The Night We Dropped a Clanger

I was surprised to see this made in 1959 as the premise would better fit 1949. However despite all the cringemaking low humour the film is worth watching to see how 'backward' England was in those days. The V1 star seems very realistic as did the farn setting. The pomp, idocy and waste of the military show why so many names are on war memorials. All the soldiers wore thoser stupid little forage caps - what idiot designed them! I'm watching while on 2020 COVID lockdown and in happier times the film may lose its appeal.

Although you can still find amusement in this farce (The misheard "Hitler is in his bunker" still seems outrageously near the knuckle for such a family film), It's difficult to appreciate how successful this film was when it was originally released. The situations all seem rather tame or childish and exploit scenarios and interplay between characters that may strike anyone under the age of fifty as peculiarly obtuse. The slapstick just seems needlessly timid. All that siad, audiences loved it when it was released, perhaps you will too.

Brian Rix stars in dual roles as a celebrated RAF officer and a hopelessly incompetent airman. When RAF Intelligence notices how similar the two men look they propose to use the incompetent as a decoy on a secret mission. Needless to say, the plans get mixed up and the incompetent leads the secret mission, while the real agent is used as a decoy. I was unfamiliar with Brian Rix before I viewed the film and I must admit I quite enjoyed his work here. Other familiar faces include Cecil Parker, Leslie Phillips and William Hartnell. Not a classic of the standard of Ealing's best, but few good laughs during the 90 minutes.

The print I saw had the title, Make Mine A Double.

Brian Rix is Military Intelligence's secret weapon, sure to shorten the war five years. At the moment, he's investigating the German buzz bombs that have been dropping out of the sky. He decides he needs to go behind the lines in Germany, to where they are being produced. The problem is that he is now known to the Germans. So he insists that the government produce a double for him. They find one in Brian Rix, of course. He's a perpetual private on clean-up, since he was a janitor before the Wwar, and no more impressive now. He will be sent publicly to Egypt, so the other Rix can operate in the shadows. But first they have to train the private to behave convincingly like the officer.

It was just Rix's meat. He was best known for a series of very popular Whitehall farces, on stage and television. That probably wasn't why he was made a Life Lord; he and his wife worked for several charities for the mentally handicapped, and for chairing the Arts Council's Drama Panel after he retired from acting for his public and charitable work. He died in 2016 at the age of 92.

Other expert farceurs in the company include Cecil Parker, William Hartnell, Leslie Phillips, and Liz Fraser.

As a young schoolboy growing up in Manchester during the late 1950's I always looked forward to the screening of a Brian Rix farce on television. My father was a great fan of his and we both loved to watch Brian and his wife Elspet Gray in any "Whitehall Farce" the BBC screened, usually at Christmas.

Consequently, I was looking forward to watching this film very much. Sadly, I was greatly disappointed by this particular effort. The film had very little humour and an even poorer storyline.

The production values were bad and the comedic talents of comedians such as Hattie Jacques, Cecil Parker and Leslie Phillips utterly wasted.

Worth watching only if you are a die-hard fan of Mr.Rix. Perhaps, his other films are better ... let us hope so.