I have been a Norman Wisdom film since my pre teen days, when they showed them every tuesday night on TV. I couldnt get enough of his films, so funny, such a great snapshot of england in the 50's. As with all great artists, he made the occasional questionable film, notably "the girl on the boat", and fans are divided by "Whats good for the goose", but he made a lot of other great films, too many list here. I thought I had seen them all, til i learned about this film a few years ago, and how it was only shown for a few days, then pulled, as the film company didnt have the rights to the film. What a frustration, a film by one of my all time comic heroes, was there in the vaults and it couldnt be seen. I since learned it had been shown on TV twice in the 60's, so chances are I had actually seen it at the time, but i would only been about five and wouldnt remember it.
And then the unbeleivable happened, they were going to release it on DVD. Oh happy day!!!
Here comes the serious bit, it was supposed to be digitally restored, but the it still looked like an old print, even though technically the prints wouldnt have been shown that much, so most of the original copies should have been pristine.
Down to the film itself, Norman doesnt play his usual "gump", but he doesnt play it straight either. What you get is Norman trying to move onto to something better, and develop his gump character, but it wasnt the crowd pleaser, and it didnt sell well at the time. Was this the reason why it was originally pulled? The sleeve note seem to indicate this, but why has it gone unseen for 50 years? My two cents goes with the original copyright holder passing on, and that meant it could be shown again. Maybe we will never know, but at least its out there.
Down to the nitty gritty, was it worth the wait? The film has an odd story line, and takes some beleiving, but there are funny moments, and its worth watching, but time hasnt done it any favours, and maybe people nit pick about things more nowadays, something that brings to light the films shortcomings. Now dont get me wrong, i will be watching this again, and again and again and again. Its a long lost film that i should have seen a million times since the early 70's, and i think it will get better each time i see it.
Imagine there was a long lost episode of star trek, and it met a mixed reaction, you would be grateful to have a chance to watch, and you would watch it again and again...this is like this.
This would make great material for "Talking Pictures" TV, but its not as good as his best things like "man of the moment" , "trouble in store" or "on the beat", but better than the one with the lady on the boat.
Recommended for fans...........other people will watch it once, and then probably erase it from their set top box.
Me? I will watch it again and again.
I would have given five out five if the picture quality was pristine 35mm, but it was worth the 50 year wait in any form :)
