Up to His Neck | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Paddy Carstairs |
Written by |
|
Story by | Peter Rogers |
Produced by | Hugh Stewart |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Ernest Steward |
Edited by | Alfred Roome |
Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
Production company | |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors |
Release date | 1 August 1954 |
Running time | 91 minutes [1] |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Up to His Neck is a 1954 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, starring Ronald Shiner, Hattie Jacques and Anthony Newley. [2] [3] [4]
Sailor Jack Carter has been marooned for ten years on a South Seas island, and treated as a King by natives. He is eventually rescued by the Royal Navy, who then use him to train up commandos to recover a stolen submarine, and to foil an oriental criminal plot.
Hugh Stewart got the job of producing when director John Paddy Carstairs refused to work with original producer Paul Soskin so Earl St John of Rank assigned the job to Stewart. [5]
Stewart said "the thing did very well. And because I was able to do some comedy, but also cut loose a bit in terms of daft ideas I then." It led to him producing the films of Norman Wisom. [5]
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Alex Vetchinsky.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This farce, reminiscent of the pre-war George Formby comedies, seems to have learnt nothing during the intervening years. Most of the jokes fall flat, the pace is forced and there are lapses into dubious taste. Ronald Shiner shouts his way through it all with high spirits and works hard with a script almost devoid of funny lines. Laya Raki, well equipped as the seductive spy, has little to do." [6]
Carry On Sergeant is a 1958 British comedy film about National Service starring William Hartnell, Bob Monkhouse and Eric Barker; it is the first in the series of Carry On films, with 31 entries released from 1958 to 1992. The film was based on a play The Bull Boys by R. F. Delderfield and was adapted into a script by Norman Hudis with John Antrobus contributing additional material and replacing the conscripted ballet dancers of the novel into a married couple. It was directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers, a partnership which would last until 1978. Actors in this film, who went on to be part of the regular team in the series, were Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Kenneth Connor and Terry Scott. The film was followed by Carry On Nurse 1959.
John Paddy Carstairs was a British film director (1933–62) and television director (1962–64), usually of light-hearted subject matter. He was also a comic novelist and painter.
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