1967
Smashing Time attempts to turn British actresses Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave into a female Laurel and Hardy. The film's second mistake is to prolong the joke for 96 minutes. Tushingham and Redgrave play a couple of dimwitted North Country girls who head to London, in hopes of breaking into the mad, mod world of fashion modeling. Instead they spend most of their screen time getting in each other's way and wreaking havoc on innocent pedestrians. The comic "highlight" of Smashing Time is supposed to be a mammoth pie fight; but outside of one cute throwaway gag involving a street minister, the sequence makes one wish, in the words of Laurel and Hardy buff Leonard Maltin, that Smashing Time "had been handled by someone other than [director] Desmond Davis." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave, (more)
A classic 1960's cult film in the British "angry young man" tradition, the hero of this film from Czech director Karel Reisz is more lunatic than agitator. Morgan Delt (David Warner) is an artist from a working class background, married to Leonie (Vanessa Redgrave), a woman far above him in social standing. Given to a rich fantasy life to begin with, Morgan goes off the mental deep end when Leonie informs him that she's asking for a divorce and taking up with art dealer Robert Stephens (Charles Napier), a man more befitting her class. Thoroughly gone around the bend, Morgan enacts a series of bizarre gags and stunts in a campaign to win Leonie back, including putting a skeleton in her bed and crashing her wedding dressed as a gorilla. His antics eventually get Morgan arrested and committed to an asylum, where he embraces his mother's ardent communist beliefs. Redgrave was Oscar nominated for Best Actress for her role, her feature film debut. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vanessa Redgrave, David Warner, (more)
- 1966
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Cartoonist Ronald Searle's delightfully diabolical private-school girls are back in action in The Great St. Trinian's Bank Robbery. Comedian Frankie Howerd plays the head of a train-robbery gang who cleverly hides the loot from their biggest haul (presumably the infamous "Great Train Robbery" of 1963) in a deserted old mansion. The gang waits the traditional seven years for the statute of limitations to run out then returns to the mansion to dig up their $7 million booty. Unfortunately, the joint has been converted into the new site for St. Trinian's School for Girls. Even more unfortunately (for the crooks, but not the audience) those "girls" are all holy terrors. The film's climax occurs during a riotous Parents' Day ceremony, which predictably segues into a wild train chase. Great St. Trinian's Train Robbery might have been funnier had Alastair Sim, the star of the first three "St. Trinian's" entries, made a return appearance. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Frankie Howerd, Reg Varney, (more)
In this French comedy, one little white lie leads to a series of whoppers as a Frenchman visiting London soon discovers. The French fellow has gone to London with his friends to catch a soccer match. He then must go to the dentist where, just for fun, he puts on a British policeman's uniform. Dressed as a bobby, he scares away some robbers. Unfortunately, he cannot tell them the truth because he is embarrassed to open his mouth and reveal the two teeth he lost at the soccer match. A chase ensues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1965
Freddie and the Dreamers--remember them?--star in the British musical quickie Cuckoo Patrol. Apparently hoping to cash in on the Beatles' success with A Hard Day's Night, the producers place Freddie and his aggregation in as many "wacky," stream-of-consciousness situations as possible. The main plot has something to do with a group of Boy Scouts. Freddie and the Dreamers disguise themselves in scout uniforms, inexplicably getting away with their subterfuge. Veteran British farceurs Kenneth Connor, Victor Maddern and John Le Mesurier provide acting relief. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1964
A British charwoman and her colleagues strike it rich on the stock market when she discovers a wastebasket filled with market tips in this drama. Later they decide to use their money for good after they overhear a wicked financier planning to destroy the cleaning woman's neighborhood. Together they manage to save the neighborhood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peggy Mount, Harry H. Corbett, (more)
- 1964
In this lively British comedy, a newlywed couple's quaint country cottage becomes a nightmare of repairs as they try to fix it up themselves. They originally purchased the ramshackle pile to escape the influence of the new wife's meddlesome father. Unfortunately, the place needs more help than they are able to give and they must reluctantly get her father's help. He brings in a bumbling builder and things only get worse from there. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter, (more)
- 1963
This British comedy drama of the lower classes features actors with such thick cockney accents that some prints of the film were subtitled. James Booth stars as Charlie, a merchant seaman who returns home to the East End after two years to find that his wife Maggie (Barbara Windsor) has taken up with another man, a married bus driver named Bert (George Sewell). After taking his brother Fred (Roy Kinnear) hostage in a pub, Charlie gets a reunion with Maggie, who shows up pushing a pram. It seems she's given birth to a child, and the father's identity is uncertain. Charlie and Maggie reconcile, but not before a vicious row with Bert, who doesn't want to give up his girl. Windsor, a BAFTA Best Actress nominee for her role, also performed the film's title song. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Booth, Barbara Windsor, (more)
When a gang of London thieves, disguised as policemen, begin robbing other thieves....well, that's just not cricket. Benevolent burglar Peter Sellers, the man in charge of all "respectable" crooks in town (he even offers such incentives as a vacation plan and filmed training sessions!), sets about to ascertain how the renegade criminals have received inside information concerning upcoming robberies. He arranges a temporary truce with Scotland Yard so that both criminal and constable can work together in nabbing the miscreants. Alas, he must now contend with incompetent peacekeeper Lionel Jeffries, who poses an even greater threat than the "mole" who's been tipping off the phony cops (who is closer to Sellers than he'd ever suspect). Short, simple and sweet, the black-and-white Wrong Arm of the Law manages to pack more solid laughs than any three of Sellers' later overproduced Technicolor vehicles combined. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, (more)
This comedy features a 12-step Program for habitual hoods. The recovering criminal takes a job as a department store Santa, and again finds himself confronted with temptation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1962
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One of the key "angry young man" films which helped define the British "Kitchen Sink Drama" style of the late 1950's and early 60's, this story centers on Colin Smith (Tom Courtenay), a bitter young man from a working-class family. Uninterested in school and determined not to follow his father into factory work, Colin and his friend Mike (James Bolam) make their pocket money through petty crime, until they're arrested after the robbery of a baker's shop and sentenced to Borstal (British reform school). The Governor of the school (Michael Redgrave) takes a keen interest in Colin, but he cares less for his rehabilitation than his gifts as a broken-field runner; Colin finds himself torn between the need to please his captors and his determination not to play along with what he sees as a corrupt system. The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner was the first film for Courtenay, whose performance earned him the "Most Promising Newcomer" prize at the 1962 British Film Academy awards. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Courtenay, Michael Redgrave, (more)
- 1962
Jazz musician Acker Bilk plays himself in this cinematic jam session of music, melodrama, and low comedy. The film's title is literal: the plot involves a jazz band comprised of ex-convicts. Once released, they supposedly go straight, taking their show on the road. Actually, their tour is a subterfuge to commit a series of robberies. Jimmy Thompson appears in Band of Thieves for comedy relief, while Jennifer Jayne hangs around for sex appeal. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1962
In this routine, slapstick, frenetic tale, British comic Spike Milligan stars as Harold Petts, a rural mailman with a sudden promotion that ends up getting him into a lot of trouble. Harold is supposed to be trained behind the scenes at London's busiest post office but even after his first day in the city he is already in difficulties. He soon meets Jean (Barbara Shelley), a mediocre art student with big aspirations for her future. The duo eventually find themselves as top suspects in a mail-theft ring, with the police and the Post Office higher-ups close on their heels. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, (more)
- 1961
The youthful residents of a small British town stand united in their struggle to be allowed to listen to rock & roll and jazz in this comical musical. The trouble really begins when the village mayor tries to ban the jukebox in the local coffee house. Determined to prove that modern music has nothing to do with the Devil, two youths team up and try to organize a rock and jazz festival. They are successful and as a result many popular performers appear. These include Chubby Checker, Del Shannon, Chris Barber's Jazz Band, and Gary "U.S." Bonds. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Shapiro, Craig Douglas, (more)
Peter Sellers stars as an inmate in a "model prison" run by Maurice Denham. Though Sellers is disinclined to escape (he's never been as comfortable in his life), he is convinced to do so by phony vicar Wilfred Hyde-White, who breaks into jail to outline a robbery scheme. Hyde-White's plan is to have Sellers and his cellmates David Lodge and Bernard Cribbins take a brief "vacation" from jail, pull off a big-time robbery, then return undetected to prison, thereby establishing a perfect alibi. Within its 87-minute time span, Two-Way Stretch takes satirical potshots at political bleeding hearts, obese Middle Eastern potentates, and regulation-bound British police officials. One cannot be faulted for wishing that Peter Sellers had stuck to engaging small-scale British farces such as this and had never ventured into such unamusing big-budgeters as The Bobo and There's a Girl in My Soup. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, (more)
- 1959
In this comedy, a man chooses an unethical way to help keep a financially struggling boy's club from closing down, by threatening to publish incriminating articles about prominent people who have recently died. His blackmail scheme is successful until he attempts to extort from a gangster's family. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1958
In this competent entertainment about a minor crook in trouble, Terry is the driver for a successful bank job. He is told by gang-boss Shelton to lie low but instead celebrates with Della, a greedy but alluring party girl, then gets picked up on suspicion. He is released when the key witness refuses to identify him because the gang is holding his fiancee hostage. Shelton tries to shut Terry up for good, but Terry escapes and seeks refuge with Della. She lets him stay, but only if he agrees to confront the gang leader one more time. ~ Michael P. Rogers, All Movie Guide
- 1955
The ever-adventuresome Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are responsible for the British musical farce Oh, Rosalinda! Set in postwar Vienna, the film stars Michael Redgrave as Colonel Eisenstein, a military officer who because of a little legal misunderstanding must serve a few months in prison. While sitting alone in her sumptuous house, the colonel's wife Rosalinda (Ludmilla Tcherina) is romanced by American officer Alfred Westerman (Mel Ferrer). When the guard assigned to escort Rosalinda to prison marches in, Westerman, hoping to save Rosalinda from disgrace, claims that he's her husband, and winds up in the pokey himself. Later on, Rosalinda attends a costume ball, where she flirts outrageously with her own husband. Sound familiar? It should: Oh, Rosalinda is a modernized version of Johann Strauss' comic opera Die Fledermaus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Redgrave, Mel Ferrer, (more)
