Michael Bentine Movies
Along with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, and Peter Sellers, comedian Michael Bentine was a charter member of the comedy troupe that created the BBC's Crazy People (1951). Bentine left the show before the year's end and the following year it became the famous Goon Show, a comedy sketch program that greatly influenced such subsequent sketch series as The Fringe and Monty Python's Flying Circus. On his own, Bentine developed a few other television programs and appeared sporadically in British films such as Cookery Nook (1951), Fun at the Movies (1957), and Bachelor of Arts (1969). ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1952
In this British comedy, a group of World War II spies attempt to capture a secret atomic formula and it is up to military-man Harry Jones (Harry Secombe) and Carole Gayley (Carole Carr) to stop them. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1953
Forces' Sweetheart is a British service comedy, perhaps best appreciated by its homegrown audience. Musical comedy favorite Hy Hazell plays Judy James, a performer with ENTA, the British equivalent of the USO. Three goofy soldiers, played by Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine and Freddie Frinton, vie for the affections of the lovely Judy. The threadbare production numbers feature such specialty acts as The Leslie Roberts Television Girls. Forces' Sweetheart didn't get much play in the US, save for a showing or two on the Late Late Show. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
I Only Arsked! was adapted by Jack Davies from his popular, long-running BBC TV series The Army Game. Cpl. Springer (Michael Medwin), Popeye Poppiewell (Bernard Bresslaw) and Excused Boots Bisley (Alfie Bass) are but three of the habitual foul-ups assigned to the command of Major Upshot Bagley (Geoffrey Sumner). On duty in the Middle East, this awkward squad is assigned to quell a revolution. Despite several monumental blunders, the squad manages to complete their task successfully, and even find time to dally with a few nubile harem girls. The level of humor in I Only Arsked! will perhaps best be appreciated by fans of the original series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bernard Bresslaw, Michael Medwin, (more)
- 1955
British actor Kenneth More's screen charisma helps smooth over the rough spots of Raising a Riot. More plays Tony, a young husband and father. When Tony's wife Mary (Shelagh Fraser) takes a trip to Canada, the hapless hubby is left in charge of their three precocious (to put it mildly) children. The film then goes off on several directions, many of them hilarious: some of the best scenes involve the kids' ongoing feud with a bunch of American children. One of the three youngsters is played by Mandy Miller, who'd previously burst onto the movie scene with her brilliant portrayal of a deaf child in Crash of Silence. Ronald Squire indulges in his usual scene-stealing as the kid's rogueish grandpa. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Shelagh Fraser, (more)
- 1966
In this comedy, a homing pigeon wins the big race. Meanwhile the bird's owner continues on with his day. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
Horace Quilby (Michael Bentine) is a sandwich-board advertising man who gets a tour of London and sees some of the city's most offbeat and outrageous characters in this situation comedy. British blonde bombshell (Diana Dors) co-stars. Watch for Michael Chaplin (son of Charlie) as a beatnik artist. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Bentine, Dora Bryan, (more)
- 1962
This was the last film for British director Wendy Toye whose special interests were always comedies and fantasies. In this light farce, the talented Kenneth More is Lt. Commander Bodger, a man with a penchant for honesty in moments when silence is much more diplomatic. Bodger offends the Navy higher-ups, and so he is first sent to work in Dartmouth, training cadets. That does not really keep him out of trouble and so the Navy, in desperation, sends him to work as a liaison officer with the American Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, Bodger goes with three aides that are just like him, and they create havoc -- made much worse when a revolution begins in one of the nearby countries. The British foursome get inadvertently mixed up in the events, never really knowing exactly what they are doing until the dust settles. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth More, Lloyd Nolan, (more)
- 1957
Two longtime stalwarts of the classic British non sequitur comedy series The Goon Show headlined this sort-of spin-off. Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine were the principal instigators of Yes, It's the Cathode-Ray Tube Show, which also featured David Nettheim. In time-honored "Goon" tradition, this six-episode confection was a crazy quilt of wacky sketches, movie and TV parodies, loony recurring characters, sped-up filmed segments, and occasional animated interludes. Originally telecast from February 11 to March 18, 1957, Yes, It's the Cathode-Ray Tube Show might have run even longer had co-star Peter Sellers not had other professional fish to fry. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine, (more)
