Ian Carmichael Movies

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

This rollicking political satire stars Ian Carmichael as an impressionable British TV personality. His vanity is stroked by a group of political managers who talk him into running on the Conservative ticket during a political campaign. The managers hope that Carmichael's name value will draw voters, but don't intend to permit him anything like actual legislative power. Carmichael suddenly develops an abiding interest in politics when he meets his Labour Party opponent--lovely Patricia Breden. Left, Right and Center is blessed with an abundance of supporting character comedians, headed by Alistair Sim as Carmichael's avaricious uncle. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

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

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

This fourth film version of A.E.W. Mason's adventure yarn The Four Feathers relies heavily on stock footage from the more famous 1939 adaptation (both were produced by Alexander Korda and codirected by Korda's brother Zoltan). Anthony Steel stars as 19th cntury British officer Harry Faversham, who begs off from serving with Kitchener's forces in the Sudan, preferring to stay in London with fiancee Mary Burroughs (Mary Ure). Almost immediately, Faversham receives the traditional "white feather" of cowardice from his three closest friends--and then is handed a fourth feather by Mary. Determined to prove that he is not a coward, Faversham heads off to the Sudan to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with his comrades. He also intends to return those dreaded feather to his three former friends, even resorting to native disguise at one point to do so. Laurence Harvey essays the old Ralph Richardson role of John Durrance, who is blinded by the sun and thus unaware of Faversham's true identity, while James Robertson Justice fills the shoes of Four Feathers' crusty C. Aubrey Smith ("War was war in my day, sir!") ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Love, marriage and show business provide the basis of this lively comedy that centers on a husband and wife, who are chosen by television producers to embody the perfect married couple on an upcoming television series. The show is to be filmed and broadcast live from the home of Simon and Laura, who on camera are indeed the perfect couple. Unfortunately, the minute the camera is off, the two are going at it hammer and tong. Still, their show is very popular, and many couples look up to them until the ill-fated shooting of a Christmas special in which the couple begin tippling alcoholic beverages during the filming and end up letting their true relationship come out. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Though Meet Mr. Lucifer reads rather better than it plays, the film is still good for a few healthy laughs. Stanley Holloway plays Hollingsworth, an actor who is playing Lucifer in a stage production. While being hoisted through a trap door, Hollingsworth is knocked cold. While unconscious, he is replaced by the real Lucifer. Seeking about for a new form of deviltry to inflict upon the public, Lucifer comes up with the most hellish device of all: Television! The rest of the film details the effects that the boob tube has on otherwise normal, rational British citizens (there's even time for a swipe at 3D movies). Based on a play by Arnold Ridley, Meet Mr. Lucifer is enhanced by an all-star cast, including Peggy Cummins, Kay Kendall and Ernst Thesiger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This waterlogged adaptation of an obscure Grand Guignol stage play finds a hapless couple (Dermot Walsh and Hazel Court) convinced that their newly-acquired yacht is haunted by mysterious and deadly forces. After numerous fatalities, the couple eventually hires a paranormal investigator (John Robinson), who uncovers the yacht's bloody history and determines that the craft is occupied by the vengeful ghosts of the former owner's wife and her lover, who were murdered and subsequently entombed somewhere aboard. Writer-producer-director Vernon Sewell -- who filmed most of the scenes aboard his own private yacht -- executes a few interesting paranormal twists on the Old Dark House scenario, and he would revisit the seagoing thriller theme (on the same boat) somewhat less successfully with Terror Ship two years later. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide

Cecil Parker is the whole show in Dear Mr. Prohack, just as he'd been in the stage version by Edward Knoblock. The eponymous Prohack is a Royal Treasury official who is an expert at managing other people's money. Alas, when he himself inherits a fortune, Prohack is as financially naïve as a kid with a piggy bank. Denholm Elliot makes his film debut in the role of Ozzie Morfrey; others in the high-powered cast include Glynis Johns, Dirk Bogarde, Hermione Baddely, Ian Carmichael, future director Bryan Forbes, and Jon "Dr. Who" Pertwee. Both the play and film versions of Dear Mr. Prohack were based on a novel by Arnold Bennett. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide