The Plank | |
---|---|
Directed by | Eric Sykes |
Written by | Eric Sykes |
Produced by | Jon Penington |
Starring | Eric Sykes Tommy Cooper Jimmy Edwards |
Cinematography | Arthur Wooster |
Edited by | John Pomeroy |
Music by | Brian Fahey |
Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors (UK) |
Release date |
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Running time | 51 or 44 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Plank is a 1967 British slapstick comedy film directed and written by Eric Sykes, and starring Sykes, Tommy Cooper and Jimmy Edwards, and featuring many of the top British comedians and comic actors of the time. [1] It was produced by Jon Penington for Associated London Films.
It follows the misadventures of two builders who require a floorboard. The story was based on the 1964 episode "Sykes and a Plank" of Eric Sykes' BBC comedy series Sykes and a... . Although not strictly a silent film, it has little dialogue; instead, the film is punctuated by grunts, other vocal noises and sound effects.
After one of the characters uses the last floorboard for heating, the two hapless carpenters have to buy a replacement. They return to the house with the plank on top of a Morris Eight Series E, but the journey is fraught with unexpected difficulties.
The film is a series of "plank jokes" elaborating on the "man with a plank" slapstick routine seen in vaudeville and silent films, and adding new ones. For instance, at one point the plank is tied to the top of the car and projects backward into the open back of a large van. A man (played by Roy Castle) enters the back of the van and sits down. The van drives away, leaving him suspended in mid-air sitting on the end of the plank.
Two variants exist, running for about 51 and 44 minutes respectively. The film was reissued in 1974, [2] with some scenes cut down or extended, and some put in a different order, with the music reapplied to suit; some voices were clarified.
Although a single plank was depicted throughout the film, two planks were actually used for filming: a thin plank for scenes where actors carry the plank, and a thicker plank for scenes where it is being transported on the Morris Eight and for scenes where a thicker stronger plank was required. In December 2011, one of these planks from the film was sold at auction for £1,050. [3] [4] [5]
Dermot Kelly is often listed as "Concertina Man" [2] or "Affluent Concertina Man", [6] instead of "Milkman". Johnny Speight is often listed as "Chauffeur", [2] "Concertina Man's Chauffeur" [7] or "Concertina Man's Father", [6] instead of "Pipe Smoker in Bus Queue".
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Eric Sykes describes this film, in which he deliberately attempts to create an internationally accessible form of comedy by keeping dialogue to a bare minimum and concentrating on visual effects, as "an exposition of the mechanical gag". But the mechanical gag as he employs it here (the plank carried on a workman's shoulder which bangs the head of an adjacent bystander, the absent-minded house-painter who paints both the doorway and the man standing in it) is a form already brilliantly exposed and explored in the early silent comedies for which Sykes has such an obvious affection. And neither the use of Technicolor nor the occasional new gimmick – the liturgical incantation of the credit titles, for instance – is enough to conceal either the poverty or the superfluousness of the improvised dialogue, or more seriously, to disguise the fact that Sykes has stretched fifteen minutes of slapstick material into a fifty-four minute film. The result is something genial and leisurely – like Laurel and Hardy in waltz time – in which familiar TV comedians move through familiar routines, generating constant goodwill but only intermittent laughter." [8]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This joyously inventive 'silent' comedy from writer/director Eric Sykes is about the misadventures of two builders delivering wood to a house. Sykes himself is "Smaller workman" to Tommy Cooper's "Larger workman", and, although not all the jokes are completely fresh, the fun is in the effective sound effects, and the spotting of comedy icons such as Jimmy Edwards, Jimmy Tarbuck and Roy Castle in unfamiliar poses. Music hall on the hoof." [9]
A comedy film is a category of film that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre. Some of the earliest silent films were comedies such as slapstick comedy, which often relies on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they can be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue.
Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such as saws and ladders.
Eric Sykes was an English radio, stage, television and film writer, comedian, actor and director whose performing career spanned more than 50 years. He frequently wrote for and performed with many other leading comedy performers and writers of the period, including Tony Hancock, Spike Milligan, Tommy Cooper, Peter Sellers, John Antrobus and Johnny Speight. Sykes first came to prominence through his many radio credits as a writer and actor in the 1950s, most notably through his collaboration on The Goon Show scripts. He became a TV star in his own right in the early 1960s when he appeared with Hattie Jacques in several popular BBC comedy television series.
Hattie Jacques was an English comedy actress of stage, radio and screen. She is best known as a regular of the Carry On films, where she typically played strict, no-nonsense characters, but was also a prolific television and radio performer.
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Behind the Screen is a 1916 American silent short comedy film written by, directed by, and starring Charlie Chaplin, and also starring Eric Campbell and Edna Purviance. The film is in the public domain.
Silent comedy is a style of film, related to but distinct from mime, invented to bring comedy into the medium of film in the silent film era (1900s–1920s) before a synchronized soundtrack which could include talking was technologically available for the majority of films. Silent comedy is still practiced, albeit much less frequently, and it has influenced comedy in modern media as well.
Graham William Stark was an English comedian, actor, writer and director.
James Keith O'Neill Edwards, DFC was an English comedy writer and actor on radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in Take It from Here and as headmaster "Professor" James Edwards in Whack-O!.
In American radio, film, television, and video games, walla is a sound effect imitating the murmur of a crowd in the background. A group of actors brought together in the post-production stage of film production to create this murmur is known as a walla group. According to one story, walla received its name during the early days of radio, when it was discovered that having several people repeat the sound walla in the background was sufficient to mimic the indistinct chatter of a crowd. Nowadays, walla actors make use of real words and conversations, often improvised, tailored to the languages, speech patterns, and accents that might be expected of the crowd to be mimicked.
Rhubarb is a 1969 British short film written and directed by Eric Sykes, starring Sykes, Harry Secombe and Jimmy Edwards. The dialogue consists entirely of repetitions of the word "rhubarb", all the characters' last names are "Rhubarb", the vehicle number plates are "RHU BAR B", and a baby "speaks" by holding a sign with the word "rhubarb" written on it. Sykes remade the film in 1980 as Rhubarb, Rhubarb for Thames Television.
Brian Todd, known professionally as Bob Todd, was an English comedy actor, mostly known for appearing as a straight man in the sketch shows of Benny Hill and Spike Milligan. For many years, he lived in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
The Wrong Guy is a 1997 Canadian black comedy film directed by David Steinberg, and starring Dave Foley, along with David Anthony Higgins, Jennifer Tilly, Colm Feore and Joe Flaherty. It was written by Foley, Higgins and Jay Kogen.
Rhubarb Rhubarb is a 1980 30-minute television comedy special written and directed by Eric Sykes for Thames TV. It is a re-make of Sykes' 1970 film Rhubarb.
The Plank is a 30-minute, British slapstick comedy film for television from 1979, which was written and directed by Eric Sykes. This version, which is a remake of the 1967 film The Plank, also written and directed by Sykes, was produced by Thames Television and broadcast on the ITV network.
Big Bad Mouse is a British stage play and theatrical comedic farce by Phillip King and Falkland L. Carey. Although not specifically written for Jimmy Edwards and Eric Sykes, it became a vehicle for the British comedy actors and has been revived many times with other stars right up to 2008.
It's Your Move is the title of two short films written and directed by Eric Sykes. The story of both films involves a married couple moving into a new home and enduring the ineptitude of removal men. As with most other films directed by Sykes, the action unfolds in a style echoing the silent, slapstick comedy era.
David Durand was an American juvenile actor.
Dermot Kelly was an Irish actor often in comic roles, in films and on TV. He achieved popularity as a recurring tramp character, sidekick to Arthur Haynes's vagrant, in TV's The Arthur Haynes Show in the early 1960s. Previously on stage with Dublin's Abbey Theatre, he was in the original stage and film versions of Brendan Behan's The Quare Fellow, in 1954 and 1962, respectively.