Private's Progress | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Boulting |
Screenplay by | John Boulting Frank Harvey |
Based on | Private's Progress by Alan Hackney |
Produced by | Roy Boulting |
Starring | Ian Carmichael Richard Attenborough Dennis Price Terry-Thomas |
Cinematography | Eric Cross |
Edited by | Anthony Harvey |
Music by | John Addison |
Production company | Charter Film Productions |
Distributed by | British Lion Films (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £161,069 [1] |
Box office | £310,870 (UK) [2] |
Private's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film directed by John Boulting and starring Ian Carmichael, Peter Jones, William Hartnell and Terry-Thomas. [3] The script was by John Boulting and Frank Harvey based on the novel of the same name [4] by Alan Hackney.
During the Second World War, young undergraduate Stanley Windrush is conscripted into the British Army. Unlike his friend, Egan, Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone Barracks under Sgt. Sutton. Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock. Most of the soldiers there are malingerers and drop-outs, with one of them Private Cox becoming his mentor in escaping work details and riding on the railway without a ticket.
Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil. He is then contacted by his uncle, Brigadier Tracepurcel, who rapidly rose from the rank of Major for facilitating profitable business deals for his superior officers and is now a senior officer in the War Office, to join a secret operation known only as Hatrack. He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, Windrush becoming an unwitting participant in a scheme ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans but really to steal them and sell them to two crooked art dealers. All are astounded that Windrush was trained in Japanese, rather than German that initially made him desirable to the operation.
Windrush survives the operation where he is captured by British forces whilst in German uniform. No one believes he is British until he comes across Major Hitchcock who is commanding the prisoner of war camp Windrush is at. After being hospitalised for alleged mental illness, he is discharged from the army. Tracepurcel and his associate, Private Cox, fake their deaths. Windrush returns to university after the war and is surprised to receive a visit from Cox, who brings him an attaché case. Cox is arrested as he leaves by Sergeant Sutton, now a Royal Military Policeman; Windrush and Tracepurcel having been tracked as the source of a counterfeit copy of one of the artworks. Windrush innocently reveals to the military police the contents of the case – a large sum of money – and is also arrested, assumed to be complicit in the fraud.
The closing epilogue and dedication states: "To all those who got away with it, this film is most respectfully dedicated." [5]
The film was primarily filmed at Shepperton Studios but some scenes were filmed at Wantage Hall, a hall of residence for the University of Reading.[ citation needed ]
The War Office refused all requests for cooperation, even after the ending of the film was changed to show the guilty being caught. The producers inserted a title card depicting three officers in the See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil stance with the words "the producers gratefully acknowledge the official cooperation of absolutely nobody". [6] [5]
It was the first in a series of successful satirical comedies made by the Boulting brothers. [7] Their 1959 comedy I'm All Right Jack featured many of the same actors and characters. Many references are made to the events of Private's Progress. [8]
The film was the second most popular at the British box office in 1956. [9] [10]
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote:
The general irreverence of this film is in itself welcome; it is prepared to tilt at almost any target – the boredom and futility of army routine, the corruption of high-ups at the War Office, class-consciousness, all kinds of incompetence, intrigue and official absurdity. All that one wishes is for the humour to have more edge. There is material here for real satire, but writing and direction choose the less demanding level of affable farce. The experiences of Windrush are not related to anything outside himself; and since the reality of war is never shown at all, an important point of contrast is lost, and the force of the episode about the looting of German art treasures is dissipated. Everything in this world is absurd. Also, Ian Carmichael – though he has an enjoyably accomplished comedy technique – does not present Windrush as a true innocent; he is too sly, too knowing. When one thinks of Chaplin in Shoulder Arms [1918] one realises how much is lost by too obvious a dig in the ribs. For the rest, there are some clever character sketches by TerryThomas, Richard Attenborough and Kenneth Griffith, and a number of good jokes. [11]
Variety wrote: "As a lighthearted satire on British army life during the last war, Private's Progress has moments of sheer joy based on real authenticity. But it is not content to rest on satire alone and introduces an unreal melodramatic adventure which robs the story of much of its charm. ... Expert British players lake good care of the supporting parts." [12]
The New York Times wrote, "the Boultings have come up with an ingenious story and injected hilarious moments. But the whole thing sparkles and fizzles." [5]
John Edward Boulting and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting, known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s. They produced many of their films through their own production company, Charter Film Productions, which they founded in 1937.
Ian Gillett Carmichael, was an English actor who worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career that spanned seventy years. Born in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, he trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, but his studies—and the early stages of his career—were curtailed by the Second World War. After his demobilisation he returned to acting and found success, initially in revue and sketch productions.
I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney based on the 1958 novel Private Life by Alan Hackney.
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Glyndwr Desmond Houston was a Welsh actor best known for his television work. He was the younger brother of film actor Donald Houston.
The Army Game is a British television sitcom that aired on ITV from 19 June 1957 to 20 June 1961. It was the first ITV sitcom and was made by Granada, and created by Sid Colin. It follows the exploits of Hut 29, a dysfunctional group of soldiers and their National Service conscription into the British Army during the post war years.
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John Harvey was an English actor. He appeared in 52 films, two television films and made 70 television guest appearances between 1948 and 1979.
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An Alligator Named Daisy is a 1955 British comedy film directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Donald Sinden, Jeannie Carson, James Robertson Justice, Diana Dors, Roland Culver and Stanley Holloway. It was written by Jack Davies based on the 1954 novel of the same name by Charles Terrot.
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