Reluctant Heroes

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Reluctant Heroes
"Reluctant Heroes" (1951).jpg
Australian daybill poster
Directed by Jack Raymond
Written by Colin Morris
Based on Reluctant Heroes by Colin Morris
Produced byHenry Halstead
Starring
Cinematography James Wilson
Edited by Helen Wiggins
Music byTony Lowry
Production
company
Byron Films
Distributed by Associated British-Pathé
Release date
  • 11 February 1952 (1952-02-11)
Running time
80 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£45,000 [1]

Reluctant Heroes is a 1952 British comedy film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Ronald Shiner, Derek Farr and Christine Norden. [2] It was written by Colin Morris based on his 1950 popular farce of the same title. [3] The play, which had its West End premiere at the Whitehall Theatre in September 1950, was the first of the Brian Rix company's Whitehall farces. [4]

Contents

Plot summary

This comedy is set in an army boot camp. It displays a drill sergeant who must somehow turn an inept group of recruits into real soldiers.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith in West London. Its sets were designed by the art director Wilfred Arnold.

Reception

Box office

The film is listed in the 12 most popular films at the British box-office in 1952, in an article in the Sydney Sunday Herald that cited Ronald Shiner as the UK's favourite film star of the year. [5] [6] It earned ten times its budget. [1]

Brian Rix asserts in his autobiography that it was the UK's top box office film of the year. [7]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This long-drawn-out farce is a re-hash of most of the familiar army jokes, only a few of which still remain funny. Ronald Shiner and Brian Rix work hard for laughs, but the material gets the better of them in the end." [8]

Kine Weekly wrote: "Rollicking Army comedy. Adapted from the terrific Whitehall stage success, it centres on a tough vernacular sergeant, excellently played by Ronald Shiner, and draws hearty laughs from the reactions of rookies, representing different walks of life, to the tyrant's blustering and bullying. A slight, though appropriate, romantic interest establishes feminine appeal, while the skilfully contrived tit-for-tat climax is, as it should be, the biggest scream of all." [9]

Picturegoer wrote: "While it follows the pattern set by countless Army burlesques dating from the first World War, the film is good for a kitbagful of laughs." [10]

Picture Show wrote: "The team work of the cast is first-class, and the fun never flags, while Ronald Shiner as the sergeant is an entertainment in himself." [11]

References

  1. 1 2 Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British cinema of the 1950s : the decline of deference. Oxford University Press. p. 254.
  2. ↑ "Reluctant Heroes". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  3. ↑ "Reluctant Heroes (1952)". BFI. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  4. ↑ Ray Cooney Obituary: John Chapman, The Guardian, 8 September 2001
  5. ↑ "Comedian tops film poll". The Sunday Herald. Sydney, NSW: National Library of Australia. 28 December 1952. p. 4. Retrieved 24 April 2012..
  6. ↑ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 259.
  7. ↑ Rix, B. (1975) My Farce From My Elbow, Secker & Warburg, London.
  8. ↑ "Reluctant Heroes". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 19 (216): 7. 1 January 1952. ProQuest   1305817399.
  9. ↑ "Reluctant Heroes". Kine Weekly . 438 (2412): 31. 17 September 1953. ProQuest   2732607122.
  10. ↑ "Reluctant Heroes". Picturegoer . 23: 15. 5 February 1952. ProQuest   1705140272.
  11. ↑ "Reluctant Heroes". Picture Show . 58 (1506): 10. 9 February 1952. ProQuest   1880310294.
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