oiyou

This attempt to transfer the Goon Show humour from radio to the big screen fails dismally. It was made early in the Goon Show's run and before the GS had developed it's later format of one story per show. The film seems to be made up of sketches which don't flow together well and are in most cases cringe inducingly poor. For a better Goon film seek out The Case of the Mukkinese Battlehorn which does the job far better. Better still buy the Goon Show tapes or CDs.

One of the funniest UK comedy shows. The episode "Bunfight at the OK Tearooms" features the best western saloon bar poker game scene ever filmed (using toast for cards and biscuits as chips then pies and cakes and finally a three-tier wedding cake as the stakes got higher). The poker game is played entirely to piano music with no dialogue. The celebrity safari park one was great too. Especially when they released Tony Blackburn back into the wild and someone shot him. The show was derived from the radio show I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again which was also part of Monty Python's ancestry featuring John Cleese in the cast and Eric Idle and Graham Chapman among the writers.

Basically, this is the nearest you're going to get to a filmed Goon Show (1950's British radio programme). A lot of the jokes are lifted directly from Goon Shows. It's a pity Harry Secombe wasn't in it but Dick Emery is excellent. Peter Sellers excels as Quilt, Commissioner Gervaise and Henry Crun running a pawn shop (with Minnie off screen telling him there's someone knocking at the door). Milligan plays Brown or White depending which bit of the film (I think that was a re-write error) but it's Eccles. He also does a superb silent actor looking for the labour exchange skit and is the Police Sergeant assisting Inspector Quilt (and, of course the voice of Minnie Bannister). Dick Emery plays the museum curator and Maurice Ponk ("nothing to do with the story but we wanted you to see what a real idiot looks like"). It's long while since I've seen this film so I can't be certain but I think Emery plays Plackett (Willium Mate), the museum guard though it might be Sellers as the character was most often played by him on radio and the "they kept walloping me on the head" bit is from The Missing Prime Minister/10 Downing St and Sellers played Mate in both those radio shows

If you can't find the film on video, at least get some Goon Show CDs or tapes. The BBC and EMI both released some. The BBC set with 1985 on it is my favourite. The EMI one with Dishonoured is another good choice (featuring The Dance of the Seven Army-Surplus Blankets)