1 00:00:02,520 --> 00:00:07,200 Mrs. Wilberforce, I understand you have rooms to let. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:11,080 Some friends and I have formed a musical group. 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,440 We have been looking for somewhere to practice. 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:19,080 Let's get a professional. Mrs. Wilberforce, not only an 5 00:00:19,080 --> 00:00:20,840 appendage to my branch is a very good. 6 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:24,920 How do we know we can trust her to do it right if she don't even 7 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:31,010 know what she's doing? Missus W should be coming into 8 00:00:31,010 --> 00:00:33,290 view just about now. Back then. 9 00:00:33,290 --> 00:00:40,010 I wonder if perhaps you'd like some tea. 10 00:00:40,050 --> 00:00:40,490 Tea. Call. 11 00:00:40,810 --> 00:00:43,370 Mend the plumbing. Give the parrot his medicine. 12 00:00:45,210 --> 00:00:48,090 We've got to get away. What do you think we should do? 13 00:00:48,250 --> 00:00:52,210 Chopra bus. Most exhilarating. 14 00:00:54,050 --> 00:00:55,410 She saw the money. She'll talk. 15 00:00:55,410 --> 00:00:57,850 Take care of Missus W. How about suicide? 16 00:00:59,850 --> 00:01:02,130 I ain't going to do it. You're in this just as much as 17 00:01:02,130 --> 00:01:11,530 we are. Simply try to behave like 18 00:01:11,690 --> 00:01:18,930 gentlemen. It's a good plan. 19 00:01:18,930 --> 00:01:58,210 Except for the human element. Hello and welcome to Goom Pod, a 20 00:01:58,210 --> 00:02:01,610 podcast with terrible subsidence but very pretty windows. 21 00:02:02,730 --> 00:02:06,330 Joining me this week is returning guest Graham Lindsey 22 00:02:06,330 --> 00:02:07,730 Foote. Hello, Graham. 23 00:02:08,490 --> 00:02:11,410 Hello, hello, hello. Great to be back. 24 00:02:11,570 --> 00:02:13,530 Thank you for returning last time. 25 00:02:14,660 --> 00:02:16,780 We spoke, we, we we were talking about a goon show. 26 00:02:16,780 --> 00:02:19,020 The Silver doubloons of course. Yes indeed. 27 00:02:19,620 --> 00:02:23,500 And in the in the in the interim period, a lot has happened in 28 00:02:23,500 --> 00:02:25,540 your life. Not, not, Not for the good 29 00:02:25,700 --> 00:02:28,220 either. You may well be right actually. 30 00:02:28,220 --> 00:02:30,940 Yes, indeed. Fairly shortly after we last 31 00:02:30,940 --> 00:02:32,860 spoke, which I think was February, March last year, 32 00:02:32,860 --> 00:02:37,220 something like that, I went down with COVID, not one of those 33 00:02:37,900 --> 00:02:40,420 things that it's not unusual, far from it. 34 00:02:41,500 --> 00:02:44,300 But I'm you know I didn't end up in hospital or anything like 35 00:02:44,300 --> 00:02:45,420 that. I just coughed my head off for a 36 00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:49,180 fortnight as a lot of people did and thought right, feel a bit 37 00:02:49,180 --> 00:02:50,340 tired. I'll go back to work. 38 00:02:51,580 --> 00:02:55,020 Managed 1 morning in the office and that was in May last year. 39 00:02:55,020 --> 00:02:58,940 I've not been back since. I have been dreaded long COVID. 40 00:03:02,700 --> 00:03:04,420 I've turning. I've turned into Henry Crumb, 41 00:03:04,420 --> 00:03:07,300 much to my wife's disgust, you know. 42 00:03:09,060 --> 00:03:11,740 Indeed. You know, it's I'm, I'm a person 43 00:03:11,740 --> 00:03:16,300 of a certain age, but now I feel about 20 years older, which is 44 00:03:16,300 --> 00:03:20,780 absolutely fine by me because I'm reminded very much of, you 45 00:03:20,780 --> 00:03:23,580 know, things that people who have embraced illnesses and 46 00:03:23,580 --> 00:03:25,260 stuff like that. And I remember the wonderful 47 00:03:25,260 --> 00:03:28,700 line about Michael Flanders, who, you know, when he had his 48 00:03:28,700 --> 00:03:31,980 attack of polio when he was in the Royal Navy in 1943. 49 00:03:32,690 --> 00:03:35,090 You know, confined him to a wheelchair, which he said was a 50 00:03:35,170 --> 00:03:37,770 perfect mask for constitutional laziness. 51 00:03:41,050 --> 00:03:43,090 Now, I've always been one. I think I was brought up in a 52 00:03:43,090 --> 00:03:45,860 very. Some nondualistic household 53 00:03:45,860 --> 00:03:49,380 where people had afternoon naps, my mother and father got rested 54 00:03:50,060 --> 00:03:53,060 with the sort of people who, you know, were so knackered after 55 00:03:53,060 --> 00:03:55,060 the, you know, the stresses and strains of having a meat and 56 00:03:55,060 --> 00:03:58,620 potato pie for lunch. So yeah, So as a consequence, 57 00:03:58,780 --> 00:04:00,300 I'm not expecting a lot of things these days. 58 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:04,940 I've got the memory span of a slightly, slightly dull goldfish 59 00:04:05,940 --> 00:04:07,380 because of this. Lung COVID. 60 00:04:07,420 --> 00:04:11,020 You find me, as I said, running on about 40% power, but most of 61 00:04:11,020 --> 00:04:15,210 that is is my mouth. My brain might kick in 62 00:04:15,210 --> 00:04:18,570 eventually, so there we go. But nevertheless a bad thing 63 00:04:19,050 --> 00:04:21,329 about start but. It'll get better, I'm sure, 64 00:04:21,329 --> 00:04:23,490 because what a subject we've got to talk about. 65 00:04:23,490 --> 00:04:25,850 Today. I Let's talk about a good film, 66 00:04:26,010 --> 00:04:30,290 a great film, a magnificent film, and take your mind off 67 00:04:30,290 --> 00:04:35,650 things. So we're talking about the film, 68 00:04:35,650 --> 00:04:39,730 which is pretty much regarded. I guess it kind of waxes and 69 00:04:39,730 --> 00:04:41,810 wanes. Is it the greatest elite comedy? 70 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:46,520 I think it is. There's there are a couple of 71 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:49,120 contenders for that crown, I think. 72 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,320 But the problem is that, you know, I've been coming back to 73 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:57,000 this one for nearly forty years now pondering this and you know 74 00:04:57,000 --> 00:04:58,960 I've watched a lot of dealing comedies. 75 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:00,680 I've not watched them all, not by any means. 76 00:05:00,680 --> 00:05:06,320 You know, they made quite a lot of also runs during that 1947 to 77 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:10,670 1957. Period 58. 78 00:05:10,670 --> 00:05:11,790 We'll talk about that in a minute. 79 00:05:11,790 --> 00:05:16,950 It was a possible late entry to it which includes a goon. 80 00:05:17,710 --> 00:05:18,790 I think it's more than a possible. 81 00:05:18,790 --> 00:05:20,910 I think it's bona fide late entry. 82 00:05:20,910 --> 00:05:24,030 Well, you think, Yeah, but I mean, yes, Davey in 1958 with 83 00:05:24,030 --> 00:05:29,230 Harry Seacombe is indeed an Ealing film, whether it's it 84 00:05:29,230 --> 00:05:31,630 clusters a comedy. Is a oh I see, I see. 85 00:05:32,310 --> 00:05:33,790 It's light. A light comedy. 86 00:05:34,390 --> 00:05:37,190 It is indeed and and this I think is the. 87 00:05:38,630 --> 00:05:42,070 As time goes on, you know, and and distance, you know, we're a 88 00:05:42,070 --> 00:05:46,910 long long time since 1955 now and you have to stand back and 89 00:05:46,910 --> 00:05:50,110 look at which of the alien comedies actually stands up to 90 00:05:50,110 --> 00:05:52,110 closer scrutiny in this day and age. 91 00:05:52,110 --> 00:05:56,190 Which have got the you know that the standard themes which are 92 00:05:56,190 --> 00:05:59,030 the comedy, which bits of the comedy still stand on. 93 00:05:59,670 --> 00:06:04,430 And I got a a few, you know, problems with some of the also 94 00:06:04,430 --> 00:06:08,120 runs. The ideas of dealing comedies as 95 00:06:08,120 --> 00:06:10,760 I say is something you know to to show that that the British 96 00:06:10,760 --> 00:06:13,640 stiff upper lip quite often you know especially things like 97 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:20,400 Passport to Pimlico which 1949 is, has got an awful lot of 98 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:21,960 charm. I will be honest. 99 00:06:22,200 --> 00:06:25,720 But over the years I've gone off it, I think because it's you 100 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:27,880 know just it's just slightly too twee. 101 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,400 I don't know there's a there's a slight tweeners about that which 102 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:37,190 is possibly caused by its age. Yeah, the Tipfield Thunderbolt, 103 00:06:37,190 --> 00:06:40,790 definitely like that. But then again, the blacker 104 00:06:40,790 --> 00:06:44,830 comedy ones you do better with, you know, kind hearts and 105 00:06:44,830 --> 00:06:47,710 colors. I've watched that recently again 106 00:06:47,710 --> 00:06:49,270 and it's. Wonderful. 107 00:06:49,590 --> 00:06:51,070 Brilliant boy, doesn't it? Stand up. 108 00:06:51,070 --> 00:06:53,950 My, it's my wife's favorite E link. 109 00:06:54,830 --> 00:06:56,990 You know what? We don't argue at all about 110 00:06:56,990 --> 00:06:58,030 this. I just say yes, dear. 111 00:06:58,450 --> 00:07:02,490 And you're right as far as yes. No, no, I can't disagree with 112 00:07:02,490 --> 00:07:04,130 the kind. Hearts is an absolute belter of 113 00:07:04,130 --> 00:07:09,530 a film. My favorite moment in that is 114 00:07:09,530 --> 00:07:12,330 actually quite early on. I mean, yes, of course Guinness 115 00:07:12,330 --> 00:07:16,090 is funny all the way through it, and his characterizations are so 116 00:07:16,090 --> 00:07:18,170 grotesque from for the most part. 117 00:07:19,210 --> 00:07:22,450 But there's an early part where Dennis Price is playing the part 118 00:07:22,450 --> 00:07:24,810 of his father. Who is this operatic tenor? 119 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:30,280 And he's in a parlor singing Gilmio Tesoro from Mozart Opera, 120 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:34,920 and he's singing it with the most incredible metallic nanny 121 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:37,280 goat vibrato you've ever heard in your life. 122 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:41,400 My, my dad was a trained, operatic tenor, and I remember 123 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,920 the two of us seeing this for the first time when I was in the 124 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:45,240 early teens or something like that. 125 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:48,040 And we missed most of the rest of the film, crying with 126 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:52,240 laughter and just this, you know, it's, you know, like 127 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:55,480 Harry, she can drive over over corrugated iron. 128 00:07:55,680 --> 00:07:59,840 You know, on a On a Boneshaker cycle, you know, it was a 129 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,240 wonderful this nanny goat vibrato. 130 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,800 That came out with. And it I oh, it still makes me 131 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:09,000 howl even now. I think it's a glorious moment 132 00:08:09,320 --> 00:08:15,320 in a very, very fine film. However, Ladykillers, it's. 133 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:18,960 I think I came to this probably when I was about 1314 years old 134 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,200 for the first time. Hadn't seen it before. 135 00:08:23,660 --> 00:08:26,140 And I'd started to get a little bit into The Goon Show. 136 00:08:26,140 --> 00:08:29,340 So it was a Peter Sellers film, you know, So Peter Sellers is in 137 00:08:29,340 --> 00:08:30,300 this. I'll give it a watch. 138 00:08:31,220 --> 00:08:36,860 And I haven't come across much in the way of Alec Guinness by 139 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:38,539 that point and led a very sheltered life. 140 00:08:40,220 --> 00:08:42,820 And I thought, this is off the scale. 141 00:08:42,820 --> 00:08:45,780 Glorious. I'm younger than you by a good. 142 00:08:46,230 --> 00:08:49,270 Five years I think but. They are a very good. 143 00:08:49,270 --> 00:08:50,070 Five years. They are very good. 144 00:08:50,070 --> 00:08:51,790 Five years. I treasure them. 145 00:08:52,470 --> 00:08:56,670 I I would have been 14 because I remember I I hadn't seen this 146 00:08:57,110 --> 00:08:59,950 right Okay, do you remember about about I think it was about 147 00:08:59,950 --> 00:09:02,790 88, might have been 87. I think it was 88. 148 00:09:03,230 --> 00:09:05,550 There was a the BAFTA awards that year. 149 00:09:05,550 --> 00:09:08,910 There was a special award like a lifetime achievement award given 150 00:09:08,910 --> 00:09:10,710 to Guinness. Do you remember that? 151 00:09:11,590 --> 00:09:12,630 I think I do, yes. Go ahead. 152 00:09:12,670 --> 00:09:16,030 And as part of the presentation, there were clips from some of 153 00:09:16,030 --> 00:09:20,350 his movies. And and that was the first time 154 00:09:20,350 --> 00:09:21,990 I'd seen a clip from the Lady Killers. 155 00:09:23,030 --> 00:09:25,430 And I'd only recently got into the goons around that time. 156 00:09:26,270 --> 00:09:29,710 Yeah, yeah. And it I'm sure that there was a 157 00:09:29,710 --> 00:09:32,230 scene with Sellers in, but there was certainly the scene where 158 00:09:32,670 --> 00:09:36,470 Mrs. Wilberforce opens the door that that classic iconic. 159 00:09:36,470 --> 00:09:39,710 I hate using the word iconic scene where he says, Mrs. 160 00:09:39,710 --> 00:09:45,080 Wilberforce, I understand you have rooms to let. 161 00:09:46,520 --> 00:09:52,160 Mrs. Wilberforce, I understand you have rooms to let. 162 00:09:52,680 --> 00:09:54,800 No, it's not rooms. It's rooms. 163 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:59,240 Sorry, Mrs. Wilberforce, I understand you have rooms to 164 00:09:59,240 --> 00:10:02,080 let. So that that was my first 165 00:10:02,080 --> 00:10:05,840 exposure to the to the film, albeit just a couple of clips, 166 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,280 and soon after I managed to get hold of a video copy. 167 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:17,280 And absolutely smitten. So in in 1951, Alec Guinness 168 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:21,440 starred alongside Stanley Holloway in the film we 169 00:10:21,440 --> 00:10:23,880 mentioned before. What did we mention? 170 00:10:23,880 --> 00:10:26,040 The Levender Hill Mob. We didn't. 171 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,800 That I think is one of the top three along with kind. 172 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:31,880 Hearts, I would agree. I would agree, Yeah. 173 00:10:31,880 --> 00:10:35,760 And and directed by Charles Crichton, yes. 174 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:37,840 Indeed, who ended up doing fish called Wonder. 175 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:43,080 So Guinness portrays in that film a rather anxious bank clerk 176 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:45,800 who plans a heist in South London. 177 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:50,400 And the film is delightful. It's charming, it's hugely 178 00:10:50,400 --> 00:10:53,680 enjoyable. And the thing I would say 179 00:10:53,680 --> 00:10:57,360 though, is that the character that Guinness plays, Henry 180 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:00,880 Holland, he he, yes, he chooses to cross the line into 181 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,560 criminality, but there's never any suggestion that he has the 182 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:08,060 slightest hint of a. What people like to call these 183 00:11:08,060 --> 00:11:13,020 days, a dark side to him, and certainly no indication of 184 00:11:13,020 --> 00:11:17,620 homicidal tendencies. No, and this is a point I was 185 00:11:17,620 --> 00:11:20,220 probably going to make. As far as Guinness's 186 00:11:20,220 --> 00:11:23,780 characterizations are concerned, they tend to, For me, they tend 187 00:11:23,780 --> 00:11:29,860 to fall into two groups. The bland, the slightly smiling, 188 00:11:30,100 --> 00:11:33,580 the nervous, that sort of thing. You know, the ineffectual. 189 00:11:34,100 --> 00:11:36,020 And then on the other side, you've got the grotesques. 190 00:11:38,470 --> 00:11:41,390 And most definitely Lavender Hill Mob. 191 00:11:41,390 --> 00:11:45,350 Henry Holland is a mild mannered version, you know. 192 00:11:45,350 --> 00:11:48,190 And the mild mannered 1 comes out again in a lot of Guinness's 193 00:11:48,190 --> 00:11:49,590 films. Things like the card. 194 00:11:50,870 --> 00:11:52,430 What else? Oh, what's that? 195 00:11:52,870 --> 00:11:55,510 The one of the last ones that they did. 196 00:11:55,510 --> 00:11:58,910 Donnacle Bill, the CSIC captain. I don't know whether you've 197 00:11:58,910 --> 00:12:01,190 never seen that okay, that's that's 57. 198 00:12:01,190 --> 00:12:07,250 That is somebody he plays. Somebody who has always wanted 199 00:12:07,250 --> 00:12:10,650 to become a captain at sea, but he suffers from seasickness, 200 00:12:11,010 --> 00:12:13,730 right? OK, it's Barnacle, but it's 201 00:12:13,730 --> 00:12:16,770 quite sweet. It, it's, it's a nice film again 202 00:12:16,770 --> 00:12:20,330 in the way that I know a lot of the ealings are nice films to 203 00:12:20,330 --> 00:12:22,170 watch. Sunday afternoon films, you 204 00:12:22,170 --> 00:12:25,530 know, with a The Nichols cake and A and a brew, that sort of 205 00:12:25,530 --> 00:12:26,290 thing. It's one of those. 206 00:12:26,450 --> 00:12:27,970 What about? Tunes of glory. 207 00:12:27,970 --> 00:12:29,930 What kind of character? Because he's playing quite a 208 00:12:29,930 --> 00:12:31,680 brash. Yeah. 209 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:34,080 Now that's the point. That's a great film. 210 00:12:34,880 --> 00:12:37,200 I I read the. I read the book first a long 211 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:41,440 time ago. Yes. 212 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:45,880 No, absolutely it is. He is very brash in that he's, 213 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,800 he's more of the grotesque, as I said, you know one of the 214 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:51,280 exaggerated ones. Have you seen him in the last 215 00:12:51,280 --> 00:12:53,600 days of Hitler? If it comes to that, you know he 216 00:12:53,600 --> 00:12:54,520 plays. Have you? 217 00:12:54,600 --> 00:12:56,400 I haven't seen that. Is it any good though? 218 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:01,920 Nick's not great. And you know, his vocalization 219 00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:10,120 on that is a little bit like, well, it's well, it's a bit like 220 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:12,760 another film. The horse's mouth I don't know 221 00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:14,680 if you've ever seen. It I have not seen it. 222 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:16,760 I've heard of it. Well, we'll come back. 223 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:20,280 We'll come back to Gully Jimson in a horse's mouth at some other 224 00:13:20,280 --> 00:13:21,120 point. That's. 225 00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:24,740 That's a 1958 film, but it isn't a kneeling one. 226 00:13:24,740 --> 00:13:27,180 But there is a link, but there is a link to the lady killers 227 00:13:27,180 --> 00:13:28,340 there. I'll tell you about that. 228 00:13:28,780 --> 00:13:29,660 I'll tell you about that in a bit. 229 00:13:30,340 --> 00:13:31,500 All right. So, so obviously. 230 00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:34,420 So you said we had, we had the we had Guinness in the Lavender 231 00:13:34,420 --> 00:13:37,620 Hill Mob in 51. Then four years later, Guinness 232 00:13:37,620 --> 00:13:42,460 returns in Alexander Mckendricks, the lady Killers, 233 00:13:42,620 --> 00:13:48,460 as the sinister Professor Marcus, a toothsome lank haired 234 00:13:48,460 --> 00:13:53,880 Wraith of a man now. Is he has he been released or 235 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:58,400 has he escaped from a madhouse? Do we think right the answer? 236 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:01,360 Well, it could be either. I don't know whether he's 237 00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:05,960 managed to, you know, you know, bunk the bunk his medics, A 238 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,520 fiver or something like that to get out or something like that. 239 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:14,360 But that is the one moment in Lady Killers where he is 240 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,400 confronted by one of his accomplices, the redoubtable Mr. 241 00:14:18,400 --> 00:14:23,360 Harvey, played by Herbert Long. And he said, you know, this sort 242 00:14:23,360 --> 00:14:25,960 of thing is something like you dreamed up in the booby hatch. 243 00:14:27,000 --> 00:14:32,640 And at that point, you know, you see, you see Professor Marcus 244 00:14:32,640 --> 00:14:36,880 turn very angrily upon him until there's an interruption. 245 00:14:37,240 --> 00:14:39,120 Right. I want to talk about, can we 246 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:41,360 talk about that when we get to that part of the film? 247 00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,400 Yeah, sure, sure, sure, sure. Slightly confused me that scene, 248 00:14:44,480 --> 00:14:47,440 but I will come back. To me too, Me too, I agree. 249 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:50,920 But anyway, so so he has or he hasn't come from a. 250 00:14:51,820 --> 00:14:55,860 An asylum or some, or some? Some institution. 251 00:14:55,980 --> 00:15:01,540 But anyway, he he turns up at the gentilly decaying home of an 252 00:15:01,540 --> 00:15:03,460 elderly widow near Saint Pancras. 253 00:15:05,220 --> 00:15:07,460 He's planning an audacious robbery and has enlisted the 254 00:15:07,460 --> 00:15:09,460 help of four disreputable misfits. 255 00:15:10,580 --> 00:15:15,420 Ragtag bunch of socially misaligned scoundrels, pretty 256 00:15:15,420 --> 00:15:18,340 much. You couldn't get four different, 257 00:15:18,340 --> 00:15:19,780 could you? Absolutely. 258 00:15:20,430 --> 00:15:25,190 And you could say that Professor Marcus is is in a it's kind of 259 00:15:25,190 --> 00:15:31,030 in a perpetual state of barely governable irritation with his. 260 00:15:31,150 --> 00:15:32,590 That's a good. That's a good way of. 261 00:15:32,590 --> 00:15:35,670 Putting it with his gang, with his landlady, with himself as 262 00:15:35,670 --> 00:15:38,790 well, but particularly. The plan, My plan, Yes, 263 00:15:38,830 --> 00:15:40,270 absolutely. It's like that all the times. 264 00:15:40,270 --> 00:15:41,950 It's the plan. Everything must be. 265 00:15:42,190 --> 00:15:45,790 It's the plan to my plan. And this is the point where we 266 00:15:45,790 --> 00:15:48,670 ask the question, who did he base this character on? 267 00:15:50,760 --> 00:15:56,280 And there are two possibles. 1 Alistair SIM, of course, who for 268 00:15:56,560 --> 00:16:00,960 quite a long time afterwards was mistaken for the person who 269 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:02,760 actually played the lead in The Lady Killers. 270 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:07,160 I don't know if you'd heard this, but this is Alistair SIM, 271 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,440 You know, if you look at him in Screwed or something like that, 272 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:13,040 you know, the cadaverous face, the big teeth and all that sort 273 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:17,000 of thing, you know, you know. Did Guinness base his 274 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,440 characterization on him? It's a possible? 275 00:16:20,410 --> 00:16:23,010 But the best one I've heard is Kenneth Tynan. 276 00:16:23,090 --> 00:16:30,330 Yeah, who, who, who Guinness had had quite a bit of history with 277 00:16:30,330 --> 00:16:34,370 even by this point. I don't know. 278 00:16:34,810 --> 00:16:36,290 Do you know this bit? Yeah, so. 279 00:16:36,370 --> 00:16:41,410 So Tynan had written unfavorably about was it Macbeth that 280 00:16:41,490 --> 00:16:44,370 Guinness had been in or well? He'd actually been in charge of 281 00:16:44,370 --> 00:16:46,130 it for the Festival of Britain in 51. 282 00:16:46,130 --> 00:16:48,250 Absolutely, Yeah, Kenneth Tyne was. 283 00:16:48,820 --> 00:16:54,220 Part of the organizing committee for this disastrous was it. 284 00:16:54,420 --> 00:16:56,180 I was Hamlet, I think it was. Was it? 285 00:16:56,540 --> 00:17:01,340 I can't remember, Yeah, for the Festival of Britain 51 and 286 00:17:01,340 --> 00:17:02,900 fairly shortly afterwards he wrote. 287 00:17:03,860 --> 00:17:06,420 I think that the phrase is a monograph, but it's a fairly 288 00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:10,020 heavyweight character. Assassination upon Ken on on 289 00:17:10,020 --> 00:17:13,220 Alec Guinness and saying, you know, he's a good actor but he's 290 00:17:13,220 --> 00:17:16,180 never going to be great. Now if you look at Kenneth Tyne 291 00:17:16,180 --> 00:17:20,569 and photographs of him. At that time, I've noticed one 292 00:17:20,569 --> 00:17:23,930 thing that Alec Guinness does that is a definite Kenneth 293 00:17:23,930 --> 00:17:29,250 Tynanism in this film and that is how he smokes his cigarette. 294 00:17:31,370 --> 00:17:37,330 Okay, you watch how Professor Marcus holds his cigarette. 295 00:17:37,330 --> 00:17:39,570 He doesn't hold it between his first two fingers, he holds it 296 00:17:39,570 --> 00:17:42,170 between his third and 4th fingers. 297 00:17:43,450 --> 00:17:45,570 So he's actually, you know, it looks as though he's like, you 298 00:17:45,570 --> 00:17:48,550 know, eating it or something. Like that, sort of, you know, 299 00:17:48,550 --> 00:17:51,390 hold it like that. And that was a Kenneth Tynan 300 00:17:51,390 --> 00:17:53,910 thing. I I read a book about not 301 00:17:53,910 --> 00:17:56,750 Kenneth Tynan, but about theatrical types. 302 00:17:57,550 --> 00:18:01,070 Yeah. Years ago, or characters within 303 00:18:01,070 --> 00:18:02,870 the within, you know, British theater. 304 00:18:04,230 --> 00:18:06,510 And there was a quote, which I've never been able to get out 305 00:18:06,510 --> 00:18:12,950 of my head, attributed to Kenneth Tynan, and apparently he 306 00:18:12,950 --> 00:18:15,910 uttered this as he was taking delivery of a vodka enema. 307 00:18:18,420 --> 00:18:24,620 Which was? Oh, the hedonism, which? 308 00:18:29,140 --> 00:18:32,940 I can't imagine that. No, that's. 309 00:18:33,820 --> 00:18:34,660 Yeah. OK, fine. 310 00:18:34,660 --> 00:18:37,140 Well, if if Guinness wanted to take the Mick out of him, yeah, 311 00:18:37,140 --> 00:18:38,820 go ahead, son. Absolutely. 312 00:18:39,980 --> 00:18:43,140 That's like for that sort of filthy perversion. 313 00:18:43,300 --> 00:18:46,860 I know, but Professor Marcus the. 314 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,600 It's a it's a marvelous oh it's a marvelous creation that that 315 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:55,400 Guinness has come up with here because he's he's he's almost 316 00:18:55,400 --> 00:18:57,800 like when he because you don't see obviously you don't see his 317 00:18:57,800 --> 00:18:59,960 face until Mrs. Wilberforce actually opens the door. 318 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:04,280 But you do see Nosferatu like you see the shadowy, sinister 319 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:08,640 figure following her home, circling the house, and then 320 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,440 when she opened the door. Finger to the pointed finger 321 00:19:11,440 --> 00:19:13,240 shadow towards the door. Yeah. 322 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,880 And see that but. But when you actually see him, 323 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,480 he's pale, he's washed out, he's got these hooded eyes, he's got 324 00:19:20,480 --> 00:19:26,600 this really sinister aspect and the threadbare cardigan, and he 325 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,280 just looks like a man who spent a lot of time avoiding natural, 326 00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:35,040 natural light. He just looks, he just right. 327 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:41,080 He just looks like he smells quite strongly of yeast to me. 328 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,440 Poor old boy. I'm starting to feel sorry for 329 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:47,520 him. Yes. 330 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:48,400 Yes. Yeah. 331 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:49,760 Yes. Crohn's. 332 00:19:49,760 --> 00:19:53,080 What does he smell like? Senior Service and Hovis. 333 00:19:53,120 --> 00:19:54,080 Yes. Yes. 334 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:59,920 So yeah, so this plan, the heist, it goes off without a 335 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:01,360 hitch. Almost. 336 00:20:02,690 --> 00:20:06,610 But what we find with this film it's it's in the nature of the 337 00:20:06,610 --> 00:20:08,810 sweetly innocent Mrs. Wilberforce. 338 00:20:08,810 --> 00:20:11,570 It's in her nature to disrupt and bring chaos that is her. 339 00:20:11,570 --> 00:20:15,410 It's almost like that's her role in life, and as such she 340 00:20:15,410 --> 00:20:21,010 unwittingly pulls the rug from under the gang so that plans 341 00:20:21,010 --> 00:20:23,770 awry in all attempts to fix matters crumbling in the face of 342 00:20:23,770 --> 00:20:27,370 deep rooted Victorian rectitude, the gang ultimately decide upon 343 00:20:27,370 --> 00:20:30,250 a course of action and as a result assume the roles 344 00:20:30,250 --> 00:20:36,010 suggested by the film's title with one tiny snag, as one by 345 00:20:36,010 --> 00:20:38,970 one, the gang exit the film. They do so perhaps ruefully, 346 00:20:38,970 --> 00:20:42,970 acknowledging that they were, in the end, no match for a sweet, 347 00:20:42,970 --> 00:20:48,650 lopsided old lady. It ought to look like an 348 00:20:48,650 --> 00:20:52,290 accident. How about suicide? 349 00:20:52,850 --> 00:20:55,290 What do you mean? Well, get her to write a note. 350 00:20:55,290 --> 00:20:57,410 You know, I just couldn't stand it no more. 351 00:20:57,410 --> 00:21:00,730 So I misses Wilberforce and then somebody goes down and hangs 352 00:21:00,730 --> 00:21:03,610 her. Very funny. 353 00:21:04,250 --> 00:21:06,810 And obviously we're talking about this and we're going to 354 00:21:06,810 --> 00:21:09,050 talk about it in detail, but we're talking about this film on 355 00:21:09,050 --> 00:21:12,490 goon part because it was the first major film role for Peter 356 00:21:12,490 --> 00:21:16,570 Sellers. He'd been in a string of low 357 00:21:16,570 --> 00:21:19,690 budget, pretty forgettable little comedies up to then Edney 358 00:21:19,890 --> 00:21:21,730 Graham. Yeah, things like orders and 359 00:21:21,930 --> 00:21:24,210 orders are orders and whatever else, John and Julie. 360 00:21:25,450 --> 00:21:27,690 Yeah, absolutely. It's nothing which actually 361 00:21:27,690 --> 00:21:31,820 stretched him. And I think to a certain extent 362 00:21:31,820 --> 00:21:36,900 this does stretch him a bit, although, you know, this is 363 00:21:36,900 --> 00:21:38,580 actually quite a nice characterization. 364 00:21:38,580 --> 00:21:42,220 You know Harry Robinson, You know, the spiv, the Ted, 365 00:21:42,820 --> 00:21:44,660 something like that. You know, nice little scar on 366 00:21:44,660 --> 00:21:48,060 his cheek, obviously caused by somebody he's double crossed at 367 00:21:48,060 --> 00:21:53,500 some point, but he still looks like, you know, a, you know, a 368 00:21:53,900 --> 00:21:58,460 pudgy, slightly overweight Ted who you might think might have. 369 00:22:00,150 --> 00:22:04,270 Not so much grit about him. I think he looks a bit soft 370 00:22:04,670 --> 00:22:07,150 around the ages and I think that certainly comes to the point 371 00:22:07,150 --> 00:22:11,310 when the the gang starts to double cross each other and you 372 00:22:11,310 --> 00:22:16,270 know he puts himself out as a right old coward by this point. 373 00:22:16,270 --> 00:22:19,150 And at this point Sellers is is, I was going to say happily 374 00:22:19,150 --> 00:22:20,390 married. Sellers is married, but he's 375 00:22:20,390 --> 00:22:24,030 still he's he's still, I guess, in some ways, under the 376 00:22:24,030 --> 00:22:27,990 influence of his mother, Peg. Well, PEG actually had another 377 00:22:27,990 --> 00:22:30,630 13 years to go at this point. Yeah, it was about 12-30 years. 378 00:22:30,670 --> 00:22:32,830 He was still during it. He was still in his fat Elvis. 379 00:22:32,830 --> 00:22:36,390 Period. If you want to call it that, He 380 00:22:36,390 --> 00:22:37,630 did it the other way around, didn't he? 381 00:22:37,630 --> 00:22:39,470 Absolutely, yes. The fat Elvis came later. 382 00:22:39,470 --> 00:22:41,910 Yes, But yes. No, No, Very much so. 383 00:22:41,910 --> 00:22:43,340 Still the. A Peck. 384 00:22:43,340 --> 00:22:47,460 Can I have a cup of tea pack? You know Thing is Spike used to 385 00:22:47,460 --> 00:22:50,060 say about him, you know, the fact that you know did he had 386 00:22:50,060 --> 00:22:53,620 slip on shoes so we didn't have to tie shoelaces up you know, 387 00:22:53,780 --> 00:22:57,420 bend over, you know. But he looks he looks older than 388 00:22:57,420 --> 00:23:03,620 he did. Well, eight years older in like 389 00:23:04,660 --> 00:23:08,900 the Pink Panther or the film we did a couple of weeks ago and I 390 00:23:08,900 --> 00:23:10,820 forgot the name. Wrong arm of the law. 391 00:23:11,500 --> 00:23:14,020 He looks. He looks like the older brother 392 00:23:14,020 --> 00:23:17,100 of Pearly Gates, Harry Robinson. Yes, he does. 393 00:23:17,540 --> 00:23:21,620 He, I'll go with that. And he was 30, as he used to say 394 00:23:21,980 --> 00:23:24,340 to an when they were going out, when they were engaged. 395 00:23:24,340 --> 00:23:28,660 I'm still that same fat jolly boy, you know and you know and 396 00:23:28,660 --> 00:23:32,100 he was, but you know, within a couple of years you could see 397 00:23:32,100 --> 00:23:34,260 him start to get a lean and hungry look. 398 00:23:35,780 --> 00:23:37,300 And Shakespeare once. Absolutely. 399 00:23:37,380 --> 00:23:39,740 Absolutely. Before we start talking about 400 00:23:39,740 --> 00:23:42,500 the film in detail, before we get covered quite a bit already, 401 00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:48,700 but I just, I always like to as as I'm sure you, you being an 402 00:23:48,700 --> 00:23:50,940 avid goon pod listener, you want, you know that I do like to 403 00:23:51,420 --> 00:23:53,780 see what else was going on in the world when things were 404 00:23:53,980 --> 00:23:59,900 released or went out OK. And not a lot, again not a lot 405 00:24:01,020 --> 00:24:04,460 because this was released in the UK cinemas on the 8th of 406 00:24:04,460 --> 00:24:07,700 December 1955. So right at the right at the 407 00:24:07,700 --> 00:24:13,900 tail end of 55 there's there's two two things that happened 408 00:24:13,980 --> 00:24:17,620 which I would say would be of interest to listeners. 409 00:24:18,140 --> 00:24:25,100 Okay the, the, the, the, the first one being the 8th of 410 00:24:25,100 --> 00:24:28,860 December 1955. So the unveiling or the hoisting 411 00:24:28,860 --> 00:24:33,100 up, is that the word or the flying of the what we now know 412 00:24:33,100 --> 00:24:37,220 is the EU flag? Of course it wasn't called that 413 00:24:37,220 --> 00:24:40,420 then. No, no, it was the 12 star flag 414 00:24:40,420 --> 00:24:44,420 of Europe which was adopted by the Council of Europe on the 8th 415 00:24:44,420 --> 00:24:49,740 of December 1955. Goodness me, I I mentioned that 416 00:24:49,940 --> 00:24:51,780 I I, you know, I I make no comment. 417 00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:55,500 I will just leave that there. It's yes. 418 00:24:55,500 --> 00:24:58,900 Well, I'll, I'll similarly say. No comments. 419 00:24:59,220 --> 00:25:03,620 We all have our views. Yes, that was the line out of 420 00:25:04,740 --> 00:25:06,620 kind. Hearts and coronates, wasn't it? 421 00:25:07,020 --> 00:25:11,020 Alec Guinness, when he's the photographer, I don't know, you 422 00:25:11,020 --> 00:25:12,460 know, he says. You know, I don't drink. 423 00:25:12,740 --> 00:25:14,580 You know I can't drink in front of my wife. 424 00:25:14,820 --> 00:25:18,380 My wife has views, yes. Doesn't he get blown up in his? 425 00:25:19,220 --> 00:25:20,220 Yes, that's right. Yes. 426 00:25:20,540 --> 00:25:22,020 Yeah. He's took petrol into his 427 00:25:22,100 --> 00:25:23,420 paraffin heater or something like that. 428 00:25:23,420 --> 00:25:26,060 I see through. Yes. 429 00:25:26,060 --> 00:25:30,220 No, my wife has views. God forbid your wife should have 430 00:25:30,220 --> 00:25:36,140 views on anything. Edit Edit this bit out. 431 00:25:36,620 --> 00:25:39,820 Yeah, right. I'm joking. 432 00:25:39,940 --> 00:25:42,700 She won't listen to this. She has enough of me talking in 433 00:25:42,700 --> 00:25:45,580 the real life and you don't go. But the other thing that 434 00:25:45,580 --> 00:25:47,740 happened on this day, which will be of interest to Goon Pod 435 00:25:47,740 --> 00:25:51,980 listeners, have you heard of the missing Christmas parcel? 436 00:25:54,220 --> 00:26:00,780 Indeed, it is a very short show which I think exists. 437 00:26:00,780 --> 00:26:05,060 Is that not the case? In that case, I'll go away now. 438 00:26:06,500 --> 00:26:08,380 It was OK. I don't know what I'm talking 439 00:26:09,020 --> 00:26:10,300 about. You're half right. 440 00:26:10,340 --> 00:26:14,860 It was a very short going show. Yes, it was a little special 441 00:26:14,860 --> 00:26:21,100 sort of 15 minute segment which was to be included in Children's 442 00:26:21,100 --> 00:26:23,140 Hour on the eighth of the seminar 55. 443 00:26:23,300 --> 00:26:26,060 That's it. Yeah, I remember that scene. 444 00:26:26,060 --> 00:26:28,300 The missing Christmas Parcel, a special goon show with Peter 445 00:26:28,300 --> 00:26:31,220 Sellers, Harry Sigmund, Spike Milligan, assisted by John Snag. 446 00:26:31,220 --> 00:26:35,540 OK, bless him and the synopsis reads. 447 00:26:35,540 --> 00:26:38,180 Nelly Seagoon endeavors to illustrate, with the aid of a 448 00:26:38,180 --> 00:26:41,140 smoked glass air trumpet, exactly what happens to 449 00:26:41,140 --> 00:26:43,740 Christmas parcels which have posted too late to arrive by 450 00:26:43,740 --> 00:26:47,160 Christmas. Be warned by the Ghastly series 451 00:26:47,160 --> 00:26:50,680 of misfortunes and post early for Christmas It says Okay 452 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,600 Script by Eric Sykes and produced by Peter Eaton and John 453 00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:58,960 Lane. All right, now the show does not 454 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:00,880 exist. Is it gone right. 455 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:03,960 Okay. But the script does exist and I 456 00:27:03,960 --> 00:27:08,600 have read the script and it's fairly throw away. 457 00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,940 All the characters are there but but it just it's basically 1415 458 00:27:12,940 --> 00:27:16,340 minutes of them basically reinforcing driving home the 459 00:27:16,340 --> 00:27:20,380 point that you must post before. I think it's the 19th of 460 00:27:20,380 --> 00:27:23,140 December or something like that. It was the 17th of December. 461 00:27:23,500 --> 00:27:27,140 Otherwise your parcels will not reach their intended 462 00:27:27,540 --> 00:27:30,300 destination. Now that's all well and good, 463 00:27:30,580 --> 00:27:32,460 it's all well and good right? But how many? 464 00:27:33,220 --> 00:27:38,300 How many children would be posting Christmas parcels even 465 00:27:38,300 --> 00:27:40,330 in 1955? I don't know. 466 00:27:40,330 --> 00:27:43,770 It's a good question. I'm trying to think what my 467 00:27:43,770 --> 00:27:46,690 mother have done, so possibly not. 468 00:27:46,730 --> 00:27:49,330 I don't think my father would have, no anyway. 469 00:27:49,690 --> 00:27:51,330 But then I suppose, interesting thought. 470 00:27:51,330 --> 00:27:54,370 I suppose they listened this propaganda. 471 00:27:54,850 --> 00:27:59,250 This sort of this is basically Henry Holmes point and they then 472 00:27:59,250 --> 00:28:02,250 go and tell their parents. Well, I mean The thing is if it 473 00:28:02,250 --> 00:28:04,290 wants to want things to get there for this Christmas, I'd 474 00:28:04,290 --> 00:28:09,330 say next week, you know, post then you know, and if it and if 475 00:28:09,330 --> 00:28:11,090 it's off wish next year, you know, go ahead. 476 00:28:11,690 --> 00:28:14,610 Yeah, yes. Or yeah, I was going to say 477 00:28:14,610 --> 00:28:16,130 something else. I'll hold that. 478 00:28:18,330 --> 00:28:20,930 It was recorded by the way that this little segment was recorded 479 00:28:20,930 --> 00:28:24,210 the same day it was at lunchtime on the day that they recorded 480 00:28:24,210 --> 00:28:27,130 the Sale of Manhattan episode. That's a good show. 481 00:28:27,130 --> 00:28:27,690 That's a good show. Yeah. 482 00:28:27,690 --> 00:28:32,610 Yeah so anyway let's we've we've we've dispensed with that 483 00:28:32,810 --> 00:28:35,730 formality. We just. 484 00:28:35,730 --> 00:28:38,450 I just want to do a little bit of background to the to the film 485 00:28:38,450 --> 00:28:41,650 itself to the creation of the film and and feel free to to to 486 00:28:41,650 --> 00:28:46,130 jump in. And it's it's the product really 487 00:28:46,130 --> 00:28:53,890 of two Americans both of whom ended up living in the UK. 488 00:28:54,010 --> 00:28:57,130 In Britain, in the sense we have William Rose, who was the 489 00:28:57,130 --> 00:29:00,960 scriptwriter who came up with the idea which apparently he he 490 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,760 had in a dream. He dreamt this, I believe. 491 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,200 So yes, indeed, that's he did actually repeat this number of 492 00:29:09,200 --> 00:29:11,560 occasions and said, you know, all he needed to do was just 493 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:13,720 fill in the detail. Yeah, but you have to know the 494 00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:16,200 plot came to him in a dream. What a plot. 495 00:29:16,200 --> 00:29:20,120 What a dream. And and and he he'd been. 496 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:24,680 He'd written the film Genevieve and he would go on to to write 497 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:29,210 The Smallest Show on Earth, The Sellersville, as well as I think 498 00:29:29,210 --> 00:29:32,290 he did the Maggie and a number of films. 499 00:29:33,530 --> 00:29:38,210 And he he married a Brit after the war and and settled in in 500 00:29:38,210 --> 00:29:42,450 Britain. And he took this idea to 501 00:29:43,170 --> 00:29:46,130 Alexander Mckendrick, who had been born into the US and moved 502 00:29:46,130 --> 00:29:48,850 to Scotland when he was about six or seven. 503 00:29:49,850 --> 00:29:51,780 And he was an interesting fellow. 504 00:29:51,780 --> 00:29:55,220 He did, you know he used to draw propaganda cartoons during the 505 00:29:55,220 --> 00:29:57,060 war. That was his job, or one of his. 506 00:29:57,060 --> 00:29:59,740 Jobs didn't know that. No, no, that's that's 507 00:29:59,740 --> 00:30:03,860 fascinating. You know that don't stop me on 508 00:30:03,860 --> 00:30:07,020 wartime cartoonists like Sirle and people like that because 509 00:30:07,020 --> 00:30:08,060 you'll never get me off mine together. 510 00:30:08,060 --> 00:30:11,420 It's probably not very interesting on a on a an audio 511 00:30:11,420 --> 00:30:13,540 goon pod. But yes, no, he's. 512 00:30:13,820 --> 00:30:17,580 I love anything like that. It was the David Lowe. 513 00:30:18,020 --> 00:30:19,660 David Lowe Yeah, people like that. 514 00:30:21,490 --> 00:30:24,810 I think Fugas as well. But there were people like that, 515 00:30:24,810 --> 00:30:25,850 you know, did all of these things. 516 00:30:25,850 --> 00:30:27,330 The killers talk, cost lives and whatever. 517 00:30:28,490 --> 00:30:31,970 Yeah, but yes, indeed, no. So he was a cartoonist, 518 00:30:32,090 --> 00:30:34,570 actually, and then he moved into films after the war. 519 00:30:35,610 --> 00:30:37,970 His first film was Whiskey Galore for Ely. 520 00:30:39,370 --> 00:30:41,290 That's a good one. Yes, it is, that is. 521 00:30:41,450 --> 00:30:44,580 That is, that is a good one. And now this. 522 00:30:44,660 --> 00:30:47,980 This sounds crazy for some You know, somebody who likes healing 523 00:30:47,980 --> 00:30:49,580 comedies. I've got the box sets of healing 524 00:30:49,620 --> 00:30:52,220 comedies, DVD Cabinet Downstairs, a lot of roads, and 525 00:30:52,980 --> 00:30:56,260 there's only really three, possibly four, that I'll go back 526 00:30:56,260 --> 00:30:58,180 to. Obviously this one kind hearts 527 00:30:58,220 --> 00:31:00,540 Lavender Hill and the man in the white suit. 528 00:31:00,660 --> 00:31:03,860 Oh yeah, which McKay Droves directed Exactly. 529 00:31:03,860 --> 00:31:06,060 Yeah, it's a great and that's a fun film. 530 00:31:06,060 --> 00:31:08,380 It's it's not. It's not the top three, but it's 531 00:31:08,380 --> 00:31:11,620 a good one. In my in my opinion, I watched 532 00:31:11,620 --> 00:31:15,100 that again maybe 6-12 months ago. 533 00:31:16,540 --> 00:31:19,140 It was okay. I remember really liking it when 534 00:31:19,140 --> 00:31:22,020 I saw it the first time around, which was 30 years ago, and then 535 00:31:22,020 --> 00:31:23,820 I found it a bit of a chore this time. 536 00:31:24,300 --> 00:31:25,460 Exactly. Now. 537 00:31:25,580 --> 00:31:27,420 Exactly. That's the very feeling I get 538 00:31:27,420 --> 00:31:31,060 about these things now, you know, I don't get that with lady 539 00:31:31,060 --> 00:31:32,620 killers. Never get it with kind hearts. 540 00:31:33,100 --> 00:31:34,220 Don't get it with love and hill mob. 541 00:31:35,050 --> 00:31:36,730 But you know, it is a bit of a chore. 542 00:31:36,730 --> 00:31:39,130 It's a little, some bits of it slightly slow moving and 543 00:31:39,130 --> 00:31:42,770 tedious. So yeah, so so we have William 544 00:31:42,770 --> 00:31:46,770 Rose who took this idea to or half written script even to 545 00:31:46,770 --> 00:31:50,850 Mckendrick. Mckendrick went to studio head 546 00:31:50,850 --> 00:31:56,170 eating studio head Michael Balkan who is people know is was 547 00:31:56,170 --> 00:32:01,250 I should say the grandfather of Daniel Day Lewis who is one of 548 00:32:01,250 --> 00:32:07,120 my all time favorite actors. I love him so much in There Will 549 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:10,440 Be Blood I think it's to a divorce. 550 00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:13,720 But anyway Michael Michael Balkan. 551 00:32:14,400 --> 00:32:18,000 He took some persuading to green light this film in which five 552 00:32:18,120 --> 00:32:21,280 sixth of the principal caster killed off by the end. 553 00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:23,600 I've spoiled it there I'm afraid. 554 00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:25,530 But. Yes, indeed. 555 00:32:25,530 --> 00:32:27,330 I was wondering how we're going to deal with the spoilers. 556 00:32:28,690 --> 00:32:31,290 But who hasn't seen this? Who's actually listening to 557 00:32:31,290 --> 00:32:32,930 this? It's nearly 70 years old the 558 00:32:32,930 --> 00:32:37,690 film, and we always spoil films in this anyway, so this should 559 00:32:37,690 --> 00:32:40,850 have sounded a claxon. Perhaps before I'd drop that 560 00:32:40,850 --> 00:32:43,170 that one. But anyway, we'll come to that. 561 00:32:45,010 --> 00:32:48,450 And. But in the end, Belkin was was 562 00:32:48,450 --> 00:32:51,050 persuaded, as she said they would. 563 00:32:51,090 --> 00:32:52,330 They would. Initially they thought about 564 00:32:52,330 --> 00:32:55,210 casting Alistair SIM, but then thought thought better of it. 565 00:32:55,530 --> 00:32:56,770 He'd have been, he'd have been just. 566 00:32:56,770 --> 00:32:57,810 No, he wouldn't have been as good. 567 00:32:57,810 --> 00:33:00,530 I don't think Woody, do you think Or Woody? 568 00:33:02,610 --> 00:33:04,370 I don't know. It's a good question. 569 00:33:04,530 --> 00:33:07,130 I mean, he would have, he would have looked like Professor 570 00:33:07,130 --> 00:33:13,010 Marcus in everybody's mind, I'm sure, but I I think they. 571 00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:17,120 I don't. I've seen him in quite a lot of 572 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:18,480 things. I've seen, you know, obviously 573 00:33:18,480 --> 00:33:20,720 green for danger and all of that sort of thing. 574 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:25,480 But you know his, his cut, his stocking trade was always, you 575 00:33:25,480 --> 00:33:30,720 know, a panicky resignation and whether, you know, he could be 576 00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:32,600 tacky. Of course he could look at him 577 00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:38,640 in Scrooge, but Guinness is great in this. 578 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:45,660 He also Sims has a has a has a line in sort of, would you call 579 00:33:45,660 --> 00:33:48,860 it bland amusement? Bland. 580 00:33:48,860 --> 00:33:58,100 Absolutely, indeed he can. Oh, don't don't stop me on 581 00:33:58,100 --> 00:34:01,580 inspector calls. Not not only did I used to teach 582 00:34:01,580 --> 00:34:05,940 it, but I in my in the previous life as an English teacher, but 583 00:34:06,100 --> 00:34:10,100 my eldest son had to do that for GCSE last year as well, so I've 584 00:34:10,100 --> 00:34:13,699 had quite a lot of Alistair this last year. 585 00:34:14,750 --> 00:34:18,830 But no, he's he was marvelous in that, you know, a lovely 586 00:34:18,830 --> 00:34:21,870 stillness about him, you know, as the inspector. 587 00:34:22,949 --> 00:34:26,429 But whether he could have, I'm sure he could have done it just 588 00:34:26,429 --> 00:34:30,350 as well as Guinness, but it would have been very different. 589 00:34:31,469 --> 00:34:34,989 And for me, Guinness is just, I think Guinness. 590 00:34:34,989 --> 00:34:37,989 Guinness probably brings more more of a sense of mania to the 591 00:34:37,989 --> 00:34:39,750 character. Than yes, exactly. 592 00:34:40,719 --> 00:34:41,920 There's the bit, There's the bit. 593 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:43,120 And look, here's me jumping ahead. 594 00:34:43,120 --> 00:34:45,080 There's the bit when they're entertaining the old ladies 595 00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:49,199 against their will and Guinness is at the piano and he is. 596 00:34:49,239 --> 00:34:54,280 He is like a soul cartoon, the way he's crouched, the way his, 597 00:34:54,800 --> 00:34:58,960 his, his back is arched as he's banging away on the piano. 598 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:01,040 I know, I know. Well, the nice thing is, you 599 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,120 know, he's, it's a pianola, so he's pumping it with his feet, 600 00:35:04,600 --> 00:35:06,240 you know, looking miserable about this. 601 00:35:06,900 --> 00:35:10,220 And you know and everybody else again is this was a laugh out 602 00:35:10,220 --> 00:35:14,140 loud moment for myself and my dad years ago with the singing 603 00:35:14,140 --> 00:35:18,620 Silver threads among the gold. And at this point we get the 604 00:35:18,620 --> 00:35:23,020 wonderful Edie Martin, the lady who reads the newspaper out 605 00:35:23,180 --> 00:35:26,540 earlier on and she has got, you know she was such a bird like 606 00:35:26,540 --> 00:35:29,580 little creature in any case. You know the round glasses and 607 00:35:29,580 --> 00:35:33,820 it's Min it's Minnie Banister. You know you can hear her. 608 00:35:34,130 --> 00:35:37,930 You know, coming in a line or two later after the song starts 609 00:35:38,250 --> 00:35:42,130 with her own octave above Viprato version. 610 00:35:42,130 --> 00:35:50,010 You know, darling, we are growing old in the background. 611 00:35:50,330 --> 00:35:55,450 I love Edie Martin to little bits in that. 612 00:35:55,450 --> 00:35:59,050 But yes, as you say, Guinness is, you know, crouched the, you 613 00:35:59,050 --> 00:36:02,250 know, teeth protruding, scowling furiously. 614 00:36:02,820 --> 00:36:06,700 All of these old birds are chirping away and and the 615 00:36:06,700 --> 00:36:44,660 parrots are dancing and I've got, I've got, as we're 616 00:36:44,660 --> 00:36:48,380 talking by the way, I've got the film on in the background, so 617 00:36:48,380 --> 00:36:51,500 I'm as we're talking I'm watching it and Guinness, his 618 00:36:51,580 --> 00:36:56,380 expressions change like lightning. 619 00:36:56,700 --> 00:37:00,540 He goes from this, this, this sort of ingratiating grin to 620 00:37:00,540 --> 00:37:05,270 this scow, to this look of shared panic in a matter of 621 00:37:05,270 --> 00:37:09,670 seconds. Which proves that Kenneth Timon 622 00:37:09,670 --> 00:37:12,110 was wrong. Yes, about him. 623 00:37:12,270 --> 00:37:15,870 Very much so. It's so fun. 624 00:37:15,870 --> 00:37:18,550 Now, if if right. I'm no fan of Star Wars. 625 00:37:18,590 --> 00:37:20,910 Okay, I'm really no fan of. Neither am I. 626 00:37:21,270 --> 00:37:23,230 Neither am I I've seen it once. I saw the first one. 627 00:37:23,230 --> 00:37:24,950 What? I refused to call it the 4th 1 628 00:37:24,950 --> 00:37:28,390 or whatever the hell it is. But I've saw this 1977 one once 629 00:37:28,670 --> 00:37:29,990 and that's once was enough, right? 630 00:37:31,710 --> 00:37:34,670 But I would have watched it more if Guinness had decided to 631 00:37:34,670 --> 00:37:38,750 elected to play the character of Obi Wan Kenobi as Professor 632 00:37:38,750 --> 00:37:45,070 Marcus. Yes, that would have been most 633 00:37:45,070 --> 00:37:46,390 kind. Yes, that would have been. 634 00:37:46,390 --> 00:37:48,110 That would have been excellent, wouldn't it? 635 00:37:48,150 --> 00:37:51,630 Absolutely. Yes, indeed, I'm afraid. 636 00:37:51,670 --> 00:37:54,390 Oh, please. Anybody who knows me who likes 637 00:37:54,390 --> 00:37:57,530 Star Wars and. This includes my oldest lad. 638 00:37:58,330 --> 00:37:59,690 You know, Forgive me, I'm not a fan. 639 00:37:59,730 --> 00:38:02,930 I saw the first two when they came out of the flicks in 77 and 640 00:38:03,290 --> 00:38:07,610 80. I didn't bother with the 3rd and 641 00:38:07,610 --> 00:38:08,970 that was it. And I've never seen any of it 642 00:38:08,970 --> 00:38:11,610 since. I know of it, of course, but you 643 00:38:11,610 --> 00:38:13,690 know who doesn't. But you know I agree with you as 644 00:38:13,690 --> 00:38:16,450 far as Guinness. If you'd have played it like 645 00:38:16,450 --> 00:38:18,730 that, you know, may the Force be with you. 646 00:38:19,130 --> 00:38:20,410 Yeah, it's like, yeah, I can see that. 647 00:38:20,410 --> 00:38:26,810 Brilliant, wouldn't it? So in terms of other casting, 648 00:38:26,810 --> 00:38:31,290 they they originally had Richard Attenborough in mind for Harry 649 00:38:31,450 --> 00:38:37,250 the the Spiff character, which I can see because he'd been Pinky 650 00:38:37,250 --> 00:38:39,290 and me and. Yeah, in Brighton Rock, yeah, 651 00:38:41,130 --> 00:38:45,530 but Alexander Mckendrick, and I think his name is Seth Holt, who 652 00:38:45,530 --> 00:38:47,130 was one of the executive producers. 653 00:38:47,890 --> 00:38:53,370 They were big fans of the Goon Show and Mckendrick in 654 00:38:53,370 --> 00:38:56,640 particular had wanted sellers, had wanted to work with Sellers 655 00:38:56,640 --> 00:39:02,600 and he thought that this role as Harry would be perfect and and 656 00:39:02,840 --> 00:39:09,000 that's how that came about. Now Katie Johnson who plays Mrs. 657 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:13,960 Wilberforce, who's wonderful and and the actress when she was 658 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,200 filming it she was actually older than Mrs. Wilberforce is 659 00:39:16,200 --> 00:39:19,360 meant to be by by a couple of years. 660 00:39:20,790 --> 00:39:23,790 Because because you can like because her 21st birthday. 661 00:39:24,030 --> 00:39:27,630 Mrs. Johnson sorry Mrs. Wilberforce's 21st birthday as 662 00:39:27,630 --> 00:39:30,990 she tells the gang, coincided with the death of Queen 663 00:39:30,990 --> 00:39:33,070 Victoria. In 1901? 664 00:39:33,230 --> 00:39:36,230 That's right. So she was born in 1880, yes. 665 00:39:36,230 --> 00:39:39,510 Which would have made her 75 when this happened. 666 00:39:39,550 --> 00:39:42,390 Yeah, Katie. Katie Johnson was 78 or 79 when 667 00:39:42,390 --> 00:39:47,460 they were they actually had cut. Now apparently this is IMDb 668 00:39:47,460 --> 00:39:51,180 trivia this bit now most of my information is not IMDb trivia. 669 00:39:51,380 --> 00:39:56,180 I stressed that okay but IMDb trivia says that they had cast 670 00:39:56,180 --> 00:40:00,020 someone younger as Mrs. Wilberforce but she died before 671 00:40:00,020 --> 00:40:03,100 they started shooting. So they they then offered the 672 00:40:03,100 --> 00:40:07,060 role to Katie Johnson. But the problem was, because she 673 00:40:07,060 --> 00:40:10,780 was so old or elderly, there was a problem with the there was 674 00:40:10,780 --> 00:40:13,020 going to be additional insurance costs. 675 00:40:13,690 --> 00:40:17,370 Now get this right, she offered. Katie Johnson offered to pay the 676 00:40:17,410 --> 00:40:19,450 extra costs out of her own savings. 677 00:40:21,850 --> 00:40:25,490 Goodness. And her career up to this point 678 00:40:25,490 --> 00:40:28,450 had been really unspectacular. She mostly played bit roles and 679 00:40:28,450 --> 00:40:31,730 minor old lady roles, very often uncredited. 680 00:40:32,690 --> 00:40:36,570 And this was her penultimate film, and this is her biggest 681 00:40:36,570 --> 00:40:39,010 film. And she wanted, she wanted to 682 00:40:39,010 --> 00:40:41,610 ask her, she wanted to BAFTA for this role. 683 00:40:42,490 --> 00:40:44,410 Marvelous. And she is brilliant. 684 00:40:44,410 --> 00:40:48,490 And I'm looking at her now and she just looks, you know, you'd 685 00:40:48,490 --> 00:40:50,250 think she would she. You think she did. 686 00:40:50,410 --> 00:40:52,730 She'd be the star of a dozen films before. 687 00:40:52,890 --> 00:40:55,090 Yeah. She was so believable, Yeah. 688 00:40:55,250 --> 00:40:57,810 In this, you know everything about her is believable. 689 00:40:58,850 --> 00:41:02,890 Well, there's nothing for it. Don't have to come in, but 690 00:41:02,970 --> 00:41:06,290 Please remember this. These are some of my oldest and 691 00:41:06,330 --> 00:41:08,450 closest friends. They mustn't get the slightest 692 00:41:08,450 --> 00:41:11,010 inkling of this disgraceful affair. 693 00:41:11,670 --> 00:41:14,310 Oh, really? This is the most embarrassing 694 00:41:14,310 --> 00:41:18,310 position. Embarrassing and humiliating. 695 00:41:18,510 --> 00:41:22,670 Simply try for one hour to behave like gentlemen. 696 00:41:23,270 --> 00:41:26,870 All right, man. Even moments when she's there 697 00:41:26,870 --> 00:41:30,030 was one moment where she indulges in some broad humor, 698 00:41:31,230 --> 00:41:34,590 and that's very early on. It's, you know, when you know 699 00:41:34,590 --> 00:41:37,190 she's she's gone home. She's made a nuisance of herself 700 00:41:37,190 --> 00:41:39,510 at the police station that morning, as she often did. 701 00:41:40,730 --> 00:41:42,810 And she's gone home to fill her kettle. 702 00:41:44,530 --> 00:41:48,890 And she puts the kettle under the tap in her Belfast sink, 703 00:41:49,290 --> 00:41:52,290 turns the tap on and nothing happens except the standard 704 00:41:52,290 --> 00:41:55,010 Victorian plumbing noise that you get in old houses, you know. 705 00:41:56,530 --> 00:42:01,650 And she picks up off the wall and mallet and hits the pipe 706 00:42:01,650 --> 00:42:06,490 work above the sink four times incredibly hard, and eventually 707 00:42:06,490 --> 00:42:08,370 the water starts to come through. 708 00:42:09,250 --> 00:42:12,570 That's the one moment of, you know, real broad humor that she 709 00:42:12,570 --> 00:42:13,850 does. The rest of the time. 710 00:42:14,250 --> 00:42:17,370 She is very prim and proper all the way through it. 711 00:42:17,530 --> 00:42:19,210 It's just it's a beautiful section. 712 00:42:19,570 --> 00:42:21,650 It is. The always makes me laugh. 713 00:42:22,250 --> 00:42:23,930 We see it. We see that a number of times in 714 00:42:23,930 --> 00:42:27,650 the film the in the in constant pipe work that she has to do 715 00:42:27,650 --> 00:42:30,290 with. Well, that old adds to the, you 716 00:42:30,290 --> 00:42:33,930 know, the atmosphere of this. You know the knackered Kings 717 00:42:33,930 --> 00:42:37,750 Cross in 1955. Yeah, you can imagine King's 718 00:42:37,750 --> 00:42:41,150 Cross and Victorian plumbing and all of that. 719 00:42:41,150 --> 00:42:44,910 It's as you can say. It's the American view I guess 720 00:42:44,950 --> 00:42:47,750 of you know how knackered England was after the war. 721 00:42:48,990 --> 00:42:50,870 That's right. And the and the house that she 722 00:42:50,870 --> 00:42:55,470 lives in was purpose, purpose built or the OR the at least the 723 00:42:55,470 --> 00:43:00,470 exterior was and and I believe it was built on Argyle St. 724 00:43:01,910 --> 00:43:06,680 I didn't know that. And they decided that the decor, 725 00:43:06,680 --> 00:43:10,080 the interior decor would be very muted. 726 00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:13,160 The colors would be very muted in some cases, Gray, grayscale, 727 00:43:13,400 --> 00:43:17,240 kind of. As well as the casts, costumes, 728 00:43:17,240 --> 00:43:20,320 largely, you know, there's no, no, no really bright colors, 729 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:28,640 lots of muted Browns and Grays and greens, and the house itself 730 00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:32,040 is unchanged after more than 50 years. 731 00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:37,720 There's no mod cons to speak of and it's it's also suffering 732 00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:40,920 from subsidence and it's lopsided the house. 733 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,520 The house is lopsided, as is the the occupant. 734 00:43:44,000 --> 00:43:47,120 And there's the lovely little bit where Guinness is looking 735 00:43:47,120 --> 00:43:49,200 when he first arrives and he's looking around the house and he 736 00:43:49,200 --> 00:43:52,080 keeps straightening the. Yes. 737 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:55,400 One of them just goes straight back off the straight, doesn't 738 00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:57,240 it? You know, off the perpendicular. 739 00:43:57,400 --> 00:44:02,360 Yeah, you know the toothy Scowley gives it at that point. 740 00:44:02,400 --> 00:44:06,390 You know what? But yes, no, it's it's wonderful 741 00:44:06,390 --> 00:44:09,630 to see, you know, very, very minutely observed. 742 00:44:09,950 --> 00:44:13,310 Very, very well well realized. Yeah, He inquires about the 743 00:44:13,310 --> 00:44:17,430 rooms to let. As we know he he basically says 744 00:44:17,430 --> 00:44:21,430 that he wants to use the rooms to rehearse his string quartet, 745 00:44:22,710 --> 00:44:24,270 and she's very taken by this idea. 746 00:44:24,670 --> 00:44:29,870 And so he moves in and then the next day we see arriving the 747 00:44:29,990 --> 00:44:34,950 other members of the quote quintet we'll begin, we've got, 748 00:44:34,950 --> 00:44:41,790 we've got Major Courtney, who is Cecil Parker, who was probably 749 00:44:41,790 --> 00:44:44,990 one of those Army majors who was cashiered out of the Army from 750 00:44:44,990 --> 00:44:46,550 embezzlement or something like that. 751 00:44:47,910 --> 00:44:50,990 It is like blood knocks, slightly less dodgy brother. 752 00:44:51,310 --> 00:44:52,550 It is. I think you know, yeah. 753 00:44:52,550 --> 00:44:53,830 Seth Parker is. It is. 754 00:44:54,190 --> 00:44:56,630 Yes, it is he. Of course he was in heavens 755 00:44:56,630 --> 00:45:01,150 above with yes, sellers. Yes, I was playing Bishop Lee. 756 00:45:01,510 --> 00:45:03,670 Type of people, isn't he? You know, if it wasn't a major, 757 00:45:03,670 --> 00:45:06,310 he was a Bishop. Yeah, because I saw him most 758 00:45:06,310 --> 00:45:10,310 recently in I Was Monty's double, where again, he was 759 00:45:10,310 --> 00:45:15,510 playing in military season. He plays military types, not 760 00:45:15,510 --> 00:45:18,630 Sergeant majors, but tends to be sort of colonels or majors. 761 00:45:19,390 --> 00:45:22,350 Yes, one's not quite in control exactly. 762 00:45:22,990 --> 00:45:25,430 Yeah, very slightly panicky around the edges, Yeah. 763 00:45:25,470 --> 00:45:28,430 Yeah. So you have the Major, you have 764 00:45:30,590 --> 00:45:35,190 Mr. Lawson, whose nickname is One Round, which is the actor 765 00:45:35,190 --> 00:45:37,230 Danny grew actor. It was he, was he an actor? 766 00:45:37,230 --> 00:45:38,590 Was he? I'm not quite sure what he was, 767 00:45:38,590 --> 00:45:40,710 Danny Green. I don't know Danny Green. 768 00:45:41,470 --> 00:45:42,990 I don't know. But he was perfect. 769 00:45:43,070 --> 00:45:44,950 I mean for. The role, whatever he was, you 770 00:45:44,950 --> 00:45:46,910 know, one round, because that's all. 771 00:45:46,910 --> 00:45:49,990 But anybody ever managed to stay in the boxing ring with him for 772 00:45:50,670 --> 00:45:53,270 I only got that. You know, I took me years to get 773 00:45:53,270 --> 00:45:54,510 that. I didn't understand that. 774 00:45:54,670 --> 00:45:57,390 But yeah, yeah. But he know he's as punch drunk 775 00:45:57,390 --> 00:46:01,170 as they come. And Matt, you know, wonderfully, 776 00:46:02,370 --> 00:46:04,490 wonderfully slow. Well, yeah. 777 00:46:04,490 --> 00:46:07,570 But you look at him and you think he would be the sort that 778 00:46:07,570 --> 00:46:11,530 would be typically cast as a fobbish dandy in Regency dramas. 779 00:46:11,530 --> 00:46:14,610 But no. Harry is giving a chance to flex 780 00:46:14,610 --> 00:46:21,610 his muscles as a heavy and and of course making up the gang is, 781 00:46:21,610 --> 00:46:24,570 is young Peter Sellers as as Harry Robinson. 782 00:46:25,370 --> 00:46:30,210 Yeah, Sellers apparently was, because it was his first big 783 00:46:30,210 --> 00:46:32,690 film. He was understandably quite 784 00:46:32,690 --> 00:46:39,210 jittery and nervous on set and and quite cowed by appearing in 785 00:46:39,210 --> 00:46:41,490 the same film as his idol, which is Alec Guinness. 786 00:46:42,330 --> 00:46:46,250 Guinness wrote later in his memoirs that he felt that 787 00:46:46,610 --> 00:46:52,210 Sellers was a bit surly on set and and and it comes across in 788 00:46:52,210 --> 00:46:54,210 the character. I guess that sort of nervous, 789 00:46:54,290 --> 00:46:57,660 nervous ticks, the jitteriness, the the the, the lack of 790 00:46:57,660 --> 00:47:00,900 confidence that he. I think, well that was something 791 00:47:00,900 --> 00:47:04,140 that set us up with all his life, you know, and he had 792 00:47:04,140 --> 00:47:07,980 confidence in his abilities. Now this is the point. 793 00:47:07,980 --> 00:47:11,300 Did he have confidence in his abilities in 55 when he was I? 794 00:47:11,380 --> 00:47:12,900 I wouldn't have thought as much, no. 795 00:47:13,500 --> 00:47:18,140 No, no from it, Particularly up against people like Guinness. 796 00:47:18,740 --> 00:47:21,260 Well, absolutely. You know this this was a big 797 00:47:21,260 --> 00:47:24,700 this was technical, this was an Ealing comedy in color. 798 00:47:25,130 --> 00:47:28,250 Despite the fact that they were muted colors, as you say, you 799 00:47:28,250 --> 00:47:31,370 know, so there was a there was a budget in this and quite a bit 800 00:47:31,370 --> 00:47:34,930 of budget. And I can, I can understand, you 801 00:47:34,930 --> 00:47:38,010 know, Guinness thinking he was surly, but you know, what was 802 00:47:38,330 --> 00:47:42,250 sellers like on other film sets? You know, if he was daunted by 803 00:47:42,250 --> 00:47:43,730 this, that's perfectly understandable. 804 00:47:43,730 --> 00:47:47,410 I suppose it's only in later life, I suppose, that he started 805 00:47:47,410 --> 00:47:50,410 to well, you know, flex, whatever. 806 00:47:50,730 --> 00:47:53,170 You know, muscles, he felt he could flex. 807 00:47:53,890 --> 00:47:56,330 You know, he was. He was a bankable star by that 808 00:47:56,330 --> 00:47:57,010 point. Of course. 809 00:47:57,610 --> 00:48:00,570 It said that if Sellers was playing a decent character, nice 810 00:48:00,570 --> 00:48:03,290 character in a film, that he would be nice on set. 811 00:48:03,410 --> 00:48:05,690 Or if he was playing a villainous character or a nasty 812 00:48:05,690 --> 00:48:08,730 character, as in Never Let Go, he'd been Never Let Go Sleep 813 00:48:08,730 --> 00:48:10,850 bastard. And that's right, and that's, 814 00:48:10,930 --> 00:48:13,010 that's his son said. That actually made me in the 815 00:48:13,250 --> 00:48:15,690 life when they were doing never let go, Absolutely. 816 00:48:15,690 --> 00:48:20,770 And Harry Robinson is is is a I mean Richard Lewis describes the 817 00:48:20,770 --> 00:48:24,050 character as a little bit like an adult blue bottle in some way 818 00:48:25,050 --> 00:48:29,890 and and you can kind of see I suppose at a stretch but but he 819 00:48:30,850 --> 00:48:34,970 but he is quite you know he is a bit he's quite a jittery 820 00:48:34,970 --> 00:48:38,450 character in general and so Sellers I guess was just you 821 00:48:38,490 --> 00:48:40,970 know what's the word in the. Zone in the zone. 822 00:48:41,210 --> 00:48:44,170 Yes, I I said. He was making up the gang. 823 00:48:44,170 --> 00:48:46,290 There was one member I I forgot to mention. 824 00:48:46,900 --> 00:48:49,260 And of course if you think of Peter Sellers these days, if 825 00:48:49,260 --> 00:48:54,180 anyone, anyone who are not, you know, big fans like like we are 826 00:48:54,220 --> 00:48:56,900 and this is to this podcast. If you talk about Peter Sellers, 827 00:48:56,980 --> 00:48:59,500 generally speaking people will get think of the Pink Panther 828 00:48:59,500 --> 00:49:03,860 films, the Closso films. And if you think about closso 829 00:49:04,020 --> 00:49:06,620 you think about Cato. Who else do you think about? 830 00:49:07,900 --> 00:49:10,980 Herbert Charles Angelo Kokatchevitch Za Shlu de 831 00:49:10,980 --> 00:49:13,100 Pakharou. Easy for you to say. 832 00:49:13,100 --> 00:49:16,380 Herbert Lum. Herbert Lum, yeah. 833 00:49:17,460 --> 00:49:19,980 And of course, this. This would be her seller's first 834 00:49:19,980 --> 00:49:23,460 meeting with Herbert Long, because Herbert is the last 835 00:49:23,460 --> 00:49:25,500 member of the gang. Louis Harvey. 836 00:49:27,060 --> 00:49:28,260 It's a. Strange thing, isn't it? 837 00:49:28,260 --> 00:49:32,580 Because you know Louis Harvey, English name, you know, or 838 00:49:32,580 --> 00:49:35,980 possibly slightly foreign, you know with the Louie and all that 839 00:49:35,980 --> 00:49:38,580 sort of thing. And I've been trying to place 840 00:49:39,140 --> 00:49:42,660 Long's accent in this. He was check, wasn't he? 841 00:49:43,340 --> 00:49:45,190 He was check. Absolutely, he was. 842 00:49:45,190 --> 00:49:48,070 So you know that I think there is something strangely Eastern 843 00:49:48,070 --> 00:49:50,950 European about the accent that he's still carrying. 844 00:49:51,390 --> 00:49:54,190 And I think he probably carried that all, you know, in in other 845 00:49:54,190 --> 00:49:57,950 roles in his life. I've not seen any of the human 846 00:49:57,950 --> 00:50:03,390 jungle, which has been repeated on talking pictures, I think in 847 00:50:03,470 --> 00:50:05,390 in recent months. Yeah. 848 00:50:05,390 --> 00:50:07,250 Is it any good? Not really. 849 00:50:08,170 --> 00:50:10,130 Okay, that's fine in Hell drivers. 850 00:50:10,130 --> 00:50:12,210 He plays an Italian, I think, doesn't he? 851 00:50:12,210 --> 00:50:13,370 Oh, that's right. He does. 852 00:50:13,410 --> 00:50:14,850 Oh, that's a fine film. It's a great film. 853 00:50:15,530 --> 00:50:19,010 It's a fine film. But yes, in this you hear him 854 00:50:19,690 --> 00:50:23,410 and there's still that strange, you know I hate little old 855 00:50:23,410 --> 00:50:26,090 ladies. Yes, you know there's that that 856 00:50:26,090 --> 00:50:28,210 is that's going on. Oh, I'll tell you something. 857 00:50:28,210 --> 00:50:29,490 This is lovely. I don't know whether. 858 00:50:29,870 --> 00:50:31,830 My old friend Christopher Smith is listening to this. 859 00:50:31,830 --> 00:50:37,110 CJ you you interviewed him the other day, some months ago. 860 00:50:38,110 --> 00:50:41,790 I remember we we both used to be great friends with Herbert 861 00:50:41,790 --> 00:50:47,670 Long's PA and one day she got him when they were on holiday 862 00:50:47,670 --> 00:50:51,430 somewhere, I think it was in Vienna to send us some postcards 863 00:50:51,750 --> 00:50:53,230 and I've. I've got wine guys, you know, 864 00:50:53,710 --> 00:50:56,350 dear Graham, having a wonderful time with Maxine and Mozart, 865 00:50:56,350 --> 00:50:59,880 etcetera, Herbert and Chris is. And said, you know, there's 866 00:50:59,880 --> 00:51:03,160 something similar on the lines. PS I still hate little old 867 00:51:03,160 --> 00:51:08,000 ladies. Oh wonderful, brilliant. 868 00:51:08,000 --> 00:51:08,920 I. Hope he still got it. 869 00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:10,280 I hope he still got it. Brilliant. 870 00:51:10,560 --> 00:51:12,680 I have to ask him that sometime, yeah. 871 00:51:13,280 --> 00:51:17,640 And he's the most. He's the darkest character in 872 00:51:17,640 --> 00:51:23,230 the gang in the sense that he's the most threatening. 873 00:51:23,470 --> 00:51:25,990 Sinister. Very much so, Yes, absolutely. 874 00:51:25,990 --> 00:51:28,550 You know, You think you know, I wouldn't would like to see you 875 00:51:28,550 --> 00:51:31,830 in The Dark Knight. I bet you've got fish ups and 876 00:51:31,830 --> 00:51:37,110 he's he's the one who's comes up against all sort of locks horns 877 00:51:37,110 --> 00:51:42,190 with Marcus the most. And apparently he long was 878 00:51:42,190 --> 00:51:46,470 wearing a Black Hat for this role often because well, I don't 879 00:51:46,470 --> 00:51:50,300 think DC DC without the hat because he was playing the king 880 00:51:50,300 --> 00:51:53,380 of Siam and the King and I on the West End at the time, so we 881 00:51:53,380 --> 00:51:55,500 had a shaven head for most of the. 882 00:51:56,860 --> 00:51:58,380 I don't think you do change that. 883 00:51:58,700 --> 00:52:00,780 Come to mention. Come to mention if it if. 884 00:52:01,220 --> 00:52:04,260 If you do I don't think you do being no. 885 00:52:04,260 --> 00:52:05,940 I think you're right. Yeah. 886 00:52:07,180 --> 00:52:09,460 Cat cowboy movies. The villains in the Black Hat. 887 00:52:09,540 --> 00:52:13,580 Carry on. We have to have someone to bring 888 00:52:13,580 --> 00:52:15,260 out the money. Let's get a professional or 889 00:52:15,260 --> 00:52:17,540 bring it out ourselves, because spectacular getaway. 890 00:52:17,540 --> 00:52:20,900 You mean that 70 miles an hour in the heart of London in broad 891 00:52:20,900 --> 00:52:24,820 daylight? I'll take it back into the 892 00:52:24,820 --> 00:52:26,860 station and send it out by train. 893 00:52:26,860 --> 00:52:29,300 What any intelligent policeman would expect us to do. 894 00:52:29,820 --> 00:52:31,660 Quite a flare lawyer for the obvious. 895 00:52:32,100 --> 00:52:35,420 Can't you appreciate that Mrs. Wilberforce is not a mere 896 00:52:35,420 --> 00:52:37,620 appendage to my branch? Is a very car of it. 897 00:52:38,540 --> 00:52:41,740 Lopsided old grandma. Yeah. 898 00:52:42,590 --> 00:52:44,910 How do we know we can trust her to do it right if she don't even 899 00:52:44,910 --> 00:52:50,830 know what she's doing? One round weak little old lady 900 00:52:50,830 --> 00:52:54,470 like her just don't seem right for her to be working with us on 901 00:52:54,510 --> 00:52:57,150 a stick up paper. Tell you, I don't like old 902 00:52:57,150 --> 00:52:58,750 ladies. I don't like having them around. 903 00:53:00,310 --> 00:53:03,030 Can't stand them and so the plan is essentially that they're 904 00:53:03,030 --> 00:53:12,650 going to rob £60,000 from is it the male train or a male train 905 00:53:12,930 --> 00:53:18,610 at male trains cross station and they are going to involve Mrs. 906 00:53:18,610 --> 00:53:23,930 Wilberforce in the in the plan. In the heist she will be 907 00:53:23,930 --> 00:53:29,450 dispatched to collect the trunk that the booty is in and she 908 00:53:29,450 --> 00:53:31,810 will bring it home under the very noses of the police. 909 00:53:33,090 --> 00:53:37,120 And Louie is against this plan. Yeah, you can't trust her, for 910 00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:38,840 goodness sakes. You know, I hate little old 911 00:53:38,840 --> 00:53:40,400 ladies. You know, she she'll muck the 912 00:53:40,400 --> 00:53:43,200 whole thing up. You know, this is a sort of, you 913 00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:45,160 know, plan that was dreamed up in the booby hatch. 914 00:53:45,800 --> 00:53:47,040 Rightly so. This is the bit. 915 00:53:48,400 --> 00:53:51,560 Explain this bit to me that the editing is all over the place I 916 00:53:51,560 --> 00:53:53,080 feel. It's a shocker, isn't it? 917 00:53:53,080 --> 00:53:55,360 At that point, what is all going on there? 918 00:53:55,360 --> 00:53:56,520 I don't know. I don't know. 919 00:53:57,200 --> 00:54:00,360 You know, you know you must, you know it is you know, says 920 00:54:00,360 --> 00:54:02,800 something along the lines if it is my plan or the plan or 921 00:54:02,800 --> 00:54:06,880 something like that. And you know that the the music 922 00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:10,480 swells and then it sort of like comes to an end or something 923 00:54:10,480 --> 00:54:13,480 like that, with Mrs. Wilberforce bringing in yet another tray of 924 00:54:13,480 --> 00:54:17,760 tea. But, you know, he turns to Louis 925 00:54:17,760 --> 00:54:20,520 at one point and looks as though there's something very menacing 926 00:54:20,600 --> 00:54:23,880 going to happen at this point. He gets very angry at the 927 00:54:23,880 --> 00:54:26,440 mention of the booby hatch. Yeah, it's just. 928 00:54:26,960 --> 00:54:30,560 But you're right, it's an it's an odd moment, isn't it? 929 00:54:30,560 --> 00:54:31,440 You know? Absolutely. 930 00:54:32,280 --> 00:54:33,840 You think to yourself, you know, he's, you know. 931 00:54:34,170 --> 00:54:35,890 If he hadn't have been interrupted, would he have 932 00:54:35,890 --> 00:54:40,250 killed Louis Harvey? At that .1 wonders how, how, 933 00:54:40,370 --> 00:54:44,730 how, how how unhinged is Marcus. It's kind of like, yeah, if 934 00:54:44,730 --> 00:54:49,810 anyone suggests his questions, his sanity, the implication 935 00:54:49,810 --> 00:54:52,130 that, you know, one of the most annoying. 936 00:54:52,130 --> 00:54:53,610 I mean, I do. I do enjoy the Back to the 937 00:54:53,610 --> 00:54:58,130 Future franchise, but I don't like the way they sort of 938 00:54:58,850 --> 00:55:02,700 retrospectively in this from the second film gave Marty McFly 939 00:55:02,700 --> 00:55:05,860 this. The red mist would descend if 940 00:55:05,860 --> 00:55:07,820 anyone ever called him a chicken. 941 00:55:08,540 --> 00:55:11,500 Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's. 942 00:55:12,700 --> 00:55:14,900 Yeah, it's not a. It's a clumsy device. 943 00:55:14,900 --> 00:55:16,420 It was a clot device. Yeah, that was. 944 00:55:16,740 --> 00:55:18,420 It's a clumsy, clumsy device. Yeah, absolutely. 945 00:55:18,540 --> 00:55:20,100 Yeah. But. 946 00:55:20,180 --> 00:55:21,940 And I think there might be something along the lines of 947 00:55:21,940 --> 00:55:26,540 that with Guinness here. But it's a moment. 948 00:55:27,570 --> 00:55:30,010 Which I agree with you. You know, the editing's all over 949 00:55:30,010 --> 00:55:32,090 the place and it doesn't quite fit with the rest of the film. 950 00:55:32,090 --> 00:55:35,050 It's just this strange little peak that's about to happen. 951 00:55:35,610 --> 00:55:37,690 And then it it goes wrong. Yes. 952 00:55:37,970 --> 00:55:39,450 Yeah. You know, I'd love to know the 953 00:55:39,450 --> 00:55:42,930 story behind that, so maybe someone listening can can write 954 00:55:42,930 --> 00:55:47,010 in. Indeed now when when you talk 955 00:55:47,010 --> 00:55:50,930 about the the film Ladykillers 1955 version will come to the 956 00:55:50,930 --> 00:55:53,730 other one briefly later. But when you when you think 957 00:55:53,730 --> 00:55:59,390 about the proper Ladykillers film, yes, one of the most, one 958 00:55:59,390 --> 00:56:01,750 of the things that's most closely associated with it is 959 00:56:01,790 --> 00:56:07,510 the the music that which I believe is Boccarini's minuet. 960 00:56:08,110 --> 00:56:13,830 Boccarini's that sort of, yes, there's a little bit of hide and 961 00:56:13,830 --> 00:56:18,190 serenade in there as well. And every time I hear the 962 00:56:18,190 --> 00:56:20,710 Boccarini spring quarter, if I've got Classic FM on in the 963 00:56:20,710 --> 00:56:24,160 car or something like that. I'm back watching Lady Killers 964 00:56:24,160 --> 00:56:31,200 in me mind it's, you know, it is completely you know, I would say 965 00:56:31,200 --> 00:56:35,520 that you could not hear that piece of music without thinking 966 00:56:35,520 --> 00:56:37,280 of The Lady Killers at all. No. 967 00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,320 Not at all. There's another little link here 968 00:56:40,720 --> 00:56:41,840 as far as the music is concerned. 969 00:56:41,840 --> 00:56:45,000 Nobody really talks about the soundtrack of this because it's 970 00:56:45,000 --> 00:56:49,240 just so suffused with Pocarini, you know it's everywhere. 971 00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:56,280 But the person who did the sound of the the, the score for this 972 00:56:56,280 --> 00:56:57,840 film is a guy called Tristan Carey. 973 00:56:59,080 --> 00:57:00,440 You may or may not have heard of him. 974 00:57:01,280 --> 00:57:04,240 He was an early electronic music pioneer. 975 00:57:04,240 --> 00:57:06,760 He was about 30 years old. So that major sellers by the 976 00:57:08,040 --> 00:57:11,280 sorry music. No, no, no, not quite, no. 977 00:57:12,040 --> 00:57:13,960 But actually yes, indeed. There would have been any points 978 00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:15,360 of fact. Yes, there was music conquest in 979 00:57:15,360 --> 00:57:16,560 this. Of course, you know, it was 980 00:57:17,080 --> 00:57:19,960 early tape stuff in that. And eventually he was a 981 00:57:19,960 --> 00:57:25,320 cofounder of a company called EMS who made the V CS3, the 982 00:57:25,320 --> 00:57:27,400 first available portable synthesizer. 983 00:57:28,840 --> 00:57:31,440 You know some, you know, some years later with, you know, the 984 00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:34,520 the great pieces in Ovia from David Cockrell, who is, I 985 00:57:34,520 --> 00:57:37,440 believe, still working. It's Electro harmonics in the 986 00:57:37,440 --> 00:57:40,720 United States making effects pedals in all of these years 987 00:57:40,720 --> 00:57:43,160 later. But yeah, the EMS Synthee, EMS 988 00:57:43,160 --> 00:57:44,520 Synthee 100 and all that sort of thing. 989 00:57:44,520 --> 00:57:46,520 Tristan Carey was one of the founders of this. 990 00:57:47,810 --> 00:57:52,010 He also did music for Doctor Who and the Daleks, Quite a mass in 991 00:57:52,010 --> 00:57:55,050 the pit in 67, all of these. So you know this. 992 00:57:55,050 --> 00:57:58,050 This was his first real school that he did. 993 00:57:58,530 --> 00:58:02,690 His father was an Irish author called Joyce Carey. 994 00:58:03,730 --> 00:58:08,330 He wrote the book The Horse's Mouth, which is the film that 995 00:58:08,370 --> 00:58:11,330 Alec Guinness starred in three years later as Gully Jimson. 996 00:58:11,330 --> 00:58:14,890 So there's the link, right? Know whether there's any sort 997 00:58:14,890 --> 00:58:18,530 of, you know, weird. 6 degrees of separation thing about that. 998 00:58:18,530 --> 00:58:21,570 You never know the might be I love. 999 00:58:21,570 --> 00:58:23,450 There's a lovely little piece of getting back to the film. 1000 00:58:23,930 --> 00:58:27,290 So there's a lovely little piece of comic business with sellers. 1001 00:58:28,450 --> 00:58:31,490 In order for for them to keep Mrs. Wilberforce oblivious of 1002 00:58:31,490 --> 00:58:34,770 what's going on. They are posing as a string 1003 00:58:34,770 --> 00:58:40,250 quartet and they are supposedly practicing in in the room and 1004 00:58:40,250 --> 00:58:44,650 they're playing this gramophone record of baccarini's minuet. 1005 00:58:46,020 --> 00:58:50,380 But yeah, Mrs. Wilberforce keeps interrupting them to bring in 1006 00:58:50,460 --> 00:58:53,420 cups of tea and there's a lovely sequence a lovely little bit, 1007 00:58:53,460 --> 00:58:57,900 where the forgot sellers as as Harry has forgotten something, 1008 00:58:57,900 --> 00:59:01,340 he runs into a room and then runs back into the other room 1009 00:59:02,340 --> 00:59:06,500 off screen if you like, and you hear, just hear him go off as he 1010 00:59:06,500 --> 00:59:08,660 collides. We don't see it, but we we 1011 00:59:08,660 --> 00:59:12,620 gather he's collided with the rather large stomach of one 1012 00:59:12,620 --> 00:59:17,930 round. Yeah, that's this is it. 1013 00:59:17,970 --> 00:59:21,210 Even though that this is such a dark film, it's a funny film. 1014 00:59:21,650 --> 00:59:24,210 You know, there are wonderful bits of comic business all the 1015 00:59:24,210 --> 00:59:27,050 way through it. You know, as I say, you know, 1016 00:59:27,050 --> 00:59:30,650 when Mrs. Wilberforce knocks on the door, and so they have to 1017 00:59:30,650 --> 00:59:34,730 take the gramophone record off. And pose there with the violins 1018 00:59:34,730 --> 00:59:37,930 into their chins, you know. No, Mrs. Wilberforce, we don't 1019 00:59:37,930 --> 00:59:39,170 want anymore tea. Thank you. 1020 00:59:39,650 --> 00:59:41,450 It's one of the thing. And I wondered whether. 1021 00:59:41,450 --> 00:59:43,930 No, it's fine, thank you, you know, and so on and so forth. 1022 00:59:44,050 --> 00:59:47,250 Trying to plot this robbery. You know it's beautiful. 1023 00:59:50,290 --> 00:59:52,730 Oh, I'm so sorry. I do apologize. 1024 00:59:52,890 --> 00:59:57,210 I assure you, he's never bitten anyone before. 1025 00:59:58,530 --> 01:00:00,250 I wonder how much to get him down. 1026 01:00:02,110 --> 01:00:05,150 Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Robinson. I'll get a band. 1027 01:00:05,150 --> 01:00:06,630 No, don't bother, Mrs. Wilberforce. 1028 01:00:06,630 --> 01:00:10,510 It's alright. Swap the deck yourself. 1029 01:00:10,510 --> 01:00:14,070 You're filthy looking. Oh dear, Oh dear. 1030 01:00:14,630 --> 01:00:19,110 Oh, Mr. Robinson. Mrs. Wilberforce has a 1031 01:00:19,750 --> 01:00:23,710 collection of parrots, including including, I believe it's a 1032 01:00:23,710 --> 01:00:29,150 cockatoo called General Gordon and. 1033 01:00:30,070 --> 01:00:34,030 And supposedly, Sellers voiced the parrots. 1034 01:00:34,830 --> 01:00:36,230 Yeah, see? I believe so. 1035 01:00:36,230 --> 01:00:37,510 Yeah, swap the decks. Yeah, swap. 1036 01:00:37,550 --> 01:00:40,190 Those and it bites them at one. But don't swap the deck 1037 01:00:40,190 --> 01:00:40,950 yourself. You're wrong. 1038 01:00:42,150 --> 01:00:44,750 Which is another example, because when we talked about 1039 01:00:44,830 --> 01:00:47,750 Wrong arm of the lore a few weeks ago, there's a scene with. 1040 01:00:48,870 --> 01:00:53,310 Sellers as Pearly Gates and Toot, Lenkov, Ziggy Schmaltz, 1041 01:00:53,350 --> 01:00:55,790 and Sellers was doing the voice of Ziggy Schmaltz. 1042 01:00:55,790 --> 01:00:57,750 So there's a scene where Sellers is effectively talking to 1043 01:00:57,750 --> 01:01:00,510 himself on screen. So you've got the same same 1044 01:01:00,510 --> 01:01:02,390 thing here, really, haven't you? The parents. 1045 01:01:02,390 --> 01:01:04,550 The MC Creaky Rising of 74 all over again. 1046 01:01:04,550 --> 01:01:05,990 Yes. Yes, yes. 1047 01:01:06,950 --> 01:01:09,870 It's not a great show that. No, it is a total show. 1048 01:01:09,870 --> 01:01:11,990 I'm sorry, it's not my favorite. We're gonna do that one 1049 01:01:11,990 --> 01:01:13,950 sometime. I'm so sorry. 1050 01:01:16,760 --> 01:01:19,400 Right. I don't want to go off subject 1051 01:01:19,400 --> 01:01:21,800 too much here, but people are people that insist that you 1052 01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:24,960 cannot tell that it's sellers instead of Milligan being 1053 01:01:24,960 --> 01:01:26,200 wilfully ignorant there, I think. 1054 01:01:26,600 --> 01:01:30,520 And they are, of course they are in this, you know, Yes. 1055 01:01:30,600 --> 01:01:32,200 No. Of course they are idiots, yeah. 1056 01:01:32,280 --> 01:01:35,680 Shut up, fools. Anyway, the fools, I say no. 1057 01:01:35,680 --> 01:01:41,520 The letters. Oh, there's always on but. 1058 01:01:42,670 --> 01:01:44,950 But then we get I suppose let's get to the the point and I 1059 01:01:44,950 --> 01:01:47,070 appreciate we're we're rushing through this but we can come 1060 01:01:47,070 --> 01:01:49,550 back and talk about other bits that you know we miss out if you 1061 01:01:49,550 --> 01:01:52,390 like later. But we get we get the actual 1062 01:01:52,390 --> 01:01:56,510 heist itself, which it's carried out with great efficiency and 1063 01:01:56,510 --> 01:01:58,790 and the gangs work together well I think. 1064 01:02:01,030 --> 01:02:05,710 Yeah, they do. And you know, the the timing of 1065 01:02:05,710 --> 01:02:10,270 it is absolutely beautiful. You know everything that you 1066 01:02:10,270 --> 01:02:12,380 know. Could have gone wrong, does not 1067 01:02:12,380 --> 01:02:17,980 go wrong. You know again that's reflected 1068 01:02:17,980 --> 01:02:22,140 in the soundtrack. You've got this constant ticking 1069 01:02:22,140 --> 01:02:25,820 all the way through, you know this this clock like thing and 1070 01:02:25,820 --> 01:02:30,340 it is going like clockwork and you know she should be coming to 1071 01:02:30,340 --> 01:02:39,980 view just about now. It's like, you know, it is a 1072 01:02:39,980 --> 01:02:44,530 very well. Executed plan until something 1073 01:02:44,530 --> 01:02:47,730 starts to go wrong. But I mean, but as as is the 1074 01:02:47,730 --> 01:02:51,650 classic convention when you have a heist keeper, generally 1075 01:02:51,650 --> 01:02:53,970 speaking the first half of film involves the planning and the 1076 01:02:53,970 --> 01:02:57,330 execution and then then second-half is the fallout and 1077 01:02:58,130 --> 01:03:05,050 and and collapse and arrest and everything else as as here and 1078 01:03:05,770 --> 01:03:08,370 we get Mrs. Wilberforce arriving to pick up the trunk. 1079 01:03:09,100 --> 01:03:13,820 And the the police and detectives are looking for what 1080 01:03:13,820 --> 01:03:16,220 are they doing. They're looking for outgoing 1081 01:03:16,220 --> 01:03:18,740 parcels. That's right. 1082 01:03:20,860 --> 01:03:22,780 But she. So hang on. 1083 01:03:22,780 --> 01:03:23,940 This is the bit that's a bit confusing. 1084 01:03:23,940 --> 01:03:27,060 She picks up the trunk and then she returns to the station 1085 01:03:27,060 --> 01:03:29,700 because she's left her umbrella, which is something that she 1086 01:03:29,700 --> 01:03:33,020 does. And she gets into a cab driven 1087 01:03:33,020 --> 01:03:38,500 by Kenneth Connor, uncredited Kenneth Connor. 1088 01:03:39,120 --> 01:03:41,600 Cool. Yeah, me. 1089 01:03:41,600 --> 01:03:43,960 So Cook. No, that was Leslie Phillips. 1090 01:03:43,960 --> 01:03:44,840 Forgive me. It's the other one. 1091 01:03:46,480 --> 01:03:47,800 Hello, dear. All right, good one. 1092 01:03:48,160 --> 01:03:51,360 He Paul King of Connor doesn't get a credit, but Frankie Howard 1093 01:03:51,360 --> 01:03:55,080 does, and I'm afraid I don't think he was deserving of it. 1094 01:03:55,080 --> 01:03:59,200 Not in this film anyway. Don't stop me on Frankie Howard, 1095 01:03:59,200 --> 01:04:04,760 because I'll use. Ladies and what? 1096 01:04:05,930 --> 01:04:11,930 No, I'm not going to do that. Frankie Howard, I used to like 1097 01:04:14,610 --> 01:04:20,130 and but he's very much a one note actor and you know, you you 1098 01:04:20,130 --> 01:04:24,130 watch him getting furious, you know, with some horse eating all 1099 01:04:24,130 --> 01:04:28,410 the fruit off his Barrow. Look what he's doing, you know, 1100 01:04:28,410 --> 01:04:31,410 the sort of, and it's exactly the same act that he did until 1101 01:04:31,410 --> 01:04:33,890 his death all the way through now. 1102 01:04:34,790 --> 01:04:37,190 You know, sometimes I'd find him funny because, you know, the 1103 01:04:37,190 --> 01:04:40,950 scripts that he had were okay, you know, for his stand up and 1104 01:04:40,950 --> 01:04:44,230 all that sort of thing. But I think, but I read Bob 1105 01:04:44,230 --> 01:04:49,350 Monkhouse's crying with laughter and I'll never look at Frankie. 1106 01:04:49,350 --> 01:04:51,230 I would in the same way ever again, Thank you very much. 1107 01:04:51,270 --> 01:04:53,390 But I haven't read that, but I have heard the stories. 1108 01:04:55,350 --> 01:04:57,750 Read the book. It's a It's a one of the finest 1109 01:04:57,950 --> 01:05:00,570 autobiographies I've ever read. It's really well, I do. 1110 01:05:00,610 --> 01:05:02,410 I do like me a bit of Bob Monkhouse. 1111 01:05:02,570 --> 01:05:03,290 Yeah, I must have. Yeah. 1112 01:05:03,290 --> 01:05:06,130 Crying with laughter. I can't recommend it highly 1113 01:05:06,130 --> 01:05:07,690 enough. I read it on holiday last year 1114 01:05:08,050 --> 01:05:10,250 and it's and it and it sticks on in your mind like a greasy 1115 01:05:10,250 --> 01:05:11,450 thumbprint. It's there forever. 1116 01:05:11,450 --> 01:05:15,250 Then makes, makes note, makes note, makes note another one. 1117 01:05:15,570 --> 01:05:18,250 Sorry. Yes, Frankie does not deserve a 1118 01:05:18,250 --> 01:05:20,490 credit in this much. Well can if kind of Connor 1119 01:05:20,490 --> 01:05:22,210 doesn't. And you Stratford John's as a 1120 01:05:22,210 --> 01:05:24,170 security. He's in this as well isn't, and 1121 01:05:24,170 --> 01:05:25,930 he doesn't get a credit either. I do. 1122 01:05:26,010 --> 01:05:28,370 I do like. Well, actually I haven't seen 1123 01:05:28,370 --> 01:05:30,790 them since. Since whenever they were 1124 01:05:30,790 --> 01:05:32,670 broadcast. But do you remember the just 1125 01:05:32,670 --> 01:05:36,310 before he died, Frankie did that series of sort of on the road 1126 01:05:36,310 --> 01:05:38,710 live shows? The students, yes. 1127 01:05:38,710 --> 01:05:40,150 The student union, Yes, they were all. 1128 01:05:40,150 --> 01:05:41,070 Right, I thought. They. 1129 01:05:41,270 --> 01:05:44,910 Were they were all right? And a couple of years ago I went 1130 01:05:44,910 --> 01:05:49,430 to a recording and audible recording of Pompeii with the 1131 01:05:49,910 --> 01:05:55,270 fabulous David Benson. Oh yes, who nailed the voice 1132 01:05:55,430 --> 01:05:57,370 like? Nobody I've ever heard nail it 1133 01:05:57,490 --> 01:05:59,610 in my life. I was, you know, shut your eyes 1134 01:05:59,610 --> 01:06:00,850 and he's there. He's one of those. 1135 01:06:01,810 --> 01:06:04,250 And that was that was a fun thing to go to as well. 1136 01:06:04,370 --> 01:06:06,610 In point of fact, I actually quite like Pompeii. 1137 01:06:08,210 --> 01:06:10,690 But anyway, yes. So, so, missus. 1138 01:06:10,690 --> 01:06:13,370 So anyway, Frankie Howard is carrying on with a horse or 1139 01:06:13,370 --> 01:06:16,530 something. Or he's being me. 1140 01:06:16,530 --> 01:06:18,130 He's being cruel to a horse. Which? 1141 01:06:18,330 --> 01:06:20,730 He's eating £3.00 of my apples already, whatever he's added. 1142 01:06:20,730 --> 01:06:22,130 That's it. And miss and the horse is called 1143 01:06:22,130 --> 01:06:24,290 Dennis, by the way, I believe Dennis. 1144 01:06:25,800 --> 01:06:28,920 Mrs. Wilbefore sees all this happening and she insists that 1145 01:06:28,920 --> 01:06:33,760 Kenneth Connor put on the brakes and she gets out and she she 1146 01:06:33,760 --> 01:06:38,760 starts remonstrating with Frankie Howard and the trunk 1147 01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:45,360 somehow is left on the side of the road and the the gang is 1148 01:06:45,360 --> 01:06:48,880 sort of driving past, watching all this going on, sort of 1149 01:06:49,280 --> 01:06:52,800 crouching down in their seats, aghast at what's happening. 1150 01:06:55,070 --> 01:06:58,550 And and and they ends up with the the Ross is arriving and 1151 01:06:58,550 --> 01:07:04,390 there's a scene at the police station and then finally Mrs. 1152 01:07:04,390 --> 01:07:07,470 Wilberforce is returned home and the police help her with the 1153 01:07:07,470 --> 01:07:10,590 trunk and they they place the trunk in the hole. 1154 01:07:11,030 --> 01:07:14,590 And the gang oblivious to this, they they think everything. 1155 01:07:14,670 --> 01:07:16,030 They're freaking out. They're thinking everything's 1156 01:07:16,070 --> 01:07:19,030 going horribly wrong. They arrived back at the at the 1157 01:07:19,070 --> 01:07:21,390 house and open the door. And what do they see? 1158 01:07:22,310 --> 01:07:23,110 The trunk? The trunk. 1159 01:07:24,820 --> 01:07:27,060 Happy days and you think to yourself, well, that's great. 1160 01:07:28,020 --> 01:07:32,940 Yeah and and they would have got away with it but for if it 1161 01:07:32,940 --> 01:07:36,900 hadn't been for for one round clumsy or one round. 1162 01:07:37,220 --> 01:07:40,180 I mean they they take the so it's lovely as well with one 1163 01:07:40,180 --> 01:07:42,780 round when they take the the trunk upstairs and they admire 1164 01:07:42,780 --> 01:07:44,860 the whole because what does he say? 1165 01:07:44,860 --> 01:07:48,100 He says look at that. What does he say exactly? 1166 01:07:51,710 --> 01:07:53,270 Yeah, it's almost like an Echols line, isn't it? 1167 01:07:53,270 --> 01:07:55,710 Something like that money would be worth a fortune or something 1168 01:07:55,710 --> 01:07:57,190 like it's something like that. I can't remember. 1169 01:07:57,190 --> 01:07:58,390 Look at that. Look at that. 1170 01:07:58,470 --> 01:08:01,630 Or something like that. Yeah, they're just admiring the 1171 01:08:01,630 --> 01:08:02,710 beauty. Yeah. 1172 01:08:04,830 --> 01:08:07,110 And they they obviously they stuffed their instrument cases 1173 01:08:07,110 --> 01:08:11,150 with with their share of the money and that they, as they're 1174 01:08:11,150 --> 01:08:13,830 leaving one round, gets his cello case stuck in the door 1175 01:08:13,830 --> 01:08:16,550 somehow when he pulls it and pulls it. 1176 01:08:16,790 --> 01:08:20,229 Gives an almighty tug and the money flies. 1177 01:08:20,729 --> 01:08:25,090 The money that they use which was which they they Mckendrick, 1178 01:08:25,090 --> 01:08:29,250 wanted it to look as close to real money as absolutely 1179 01:08:29,250 --> 01:08:32,410 possible. So short of actually, you know, 1180 01:08:32,410 --> 01:08:36,770 going and borrowing or taking 60,000 pounds of notes from the 1181 01:08:36,770 --> 01:08:40,729 bank, they got permission or authorization from the treasury 1182 01:08:40,729 --> 01:08:45,250 to get to use these near facsimiles which was, which was 1183 01:08:45,250 --> 01:08:48,609 exactly 60,000 pounds made-up of £1.10 shilling notes. 1184 01:08:49,790 --> 01:08:51,630 Tells bells. You see, this is the point. 1185 01:08:51,910 --> 01:08:54,189 You don't think of these things when you're actually seeing 1186 01:08:54,189 --> 01:08:55,910 this. You know, it's a great thing 1187 01:08:55,910 --> 01:08:59,790 about cinema as you suspend disbelief and, you know, you 1188 01:08:59,790 --> 01:09:01,710 think to yourself, Oh yes, well that'll be a prop. 1189 01:09:01,710 --> 01:09:05,109 But the the amount of trouble that was gone into to get that 1190 01:09:05,109 --> 01:09:09,750 prop is something to behold. It really is Missus. 1191 01:09:09,750 --> 01:09:13,830 Wilberforce sees the money. She's she's momentarily 1192 01:09:13,830 --> 01:09:18,670 confused, discombobulated, does not, does not know what is, what 1193 01:09:18,670 --> 01:09:23,359 is going on. The gang contemplate escaping, 1194 01:09:23,359 --> 01:09:28,840 but then they just realized that she'll probably talk, so they 1195 01:09:28,840 --> 01:09:31,200 feel they've got no option but to return to the house. 1196 01:09:31,880 --> 01:09:36,040 And they tried to explain to Missus Wolberforce, but she has 1197 01:09:36,040 --> 01:09:39,479 four of her oldest friends arriving for tea and. 1198 01:09:39,479 --> 01:09:42,439 To take tea and they will behave, and they will behave 1199 01:09:42,439 --> 01:09:44,439 themselves. They will the gang, yes. 1200 01:09:45,930 --> 01:09:50,290 And of course one of the one of the the elderly ladies, one of 1201 01:09:50,290 --> 01:09:52,850 the little old ladies is is Edie Martin. 1202 01:09:54,170 --> 01:09:57,890 Yes, absolutely. She reads the newspaper about, 1203 01:09:57,890 --> 01:10:02,370 you know, the bank, the the, the King's Cross robbery and they 1204 01:10:02,410 --> 01:10:07,410 all you know, Mrs. John, Mrs. Wilberforce understands what has 1205 01:10:07,410 --> 01:10:11,570 happened and the wonderful thing is the crooks look shame faced 1206 01:10:12,450 --> 01:10:17,060 this particularly Marcus. You know, we are humbled and 1207 01:10:17,060 --> 01:10:18,700 ashamed. You know, it's one of those 1208 01:10:19,420 --> 01:10:21,580 looks as if to say, you know, if you were these hardened 1209 01:10:21,580 --> 01:10:25,020 criminals, if you was, you know, this madman, this lunatic, you 1210 01:10:25,020 --> 01:10:27,340 wouldn't care. You'd slaughter the lot of them 1211 01:10:27,340 --> 01:10:30,140 in that living room. You know, who drop a piano on 1212 01:10:30,140 --> 01:10:31,300 their head or something. I don't know. 1213 01:10:32,540 --> 01:10:34,060 But you know, that doesn't happen. 1214 01:10:34,300 --> 01:10:37,420 There's strange gentility about that moment. 1215 01:10:37,580 --> 01:10:39,820 Well, also The thing is about this film was that there's a 1216 01:10:39,820 --> 01:10:42,780 wonderful It's a there's a perfect 3X structure to it. 1217 01:10:43,610 --> 01:10:48,010 Because it's it's it's almost exactly 90 minute long. 1218 01:10:50,130 --> 01:10:53,650 At the 30 minute mark we essentially get the heist itself 1219 01:10:53,890 --> 01:10:58,530 and the the getaway. And then it's around this point 1220 01:10:59,010 --> 01:11:01,290 or we're coming up to this point sort of the hour mark of the 1221 01:11:01,290 --> 01:11:06,410 film where they realize that the, you know, Mrs. Wilberforce 1222 01:11:06,410 --> 01:11:11,570 knows all basically, and her mood has changed from. 1223 01:11:11,960 --> 01:11:15,240 Up to this point, from benign sweetness to stern disapproval 1224 01:11:15,920 --> 01:11:19,240 indeed. And her her Victorian values 1225 01:11:20,440 --> 01:11:23,280 will not let them get away with this. 1226 01:11:24,560 --> 01:11:27,280 Not even with Marcus suggesting that it's only going to be a, 1227 01:11:27,360 --> 01:11:31,360 you know, a falling or a hate on everybody's insurance bill, you 1228 01:11:31,360 --> 01:11:33,480 know, and she said, you know, she thinks about it. 1229 01:11:33,480 --> 01:11:36,360 You know, she said if it's only a falling, it's not, no, it's 1230 01:11:36,360 --> 01:11:38,640 not right. You know this needs to this 1231 01:11:38,640 --> 01:11:40,990 needs to be put right? She needs things to be put 1232 01:11:40,990 --> 01:11:42,110 right. Quite right too. 1233 01:11:42,190 --> 01:11:44,390 Yes indeed, good old Mrs. Wilberfold. 1234 01:11:45,830 --> 01:11:48,790 Now apparently there was quite a bit of footage that was shot but 1235 01:11:48,790 --> 01:11:54,270 never used, and I think it was that Michael Balkan who pretty 1236 01:11:54,270 --> 01:11:59,710 much insisted that all comedies, all eating comedies, should be 1237 01:11:59,710 --> 01:12:02,710 about 90 minutes in length. No, no more something. 1238 01:12:02,750 --> 01:12:06,910 It was either Michael Balkan or someone you know, highfalutin 1239 01:12:06,910 --> 01:12:09,620 within. Within the the company. 1240 01:12:09,620 --> 01:12:12,740 With the kneeling, yes. So they so they shot quite a bit 1241 01:12:12,740 --> 01:12:16,020 of footage that was never used and unfortunately none of it 1242 01:12:16,180 --> 01:12:22,140 appears to exist and was probably burned or bend by the 1243 01:12:22,140 --> 01:12:26,060 BBC because they bought the studio in studio in studios in 1244 01:12:26,260 --> 01:12:28,140 55, didn't they? Or 56. 1245 01:12:28,140 --> 01:12:28,740 You did? That's right. 1246 01:12:29,460 --> 01:12:31,770 Yeah. That's that's an interesting 1247 01:12:31,770 --> 01:12:34,810 thing because Ealing comedies still, as we said, continued 1248 01:12:34,810 --> 01:12:38,170 until 58 with Davey, Yes, I wonder what I wonder what they 1249 01:12:39,490 --> 01:12:42,170 you know, I wonder what the structure was there or what was 1250 01:12:42,170 --> 01:12:44,530 allowed to actually happen. But anyway, yes, indeed. 1251 01:12:44,530 --> 01:12:48,610 But that as I say this is. Great saving stuff, weren't 1252 01:12:48,610 --> 01:12:49,290 they? Yes. 1253 01:12:49,730 --> 01:12:56,450 Yes, well done BBC, but one of the cutscenes that no no longer 1254 01:12:56,450 --> 01:12:58,770 exists. Sadly, quite a significant. 1255 01:12:59,890 --> 01:13:04,970 Seller's scene because seller said later in his view, he said, 1256 01:13:04,970 --> 01:13:06,810 you know, I might have got somewhere with the lady killers, 1257 01:13:06,810 --> 01:13:09,890 but 40 minutes were cut and a lot of me was cut with that 40 1258 01:13:09,890 --> 01:13:13,930 minutes. So he was a little bit better 1259 01:13:13,930 --> 01:13:15,850 about that. But he had a he had a speech, 1260 01:13:16,330 --> 01:13:22,210 small speech in the kitchen. So you know the bit where the 1261 01:13:22,210 --> 01:13:26,770 Major is is feeding Mrs. Wilberforce the blonnie about 1262 01:13:26,770 --> 01:13:28,690 his old mum. Yes, yes, yes. 1263 01:13:28,930 --> 01:13:34,100 Okay. Now Sellers, as Harry says to 1264 01:13:34,100 --> 01:13:38,140 Missus Wilberforce with me, it's my little sister. 1265 01:13:38,860 --> 01:13:42,780 She married a trapeze artist. Mum forced her into his act. 1266 01:13:42,780 --> 01:13:47,420 He did 100 feet up and no net. I told her I'd get some money to 1267 01:13:47,420 --> 01:13:49,060 buy a little place for her and the kiddies. 1268 01:13:49,620 --> 01:13:53,980 When I think of her up there swinging to and fro to and fro 1269 01:13:54,820 --> 01:13:58,860 and her scared of heights and all her little. 1270 01:13:59,360 --> 01:14:01,880 All the little kiddies watching with their little eyes holding 1271 01:14:01,880 --> 01:14:06,120 their breaths, just a little place on the ground. 1272 01:14:06,120 --> 01:14:11,400 That's all she wants. And he trails off right now. 1273 01:14:12,560 --> 01:14:15,680 Now, as he as he says that, he wipes a tear from his eye. 1274 01:14:16,800 --> 01:14:19,640 So they cut out that that little speech, right? 1275 01:14:20,080 --> 01:14:23,080 But if you look at the film, so you see the major, he mentions 1276 01:14:23,080 --> 01:14:25,440 his mother, he talks about his mother and then the next thing 1277 01:14:25,440 --> 01:14:28,120 you see is Sellers as Harry wiping a tear. 1278 01:14:28,450 --> 01:14:30,530 But it's quite a quite a clunky edit. 1279 01:14:30,810 --> 01:14:34,210 Yeah, I see. That sounds as well. 1280 01:14:35,330 --> 01:14:36,890 Wow. Oh, wow. 1281 01:14:37,530 --> 01:14:39,130 No, I hadn't. I hadn't picked that up at all. 1282 01:14:39,410 --> 01:14:41,410 I read the Lewis book 20 years ago. 1283 01:14:41,490 --> 01:14:44,770 Yeah, that was it. Yeah. 1284 01:14:45,490 --> 01:14:49,690 For reasons which I don't propose to go into now, it's a 1285 01:14:49,690 --> 01:14:51,730 long time ago. It's useful. 1286 01:14:51,730 --> 01:14:54,930 It's it's an interesting book. It's useful, but it's not 100% 1287 01:14:54,930 --> 01:14:58,330 reliable as we all know. Well, yes, that's the reason 1288 01:14:58,330 --> 01:15:01,930 why. And it just made me feel sad at 1289 01:15:02,130 --> 01:15:03,250 the end. I think it's the best way to 1290 01:15:03,250 --> 01:15:04,170 describe it. Yeah. 1291 01:15:04,530 --> 01:15:06,730 But yes and no. I didn't know about the the 1292 01:15:06,730 --> 01:15:10,050 seller's cut scene or any of the 40 minutes. 1293 01:15:10,570 --> 01:15:13,450 Hell's Bells, that's that would have made a big film. 1294 01:15:14,490 --> 01:15:20,690 It it's it's, it's tricky one because it's about as perfect a 1295 01:15:20,690 --> 01:15:23,930 comedy film as you can get. And as you say, it's a 3 actor. 1296 01:15:24,130 --> 01:15:29,430 It's perfectly balanced. Yeah, that's interesting. 1297 01:15:30,110 --> 01:15:32,350 And there's also the lovely little bit, since the gang 1298 01:15:32,350 --> 01:15:34,710 realized they're getting nowhere with it, So they decide to try 1299 01:15:34,710 --> 01:15:38,390 and try threats, basically, and they imply that she'll be 1300 01:15:38,390 --> 01:15:44,030 implicated as an accomplice. She could end up sewing mailbags 1301 01:15:44,030 --> 01:15:46,350 in jail. Wilberforce, I wanted to spare 1302 01:15:46,350 --> 01:15:49,590 you this, but I'm afraid the police are after you too. 1303 01:15:49,950 --> 01:15:52,550 That's right. You're as up as the rest of us, 1304 01:15:52,550 --> 01:15:55,770 Mom. If they pick her up, there's no 1305 01:15:55,770 --> 01:15:59,170 saying what they may do to her. Pick me up. 1306 01:15:59,170 --> 01:16:00,530 The job was planned in her house. 1307 01:16:00,690 --> 01:16:04,610 She carried the lolly for us. Yes, I I know I carried the the 1308 01:16:04,650 --> 01:16:06,570 lolly. She was ignorant of the plan. 1309 01:16:06,570 --> 01:16:09,330 Of course, ignorance in the sight of the law is no excuse. 1310 01:16:09,530 --> 01:16:12,170 Even if we swear that she didn't know what she was doing, they 1311 01:16:12,170 --> 01:16:15,810 never believe us. Yeah, Who'd believe anything we 1312 01:16:15,810 --> 01:16:18,450 said? Oh, but this is ridiculous. 1313 01:16:19,150 --> 01:16:22,990 I know the Superintendent. I should deny and never stand up 1314 01:16:22,990 --> 01:16:26,390 to it. The grilling, the rubber houses 1315 01:16:26,390 --> 01:16:28,510 the rest of her life saying mail bags. 1316 01:16:28,870 --> 01:16:31,990 Mail bags. And no one to look after the 1317 01:16:31,990 --> 01:16:35,190 parents. We won't let them get you, Mrs. 1318 01:16:35,190 --> 01:16:36,790 Wilberforce. Why not? 1319 01:16:36,870 --> 01:16:39,910 What's she ever done for us? If they get us, I'll tell them 1320 01:16:39,910 --> 01:16:42,990 she planned the job. I tell them she planned the big 1321 01:16:42,990 --> 01:16:46,910 one. The East Castle Street job. 1322 01:16:47,780 --> 01:16:49,660 Does that lovely little scene. I can't remember why. 1323 01:16:49,660 --> 01:16:53,980 The why is the actor Phillip Stainton as a as a police 1324 01:16:53,980 --> 01:16:57,860 constable, turns up at the door and they tell the gang tells her 1325 01:16:57,860 --> 01:17:00,980 to get rid of him. Yeah, tell him to buzz off. 1326 01:17:01,980 --> 01:17:04,780 Yeah, basically. And he comes to her front door 1327 01:17:04,780 --> 01:17:08,100 to, you know, check to see whether everything was all right 1328 01:17:08,100 --> 01:17:10,940 after all the unpleasantness with the Barrow boy and 1329 01:17:10,940 --> 01:17:12,460 everything else like that earlier on. 1330 01:17:12,980 --> 01:17:16,090 But she's. And not her usual cheerful self 1331 01:17:16,090 --> 01:17:19,250 because obviously she's being told by the gang to, you know, 1332 01:17:19,330 --> 01:17:22,370 get rid of him and you just say you go and tell him to buzz off 1333 01:17:22,730 --> 01:17:25,170 sort of thing. And so and so she actually does 1334 01:17:25,610 --> 01:17:29,730 eventually says go on, you know, buzz off sort of thing. 1335 01:17:29,730 --> 01:17:32,530 And you know Philip Stainton, you know, this completely 1336 01:17:32,530 --> 01:17:37,050 baffled, walks away as if to say what that's not, you know, 1337 01:17:37,050 --> 01:17:39,010 that's not right. As if anything was actually 1338 01:17:39,010 --> 01:17:42,450 going to create suspicion it was her acting suspiciously. 1339 01:17:42,450 --> 01:17:43,770 And it's, you know, exactly the thing. 1340 01:17:44,230 --> 01:17:45,710 You know, she, you know, she can't carry it off. 1341 01:17:45,710 --> 01:17:49,750 She's such a an honest individual and and always a 1342 01:17:49,750 --> 01:17:52,630 sunny disposition that that would have been very out of 1343 01:17:52,630 --> 01:17:58,590 character for. So in the end, the gang decide 1344 01:17:58,590 --> 01:18:01,350 there's not for it. They will have to dispose of 1345 01:18:01,350 --> 01:18:04,590 Missus Wilberforce, who's going to do the deed and. 1346 01:18:06,950 --> 01:18:10,910 They cut some matches and you know, so they draw lots for it 1347 01:18:10,910 --> 01:18:13,300 sort of thing. And they, you know, it's 1348 01:18:13,300 --> 01:18:16,900 wonderful to see the looks on everybody's faces when this 1349 01:18:16,900 --> 01:18:19,940 little, you know, these matches are going through and you know, 1350 01:18:20,140 --> 01:18:24,460 Marcus picks the first match and then looks almost straight at 1351 01:18:24,460 --> 01:18:29,300 camera with a fabulous wicked Alistair SIM white grin. 1352 01:18:30,660 --> 01:18:34,180 That's to say, I didn't guess it, You know, it's like that. 1353 01:18:34,460 --> 01:18:36,940 And every and everybody else goes around, you know, panicking 1354 01:18:36,940 --> 01:18:41,020 about it. The major tries to leg it. 1355 01:18:42,420 --> 01:18:44,900 The dosh. With the dosh and he tells Mrs. 1356 01:18:44,900 --> 01:18:47,260 Wilberforce that he's going to the police and he's going to 1357 01:18:47,820 --> 01:18:49,780 shop the gang and all will be okay. 1358 01:18:49,780 --> 01:18:53,220 But but but you know, make sure the gang don't. 1359 01:18:53,220 --> 01:18:57,260 Because essentially they've sent her upstairs to meet her death 1360 01:18:58,020 --> 01:19:01,100 and they they they're downstairs waiting for the major to do the 1361 01:19:01,100 --> 01:19:03,610 deed. And in the end they grow 1362 01:19:03,610 --> 01:19:07,010 impatient and they go upstairs and Mrs. Wilberforce answers the 1363 01:19:07,010 --> 01:19:10,970 door, or opens the door, looking almost spectral, looking almost, 1364 01:19:10,970 --> 01:19:14,130 yes, like she's in a this. Glow around her, isn't it? 1365 01:19:14,130 --> 01:19:15,770 Yeah, and she. Says the Major and I are still 1366 01:19:15,770 --> 01:19:19,850 talking and then Louie just kicks the door open and they see 1367 01:19:19,850 --> 01:19:21,770 that he's that the Major has been he's. 1368 01:19:21,850 --> 01:19:22,970 Legged it? Yeah, yeah. 1369 01:19:23,850 --> 01:19:28,010 He's up on the roof. He's got the money and one thing 1370 01:19:28,010 --> 01:19:30,770 leads to another. And the major well comes down 1371 01:19:30,770 --> 01:19:33,610 with a chimney pot. Well, where is he? 1372 01:19:33,970 --> 01:19:35,930 Where is the major? Is he up there still? 1373 01:19:37,050 --> 01:19:40,410 No, no. He he come down, I'll bring him 1374 01:19:40,410 --> 01:19:44,330 here. He come down with the chimney 1375 01:19:44,330 --> 01:19:46,690 pot. Is he hurt? 1376 01:19:48,890 --> 01:19:50,410 I shouldn't think you felt the thing. 1377 01:19:50,810 --> 01:19:54,610 The first death, the first death and then one round rebels and 1378 01:19:54,610 --> 01:19:57,370 basically says, oh I don't want anything to do with this. 1379 01:19:58,120 --> 01:20:00,520 This is it. You know, at first she was, you 1380 01:20:00,520 --> 01:20:03,760 know, you know, he calls her Mrs. Lopsided. 1381 01:20:03,960 --> 01:20:06,160 You know, that was something that Louis had said. 1382 01:20:06,160 --> 01:20:08,840 Louis Harvey said, you know, I don't like this lopsided old 1383 01:20:08,840 --> 01:20:12,760 lady and it it just stuck in one rounds, it all Mrs. Lopsided. 1384 01:20:13,400 --> 01:20:15,280 By the end of the film, he's calling a mum. 1385 01:20:16,200 --> 01:20:22,920 Yeah, I want to stay with mum. It's just the clashing cogs of 1 1386 01:20:22,920 --> 01:20:26,120 rounds, the remains of 1 rounds. Yeah, Marcus tries to kind of 1387 01:20:26,240 --> 01:20:29,940 threaten him or or or imply the threat of. 1388 01:20:29,940 --> 01:20:34,220 He says this is a hanging matter, but it wouldn't have 1389 01:20:34,220 --> 01:20:39,260 been if they didn't kill her or try to kill her, it wouldn't be 1390 01:20:39,260 --> 01:20:40,580 it. Had gone away for 10 years and 1391 01:20:40,580 --> 01:20:42,660 then come out and that's it? Absolutely. 1392 01:20:44,100 --> 01:20:49,980 Anyway, to just Marcus gets one round, pretends to be on one 1393 01:20:49,980 --> 01:20:53,060 round side, gets him to help dispose of the major's body over 1394 01:20:53,060 --> 01:20:58,170 a passing goods train, and then Harry they did. 1395 01:20:58,170 --> 01:21:00,290 They do the matchstick thing again. 1396 01:21:00,290 --> 01:21:02,330 Harry draws a short draw. Like you said before, he does 1397 01:21:02,330 --> 01:21:12,170 that, and his face is a picture. Well, fingering his collar. 1398 01:21:12,290 --> 01:21:18,890 Yeah, yeah, absolutely. He ends up not not doing 1399 01:21:18,890 --> 01:21:20,090 anything. He just steals the case and 1400 01:21:20,090 --> 01:21:22,490 makes a run for it. That's right. 1401 01:21:22,490 --> 01:21:25,610 The point is by this point. Mrs. Wilberforce has fallen 1402 01:21:25,610 --> 01:21:30,290 asleep in her chair with a with a hat half over her, and of 1403 01:21:30,290 --> 01:21:33,890 course one round Caesar thinks that Harry's killed her and. 1404 01:21:34,650 --> 01:21:38,130 Then and then goes after Harry with with a piece of forby too. 1405 01:21:41,010 --> 01:21:42,450 So goodbye. Goodbye, Harry. 1406 01:21:43,010 --> 01:21:45,210 Absolutely. And they drop him into a goods 1407 01:21:45,210 --> 01:21:47,730 wagon going over that same gun tree, indeed. 1408 01:21:48,730 --> 01:21:51,570 And then and then while Marcus and Louie are disposing of 1409 01:21:51,570 --> 01:21:54,960 Harry's body one round over his them talking about killing him 1410 01:21:55,200 --> 01:21:58,200 and he pulls his gun on them, but the safety catches on, 1411 01:21:58,760 --> 01:22:00,080 leaves absolutely. And. 1412 01:22:00,440 --> 01:22:03,480 At that point, yeah. And Louis gets rid of him. 1413 01:22:03,520 --> 01:22:05,640 Louis got like a Shiv. Is that what it is just? 1414 01:22:06,040 --> 01:22:11,040 I think so, yeah, absolutely. And he goes over the gum tree as 1415 01:22:11,040 --> 01:22:14,160 well. And then we have the the, the, 1416 01:22:14,160 --> 01:22:17,320 the, the, the fight, if you like, between Louis and Marcus. 1417 01:22:18,320 --> 01:22:21,840 There's that another moment. Another angry moment, then. 1418 01:22:22,400 --> 01:22:26,160 I seem to remember isn't there about, you know you mustn't call 1419 01:22:26,160 --> 01:22:30,880 me mad Oh yes is that that's you know that's that thing comes 1420 01:22:30,880 --> 01:22:35,160 back at that point you know of of, you know, Marcus being more 1421 01:22:35,160 --> 01:22:37,800 murderous than you might think and more on hinge than you might 1422 01:22:37,800 --> 01:22:40,200 think. Absolutely. 1423 01:22:40,360 --> 01:22:44,760 And you know he's calling. In this chases going on amongst 1424 01:22:44,760 --> 01:22:50,240 this railway, signaling gantry and whatever else, and you hear 1425 01:22:50,240 --> 01:22:53,600 these, this ghostly voice of the steam all around the place. 1426 01:22:54,080 --> 01:22:58,160 It is actually quite a sinister moment in a comedy film that I 1427 01:22:58,160 --> 01:22:59,960 love. It really is thinking about it, 1428 01:22:59,960 --> 01:23:02,680 just the scenes of them, you know, For example, holding the 1429 01:23:02,680 --> 01:23:06,640 majors, the dead majors ankles and then letting it drop. 1430 01:23:07,600 --> 01:23:11,240 If you want black comedy, this is This is as black as it gets. 1431 01:23:12,470 --> 01:23:18,110 And then, of course, you know, we see Marcus deciding to get 1432 01:23:18,110 --> 01:23:22,110 rid of Louis by, you know, trying to actually leave off 1433 01:23:22,110 --> 01:23:26,350 this metal ladder. And, you know, so he's so he's, 1434 01:23:26,510 --> 01:23:29,430 you know, so he's dropped into a train himself to get shot of 1435 01:23:29,430 --> 01:23:32,350 him. And it bounces back at one point 1436 01:23:32,910 --> 01:23:35,830 and he pushes it with his foot. And as he pushes it with his 1437 01:23:35,830 --> 01:23:39,750 foot, Louis Harvey, you know, shoots Marcus. 1438 01:23:40,150 --> 01:23:42,270 Catches him in the shoulder, I think he is, or something like 1439 01:23:42,270 --> 01:23:43,790 that. But that's it. 1440 01:23:43,950 --> 01:23:45,430 And he's gone. That's fine. 1441 01:23:45,550 --> 01:23:48,470 Excellent. And you think Marcus has got 1442 01:23:48,470 --> 01:23:52,470 away with it until the signals change. 1443 01:23:54,630 --> 01:23:57,590 And I remember that. I can still remember the shock 1444 01:23:57,590 --> 01:24:02,470 of seeing that moment when I first saw it when I was about 1445 01:24:02,470 --> 01:24:04,990 14-13, fourteen years old or something like that. 1446 01:24:06,270 --> 01:24:09,790 And I thought that is one of the best endings I've ever seen. 1447 01:24:10,290 --> 01:24:13,930 That was marvelous, you know, let's give it away. 1448 01:24:13,930 --> 01:24:18,610 You know, the signal arm comes down upon Marcus's head bang and 1449 01:24:18,610 --> 01:24:22,170 he drops into a he's away a wagon and he's drops into a 1450 01:24:22,170 --> 01:24:24,490 wagon off the bridge as well. Yes. 1451 01:24:24,490 --> 01:24:28,650 And they all disappear. And you say that's a wonderful 1452 01:24:28,650 --> 01:24:29,890 ending. It's not quite the ending. 1453 01:24:30,090 --> 01:24:31,930 It's not quite the ending, it's not quite the ending. 1454 01:24:31,930 --> 01:24:34,850 The Newmont, then, shall we say you know that the Postscript is. 1455 01:24:35,270 --> 01:24:37,430 Of course, Missus Wilberforce going to the station, she's 1456 01:24:37,430 --> 01:24:39,430 saying I've got £60,000 in the house. 1457 01:24:40,150 --> 01:24:41,790 What shall I do now? And of course, because she's 1458 01:24:41,790 --> 01:24:44,830 made a nuisance of herself to Jack Warner, you know, the the, 1459 01:24:44,870 --> 01:24:49,070 the eternal desk Sergeant. Yes, he is. 1460 01:24:50,070 --> 01:24:52,950 You know, so often, you know, she said, you know, I've heard 1461 01:24:52,950 --> 01:24:54,590 of these things. Could it have been a dream, 1462 01:24:54,590 --> 01:24:59,630 Missus Wilforce know and basically said, I think I think 1463 01:24:59,630 --> 01:25:01,030 you might as well just keep the money. 1464 01:25:01,910 --> 01:25:03,310 Well, they did say it was. Oh yeah. 1465 01:25:03,950 --> 01:25:08,590 They hate me on everybody's policy and so they let her go 1466 01:25:08,590 --> 01:25:11,670 home and she's got £60,000 at home. 1467 01:25:12,270 --> 01:25:16,350 She sees a passage, she sees some St. artist and she drops a 1468 01:25:16,350 --> 01:25:20,950 high denomination note into his case at that point and wanders 1469 01:25:20,950 --> 01:25:25,670 off with the music of Victorian street music boxes. 1470 01:25:26,670 --> 01:25:30,230 You know, it's the it's the last of a you know, she is the last 1471 01:25:30,230 --> 01:25:33,160 of her era, you can see that. What do you think? 1472 01:25:33,160 --> 01:25:35,120 She spent the money on it? But did you think she developed 1473 01:25:35,120 --> 01:25:38,800 a massive cocaine addiction? I think possibly new plumbing. 1474 01:25:39,320 --> 01:25:41,720 I think that would have been new plumbing would have been useful, 1475 01:25:41,720 --> 01:25:43,680 and she might have had the chimney reappointed, yes, but 1476 01:25:43,680 --> 01:25:44,880 that's it. That's it. 1477 01:25:44,880 --> 01:25:47,080 That's about the length of it. And she might have bought extra 1478 01:25:47,080 --> 01:25:49,600 cream cakes for her pals to come out, and she might have had that 1479 01:25:49,640 --> 01:25:51,800 and and have the Piano La tune more parrots. 1480 01:25:53,080 --> 01:25:57,800 Oh Lord, yeah, probably. And she'd have she'd have paid 1481 01:25:57,800 --> 01:26:00,480 someone to assassinate Frankie Howard. 1482 01:26:03,890 --> 01:26:06,810 Well, absolutely indeed. You know a lot of it would have 1483 01:26:06,810 --> 01:26:10,130 gone to the RSPCA, I'm sure indeed, no. 1484 01:26:10,130 --> 01:26:14,210 But as I said, it's a it's a beautiful sweet gentle ending to 1485 01:26:15,090 --> 01:26:17,250 what is in that little postscript there. 1486 01:26:17,250 --> 01:26:20,490 It's all is essentially what the blackest of comedies and I think 1487 01:26:20,490 --> 01:26:24,690 that now, even now, why does it still stand up after all this 1488 01:26:24,690 --> 01:26:26,490 time. And I think the main reason is 1489 01:26:26,490 --> 01:26:29,530 because it's it's funny, it's a great plot. 1490 01:26:29,990 --> 01:26:32,750 It's extremely well scripted. It's extremely well acted. 1491 01:26:33,350 --> 01:26:36,190 It's beautifully shot, so atmospheric it is. 1492 01:26:36,950 --> 01:26:38,390 It's got everything going for it. 1493 01:26:38,790 --> 01:26:44,830 There's a few interpretations of this film over the years by 1494 01:26:44,990 --> 01:26:52,430 critics and people like that. Among those interpretations, I 1495 01:26:52,430 --> 01:26:56,710 think he's a film critic. Philip Kemp suggested that some, 1496 01:26:57,330 --> 01:26:59,970 perhaps Mrs. Wilberforce, has fallen asleep with an airshot of 1497 01:26:59,970 --> 01:27:03,690 a radio serial and conjured up the gang from the depths of her 1498 01:27:03,690 --> 01:27:06,050 psyche. Yeah, but that is actually 1499 01:27:06,050 --> 01:27:09,770 already hinted at in the plot that's already been mentioned. 1500 01:27:09,770 --> 01:27:13,610 You know, is it possible that you dreamed it and that that's 1501 01:27:13,610 --> 01:27:15,890 right at the beginning of the the thing? 1502 01:27:15,890 --> 01:27:19,690 You know, when she's actually talking about, you know, some 1503 01:27:19,730 --> 01:27:22,450 some heist or something that she thinks she has information on? 1504 01:27:23,600 --> 01:27:26,160 And of course she has been falling asleep listening to the 1505 01:27:26,160 --> 01:27:29,400 radio on this, you know, I think that that's, you know, so 1506 01:27:29,400 --> 01:27:32,480 that's, you know, he has a point most definitely. 1507 01:27:32,760 --> 01:27:34,440 But I don't believe it's the case. 1508 01:27:34,560 --> 01:27:38,120 I think these people are as real as you and I. 1509 01:27:39,480 --> 01:27:41,760 Well, there's people that how could how could they not be? 1510 01:27:41,760 --> 01:27:43,560 Who could dream up Professor Marcus? 1511 01:27:44,160 --> 01:27:48,720 You know, it's been suggested that the clustered old house, 1512 01:27:48,720 --> 01:27:51,480 standing alone at the end of a cul-de-sac overlooking railway 1513 01:27:51,480 --> 01:27:56,200 yards, symbolizes decrepit England waiting to collapse. 1514 01:27:56,760 --> 01:27:58,160 Correct. I'll go with that. 1515 01:27:58,560 --> 01:28:02,520 That's most definitely the case. As I said, you know, the, the 1516 01:28:02,520 --> 01:28:06,320 American take upon what, you know, this was the, the country 1517 01:28:06,320 --> 01:28:09,480 that should have been that apparently won the war and it 1518 01:28:09,480 --> 01:28:13,880 was on its face in 55. You know, you know, it was in, 1519 01:28:13,880 --> 01:28:17,480 you know, a few years later and you know, Harold Macmillan would 1520 01:28:17,480 --> 01:28:19,280 have been saying things like you never had it so good. 1521 01:28:20,120 --> 01:28:23,080 Yeah, but you know, rationing had just been finished. 1522 01:28:23,480 --> 01:28:25,360 You know, the railways had just been nationalized. 1523 01:28:25,360 --> 01:28:28,760 The, you know, the coal mines had just been nationalized. 1524 01:28:28,760 --> 01:28:32,480 The NCB had come in and all of these things to try and mend, 1525 01:28:33,240 --> 01:28:36,040 you know, decades of damage. It's that point. 1526 01:28:36,480 --> 01:28:42,040 It's that point where you've got you've got the brash illmanned, 1527 01:28:42,120 --> 01:28:45,400 if you like, New Elizabethans looking horns with the old order 1528 01:28:45,960 --> 01:28:49,320 and the old order with its dying Victorian mores. 1529 01:28:50,130 --> 01:28:52,770 Because after a year, less than a year after this film comes 1530 01:28:52,770 --> 01:28:58,610 out, you've got Suez. And after that, and Alexander 1531 01:28:58,610 --> 01:29:03,210 Mckendrick apparently saw the innocence as represented by Mrs. 1532 01:29:03,210 --> 01:29:07,450 Wilberforce, as a dangerously destructive social force rather 1533 01:29:07,450 --> 01:29:10,650 than a benign and admirable one. Wow. 1534 01:29:11,130 --> 01:29:14,370 So the new yes, in that respect, the New Elizabethans. 1535 01:29:15,780 --> 01:29:17,580 Did they get it right? It's a good question. 1536 01:29:18,940 --> 01:29:22,660 I don't like that. And to be yes, the point is yes, 1537 01:29:22,660 --> 01:29:25,020 Victorian values. It all depends on how you define 1538 01:29:25,020 --> 01:29:27,180 that. You know, if you're talking 1539 01:29:27,180 --> 01:29:29,980 about, you know, moral rectitude and stuff like that, then all 1540 01:29:29,980 --> 01:29:33,140 very well and good. You know, the Victorian work 1541 01:29:33,140 --> 01:29:34,620 ethic. All very well and good. 1542 01:29:35,180 --> 01:29:40,380 But you know, the constraints of such times, you know, do not sit 1543 01:29:40,380 --> 01:29:43,940 easily, certainly with, you know, after two world wars. 1544 01:29:44,530 --> 01:29:46,450 You know, life had become cynical. 1545 01:29:46,850 --> 01:29:49,610 People have become cynical. Rock and rolls just. 1546 01:29:50,330 --> 01:29:54,810 Well, yeah, absolutely. 1955 was rock around the clock, wasn't 1547 01:29:54,850 --> 01:29:56,370 it? There it is. 1548 01:29:56,370 --> 01:30:02,450 You know Rocket 88 had already been released, you know and you 1549 01:30:02,450 --> 01:30:05,210 know the the the American brashness was coming in. 1550 01:30:05,210 --> 01:30:10,050 Yes and yeah, absolutely. If you if you've got this this 1551 01:30:10,050 --> 01:30:15,580 chintzy falling down place. Yeah, everybody knows that these 1552 01:30:15,780 --> 01:30:17,300 these times are coming to an end. 1553 01:30:17,620 --> 01:30:20,900 But they looked at, you know, in the, in the, in the case of Mrs. 1554 01:30:20,900 --> 01:30:26,260 Wilberforce gently, Mckendrick may have said that, you know, 1555 01:30:26,260 --> 01:30:31,020 she is a destructive force, but she wins. 1556 01:30:31,460 --> 01:30:33,700 Yeah, she wins this time. She wins this time. 1557 01:30:33,820 --> 01:30:37,300 Yeah, this time the old order wins, but not for much longer 1558 01:30:37,340 --> 01:30:38,740 really. No, no, no, no. 1559 01:30:39,820 --> 01:30:43,930 Now there's a couple of other just quick things I wanted to 1560 01:30:43,930 --> 01:30:48,010 say before we wrap up, because I'm sure you know about the 1561 01:30:49,170 --> 01:30:53,330 Peter Sellers cast recording. Very much so, Yes indeed. 1562 01:30:53,330 --> 01:30:56,170 That appeared on the Arena documentary first, the first 1563 01:30:56,170 --> 01:30:59,850 time I heard that, Yes. Well, he does all of the. 1564 01:31:01,980 --> 01:31:05,180 Where he does all the various voices of the entire cast. 1565 01:31:05,580 --> 01:31:08,260 Well, I'm trying to remember what was the reason he gave it 1566 01:31:08,260 --> 01:31:09,620 to. Yeah, it was for cast members, 1567 01:31:09,620 --> 01:31:11,500 didn't he? It was, it was at the rap party 1568 01:31:11,500 --> 01:31:13,380 if they called. Yeah, they call them rap parties 1569 01:31:13,380 --> 01:31:14,940 back then. I don't suppose they have no 1570 01:31:14,940 --> 01:31:16,260 idea. Possibly something like that he 1571 01:31:16,260 --> 01:31:19,720 had made. I believe it was cassettes, but 1572 01:31:19,720 --> 01:31:22,200 I well, I would. Know it's real small, real to 1573 01:31:22,200 --> 01:31:25,000 real taste. Yeah, yeah. 1574 01:31:25,000 --> 01:31:28,000 Compact Cassette came in the early 60s and 64 of course, so 1575 01:31:28,040 --> 01:31:30,920 he but he was essentially sellers doing all the cast and 1576 01:31:31,200 --> 01:31:33,680 certain members of the crew including Mckendrick, and I 1577 01:31:33,680 --> 01:31:37,120 believe he was helped in this in terms of the script, if there 1578 01:31:37,120 --> 01:31:39,720 was a script helped by Larry Stevens. 1579 01:31:40,280 --> 01:31:42,520 Indeed, yes. I read that in the book 1580 01:31:42,520 --> 01:31:44,080 recently. Yeah, yeah. 1581 01:31:44,540 --> 01:31:45,700 Yeah. Julie's Julie Warren's book, 1582 01:31:45,700 --> 01:31:47,620 which, yeah, I read that on holiday recently. 1583 01:31:47,780 --> 01:31:50,820 Brilliant, great book. Julie's book about Larry 1584 01:31:50,820 --> 01:31:52,300 Stevens. It's all in the mind. 1585 01:31:53,500 --> 01:31:57,940 Get it now. And yeah, so he, he very nice 1586 01:31:57,940 --> 01:32:00,340 and very nice of him. I think, you know gave but but 1587 01:32:00,340 --> 01:32:02,740 then you could say, I suppose it was a bit of a showreel for him 1588 01:32:02,940 --> 01:32:04,540 in a sense. It was sort of this is what I 1589 01:32:04,540 --> 01:32:06,380 can do, you know. Yeah. 1590 01:32:06,700 --> 01:32:08,860 It wasn't necessarily a selfless gesture. 1591 01:32:09,710 --> 01:32:12,030 No, not at all. For those who actually don't 1592 01:32:12,030 --> 01:32:14,270 already know, who haven't listened to the Goon show this 1593 01:32:14,270 --> 01:32:18,030 week and all that sort of thing you know I I seem remember is in 1594 01:32:18,030 --> 01:32:21,870 doing is it's all part of the plan. 1595 01:32:21,870 --> 01:32:25,670 My plan you know is the the the Marcus thing and then is I I 1596 01:32:25,710 --> 01:32:28,750 want to stay with mum. I want to stay with mum. 1597 01:32:29,430 --> 01:32:32,150 I want to stay with mum. You know, it's like that the 1598 01:32:32,510 --> 01:32:36,100 the, the, you know the. The Danny Green one, he actually 1599 01:32:36,100 --> 01:32:39,220 just, you know, does that's a very goonish thing, putting the 1600 01:32:39,220 --> 01:32:43,060 emphasis on a different word. And he does that beautifully on 1601 01:32:43,060 --> 01:32:45,020 point. I hate little old ladies. 1602 01:32:45,540 --> 01:32:49,060 Once again, Ealing Studios, who gave you such great successes as 1603 01:32:49,060 --> 01:32:52,780 The Cool Seas, starring Mario Lanza, The Night My Ship Died of 1604 01:32:52,780 --> 01:32:55,380 Shame? Above us, The Joneses Passport 1605 01:32:55,380 --> 01:32:57,780 to gold is green, The man in the right Boots. 1606 01:32:58,180 --> 01:33:01,140 Now I'll bring you their latest hilarious comedy, The Lady 1607 01:33:01,140 --> 01:33:03,720 Killers. Adapted from tomorrow's new 1608 01:33:03,720 --> 01:33:06,720 Yesterday, the world surprise winning novel by Otto Miller, 1609 01:33:07,040 --> 01:33:09,800 The Lady Killers tells of a ruthless gang of criminals 1610 01:33:09,800 --> 01:33:13,720 headed by Alec Guinness CBE, The man of 1000 faces. 1611 01:33:14,120 --> 01:33:17,160 Remember Fagin? He plays Professor Marcus, the 1612 01:33:17,160 --> 01:33:20,840 cool, cunning, calculating leader Herbert Blonde, direct 1613 01:33:20,840 --> 01:33:23,840 from his great successors. Anna in The King of Siam plays 1614 01:33:23,840 --> 01:33:26,130 Louis. The suave continental crook 1615 01:33:26,130 --> 01:33:29,770 whose villainous past combines well with that of Major Courtney 1616 01:33:29,890 --> 01:33:32,450 and masterpiece of under. Playing by Thistle Parker of 1617 01:33:32,450 --> 01:33:35,610 this division fame. His partner in death is Peter 1618 01:33:35,610 --> 01:33:39,810 Sellers of Radios White Poons. Next in the scintillating array 1619 01:33:39,810 --> 01:33:43,610 of stars comes Danny Green as one round the punch drunk actor 1620 01:33:43,610 --> 01:33:46,330 boxer. With him it's born Buck and a 1621 01:33:46,330 --> 01:33:49,610 hideous sense of Humor and introducing Katie Johnson as 1622 01:33:49,610 --> 01:33:52,450 Missus Wilberforce, the lovely little old landlady. 1623 01:33:52,750 --> 01:33:56,830 So in the end, captivates the cold hearts of the lady killer. 1624 01:34:00,110 --> 01:34:02,310 And we know we can trust her to do it right if she don't even 1625 01:34:02,310 --> 01:34:05,390 know what she's doing. I tell you, I hate little old 1626 01:34:05,390 --> 01:34:07,710 ladies. I want it settled here and now. 1627 01:34:08,630 --> 01:34:10,070 No one is in the responsible way. 1628 01:34:10,630 --> 01:34:13,870 Another clap, My clap. Do you agree, Major? 1629 01:34:13,870 --> 01:34:18,230 Well, I I'm with you, Professor. After all, it is £12,000 all 1630 01:34:18,230 --> 01:34:22,430 round. One round I'm stolen with more. 1631 01:34:23,090 --> 01:34:28,770 I'm staying with Ma. I'm staying with Ma or this. 1632 01:34:29,050 --> 01:34:33,650 Plus Frankie hard bringing drama to the screen as the naughty 1633 01:34:33,650 --> 01:34:43,850 Barrow boy. So I oh, I'll, I'll, oh, ah, oh, 1634 01:34:44,490 --> 01:34:47,370 ah. It was named #13 on the BFI 1635 01:34:47,370 --> 01:34:48,770 Greatest British Films of all Time. 1636 01:34:49,780 --> 01:34:52,020 Right. I knew it was doing well as far 1637 01:34:52,020 --> 01:34:54,420 as the comedy was concerned. I didn't know it was #13 on the 1638 01:34:54,420 --> 01:34:56,220 BFI list. Wow, I did. 1639 01:34:56,220 --> 01:34:58,580 I didn't make a note of what it was sandwiched between. 1640 01:34:58,580 --> 01:35:02,620 I think it was before Saturday night and Sunday morning, but I 1641 01:35:02,620 --> 01:35:04,380 can't remember what was above it, to be honest. 1642 01:35:06,540 --> 01:35:09,540 Herbert Long was the last living member of the cast, of course. 1643 01:35:10,180 --> 01:35:14,340 Indeed. Yeah, that's right, 20/12/2012 1644 01:35:14,340 --> 01:35:15,540 when he passed. Yeah, yeah. 1645 01:35:15,660 --> 01:35:18,570 When he passed. As we said earlier, Katie 1646 01:35:18,570 --> 01:35:21,450 Johnson won a BAFTA. The screenplay was nominated for 1647 01:35:21,450 --> 01:35:25,290 an Oscar and didn't win for a time. 1648 01:35:25,290 --> 01:35:28,410 The film was banned from prison screenings because there'd been 1649 01:35:28,410 --> 01:35:36,210 an attempt at a copycat heist. So they would have seen it as 1650 01:35:36,410 --> 01:35:38,490 again getting going back to wrong arm of the law as an 1651 01:35:38,490 --> 01:35:41,250 instructional film shown in prison. 1652 01:35:44,020 --> 01:35:46,060 And I just want to very briefly, I'm not going to talk about it 1653 01:35:46,060 --> 01:35:48,140 at all apart from the fact that I love the Coen brothers, but 1654 01:35:48,140 --> 01:35:52,140 the Coen brothers did a remake in 2004 with Tom Cruise, Tom 1655 01:35:52,140 --> 01:35:58,260 Cruise, Tom Hanks and it was pretty much a flop failure. 1656 01:35:59,180 --> 01:36:01,620 I've not seen it, so I can't really speak for. 1657 01:36:01,860 --> 01:36:03,660 It this is, this is the nuisance of it. 1658 01:36:03,660 --> 01:36:06,860 When you've seen something which you believe to be perfect, you 1659 01:36:06,860 --> 01:36:09,740 don't want to sully it by seeing something which might not be. 1660 01:36:10,650 --> 01:36:12,970 And because of that very reason, I've avoided it. 1661 01:36:13,250 --> 01:36:16,410 Yeah, yeah, I saw the reviews and I've heard other people say 1662 01:36:16,530 --> 01:36:19,050 exactly the same. I've not watched it. 1663 01:36:20,250 --> 01:36:22,050 Whether I will or not is a moot point. 1664 01:36:22,250 --> 01:36:24,810 I'd have to I'd. Have to. 1665 01:36:25,210 --> 01:36:27,370 I'd have to have a bottle of Pinot Grigio one night to 1666 01:36:27,370 --> 01:36:29,610 actually, you know, sit through it if I really must. 1667 01:36:29,610 --> 01:36:31,970 But I'm sure there's better things that I can enjoy. 1668 01:36:32,650 --> 01:36:35,290 There's a whole host of better Coen brothers films I'm sure, 1669 01:36:35,290 --> 01:36:38,290 that start with Blood Simple and work on from that. 1670 01:36:40,440 --> 01:36:43,560 Graham, I I just want to say thank you so much for because 1671 01:36:43,560 --> 01:36:46,320 because I appreciate you. You're only running on 40% at 1672 01:36:46,320 --> 01:36:49,080 the moment. It's been a pleasure to talk 1673 01:36:49,080 --> 01:36:51,680 about it. I never, you know, I don't often 1674 01:36:51,680 --> 01:36:56,480 get the chance to do such things but when I do I leap at them 1675 01:36:56,760 --> 01:36:59,440 with you know with both hands and dear nose and throat. 1676 01:36:59,880 --> 01:37:02,040 It's it's it's been great fun. Thank you ever. 1677 01:37:02,040 --> 01:37:04,640 So thank you. Thank you. 1678 01:37:05,680 --> 01:37:11,610 And at the end of the year, my intention is I've already talked 1679 01:37:11,610 --> 01:37:14,770 about it on social media. I will be, we will be running 1680 01:37:14,770 --> 01:37:18,690 down a list of this listeners, top 20 Sellers films, Peter 1681 01:37:18,690 --> 01:37:23,170 Sellers films and the list is coming along very well already. 1682 01:37:24,650 --> 01:37:27,890 And I'm not going to, I mean, it's not giving anything, not 1683 01:37:27,890 --> 01:37:31,410 giving anything to a way to say that this film features quite 1684 01:37:31,410 --> 01:37:36,100 highly so far people's lists, the actual top 20. 1685 01:37:36,100 --> 01:37:39,940 So, and if you haven't seen it, what do you listen to this for? 1686 01:37:41,060 --> 01:37:45,180 Watch it. It's, you know, it's timeless, 1687 01:37:45,420 --> 01:37:47,660 is all I'll say. It's a glorious film. 1688 01:37:48,220 --> 01:37:48,540 It is.