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When the film begins, an elderly man is dying...and he commits a prank on his way out of this world. But it's not his final prank...that comes in his will. When it's read to his four relatives, they're each told they'd receive 50,000 pounds...provided each do something odd and specifically tailored to them. His haughty sister is told that in order to collect, she must become a domestic and serve as one for a year. His cousin, the writer, must act out his dime novels...and get himself incarcerated for 28 days. His meek relative must hold up a bank with a fake gun...and his playboy cousin must marry the first woman with which he strikes up a conversation! And, all of these must be completed without telling anyone why they are doing it!

What made this one especially good is that, for the most part, the folks all learned a positive lesson from all this and there were also a few laughs along the way. Worth seeing and clever.

I first saw this as a youngster and liked it, but over the years it's really grown on me until now I regard it as a minor classic. The main characters were all played excellently, with many lesser characters also played memorably.

Practical joker Hugh Griffiths dies and leaves GBP 50,000 to each of his four living relatives if they complete various silly but onerous tasks within one month of his death. Pulp writer Alistair Sim, snobby Fay Compton, womaniser Guy Middleton and timid George Cole are all faced with problems that are against their natures, and their attempts to succeed ultimately result in a worthy moral and laughter on Earth. Cole's "juvenile" sections used to irritate me when younger but there's plenty else to savour, especially the incomparable Sim as a determined shoplifter, Compton as a harassed skivvy and Middleton as a hornswoggled suitor. As icing on the cake there's also fluffy Joyce Grenfell, scathing John Laurie, suave Anthony Steel, jolly Ernest Thesiger, and many other old friends – even the forever bald Noel Howlett and a young Audrey Hepburn. The direction and production values were top notch too; the sets were so beautifully wooden, the acting certainly was not.

It's flimsy yet logical, life-affirming and recommended – stay with it to the end to have the last laugh.

This is such a funny film! It's a clever plot which owes more than something to the old "warhorse" Brewster's Millions, and is filled with the eccentric lunacy which characterised so many British films made after WW2.

Alistair Sim is THE truly great British comic actor, even more so than Alec Guinness or Peter Sellers. To watch the scene when he tries to get arrested for shoplifting in the department store is to experience sheer comic inspiration.

I am no fan of remakes (have you seen the Thomas Crown remake!!), but funnily enough I am amazed that Hollywood hasn't had a go at this. In the right hands it could be made to work again.

After a wealthy eccentric dies, he leaves his very sizable fortune in equal portions to four relatives, but they can only claim the money if they each perform a difficult task. Former military officer and gentleman (and secret crime novelist) Deniston Russell (Alastair Sim) must spend 28 days in prison. Ill-tempered Agnes Russell (Fay Compton), often cruel to her own servants, must herself become a servant. Milquetoast bank teller Herbert Russell (George Cole) must rob his own bank, and his own boss, at gunpoint. And gambler and ladies man Simon Russell (Guy Middleton) must wed the first woman he speaks to. All four struggle to complete their tasks, each with unique and unexpected outcomes.

I wasn't much looking forward to this one, as I only recorded to see Audrey Hepburn's brief turn as a cigarette girl. Depending on the source, this was her movie debut, and it doesn't amount to much although she's very cute. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find this a charming little comedy with some winning performances and enjoyable plot turns. Sim steals the show as a proper gent utterly befuddled at trying to become a criminal, attempting a variety a minor offenses in an attempt to earn the requisite 28 days in the clink. Any fans of British comedy that missed this the last time it was shown would do well to try and catch it on its next showing.

This is a most excellent example of the comic talents of Alistair Sim. His bungling attempts to get himself arrested had me in stitches. Particularly trying to get the store detective, or indeed anyone, to notice he was trying his hand at shoplifting. And of course finding a crime that would only get him the 30 days in jail as stipulated in the will.

As someone else has mentioned he did have all the best lines, but the remainder of the cast did a great job, the mild mannered clerk who had to rob the bank where he worked, the overbearing snob who had to be a maid, the womaniser who had to marry the first woman he spoke to, all made for the usual mix of farce and comedy.

It was also notable for an early appearance of Audrey Hepburn as the cigarette girl.

A nice sly comedy that has similarities to Brewsters Millions. When Henry Russell (Hugh Griffiths) dies, known during his lifetime as a practical joker, he sets his beneficiaries a task that they must achieve before they can gain a share of their inheritance of £50,000. The tasks are related to some character weakness.

Alastair Sim who writes thrashy crime stories, long term engaged to Joyce Grenfell has to get himself arrested and spend 28 days in jail. George Cole a hapless and bullied bank clerk as to stick up the bank that he works for.

Fay Compton has to work as a maid to the curmudgeonly John Laurie without getting fired. The caddish Guy Middleton has to marry the first single woman he meets.

Sim and Cole have the funniest escapades, Middleton passes over a young Audrey Hepburn to pursue the second eligible woman he encounters. The characters discover something about themselves while pursuing their tasks, it is a nice bit of light whimsy.

One would be hard-pressed not to laugh along with the Russell family in the final scene of this, my most favorite of British post-war comedies. It is a comedy in every sense, albeit one which points up several life lessons as it unfolds. Alistair Sim - whose roles have run the gamut from Headmistress of a girls' public school (the St. Trinian's series)to benign assassin (The Green Man) to the dramatic (the quintessential Scrooge in A Christmas Carol) once again proves here that he is without doubt the best of many comic actors in the English cinema. Surrounded by a cast of equal talents (Fay Compton, George Cole, Guy Middleton, A.E. Matthews, John Laurie, and the irrepressible Joyce Grenfell) Sim leads a Light Cavalry charge through a wonderfully woven plot. There are wonderful morals to be learned here also. If you haven't seen this gem, by all means get the video and fill that gaping void in your filmic experiences.

Any film with Alastair Sim is worth watching, but this must rank as one of his best. Here he really displays his comic genius; his scenes can rightly be described as a masterclass in the art of comedy. Not before time, this has now become available on DVD, although, as yet, only part of a box set. Since Alastair Sim appears in the other films offered, this is not a great drawback. The other main characters in the film are also very good, particularly Fay Compton, and the supporting roles are filled well, with the always reliable Joyce Grenfell giving great satisfaction. The plot, too, is a cut above the usual, and it all adds up to a very satisfying experience, and one which I have watched many times, and hopefully will watch many more times.

Well-known prankster Henry Augustus Russell (Hugh Griffith) has laughed his last, and his four relatives gather for the reading of his will. Unfortunately for them, the only way they can each receive the £100,000 inheritance is do something wildly out of character - and that's a challenge for all of them! Deniston (Alistair Sim), a reluctant writer of James Hadley Chase-style novels, must somehow spend 28 days in prison; Agnes (Faye Compton), a snobbish battle-axe who bullies her staff, must become a maid for a month; timid bank clerk Herbert (George Cole) must hold up his own bank, while serial womaniser Simon (Guy Middleton) must marry the first woman he speaks to.

This British comedy from Italian director Mario Zampi is a feel-good film which, although not hilarious, is nonetheless amusing and at times even touching. The scenes in which Agnes contends with her cantankerous, bedridden employer (John Laurie) make this more of a light drama, and perhaps occupies a little too much of the run-time, but the other strands liven it up. Guy Middleton is excellent as a proto-Leslie Phillips, practically reprising his role from the raucous school comedy The Happiest Days of Your Life (also with Sim). George Cole is convincingly nervous as he prepares to confront his boss with a gun, while Joyce Grenfell does what only she can as Sim's militaristic, yet subtly vulnerable, fiancé of ten years. There's also a fleeting appearance from a very young Audrey Hepburn, who receives an introductory credit. The plot may be simple and familiar, but it made for entertaining Christmas Day viewing on the Talking Pictures TV channel. I must have seen it five times, over the years.

This classic of comedy and drama stars Alastair Sim, the peerless character comedian, and Fay Compton, a versatile stage actor of considerable range. The Laughter coming from Paradise emanates from a recently deceased eccentric (madcap Hugh Griffith) who follows the efforts of his four competitive heirs, for all of whom he has set different but embarrassing tasks to perform to qualify for an inheritance. Alastair Sim and Fay Compton have the choicer roles. Alastair Sim's ludicrous dilemma leads into a bravura comic performance. His bewildered and peeved fiancée is played by the exceptional Joyce Grenfell. Fay Compton's unsympathetic character becomes an occasion for exquisite acting in this film. Young George Cole, one of Mr & Mrs Sim's real-life protégés, handled comedy nearly as deftly as the master, and Cole is still appearing in films 75 years after his celluloid debut. Cole's role as a sincere but insecure lad is the polar opposite of sly and suave Guy Middleton, the fourth of a quartet of prospective heirs. Kudos to supporting players Ernest Thesiger and Eleanor Summerfield. Audrey Hepburn made her English-language movie debut in this film as a cigarette girl in a supper club, and Anthony Steel, on the brink of becoming a star hunk, had a larger and romantic role. Laugher in Paradise defies genre. It offers character studies, by turn hilarious and poignant. An unqualified 10 from this fan

Laughter in Paradise (1951) : Brief Review -

British Cinema's PARADISE of Classic Comedy! Shakespeare must be taking notes for "Comedy Of Errors" in Heaven from its screenplay. We have often heard that comedy is very difficult, especially when it comes to writing and screenwriting. The writing part is still a bit easier because it gets the basic things done with fewer difficulties. Well, the screenwriting is more difficult because you have to expand the characters, situations, properties, and especially humour written in the main story. Many people fail there, and that's why even some of the good-written comedies have been wasted. Now here's an example that can be studied and worshipped by screenplay writers. You have a good script that suits the comedy genre, and then you make it even better with your screenplay so that people will have no complaints at all about the on-paper material. Laughter in Paradise is truly a Paradise of screenplay writing in the comedy genre. Shakespeare gave us the comedy of errors centuries ago, and we have been living on it for years. With Laughter in Paradise, British cinema showed that you don't have to copy Shakespeare's literature to create a great example of a "comedy of errors" or errorsful comedy. The main idea in the film is funny, but the screenplay is just CRAZY! Every situation is planted so smartly with mad humour. All those four characters make errors, and what great errors! They all have human angles attached to them, and that's why it looks genuinely funny and timeless, and it's hysterical too. Now tell me, how many times do we get this combination in the comedy genre that doesn't have a bland slapstick theme or outrageous characters? There is a little bit of a Frank Capra touch to this movie, and those who know Capra's comedies/rom-coms will notice it somewhere towards the end. There's everything in this film to recommend, and believe me, it has more than some of your so-called cult comedies from the 70s and 80s in Hollywood and Bollywood.

RATING - 7.5/10*

By - #samthebestest.

Occasionally likable bit of British whimsy has the four greedy, spineless relatives of a deceased practical joker having to humble or humiliate themselves to get their share of the inheritance; naturally, behaving in a manner they're not accustomed to, they become better individuals. Nicely-cast comedy-drama gives Fay Compton in particular a marvelous role as a shrike who is reduced to working as a maid; small bits by Sebastian Cabot (as a poker player with marvelous eyes) and Audrey Hepburn (as a cigarette girl with a tiny little voice) are also worth noting. Hepburn made brief appearances in several British films of the early-'50s before her breakthrough role in 1953's "Roman Holiday", and it's clear from her cameo here that she had star-charisma but was in need of direction and molding. The picture isn't very funny or fresh, but there are bits and pieces which are successful. ** from ****

Alastair Sim would make a perfect undertaker. With those Bassett-hound eyes and that mournful hand-wringing manner, he's made to preside over the Slumber Room and ease you into the priciest model. So, it never fails to surprise me that he's also a first-rate comedic actor, maybe even the last word in droll comedy. And he pulls off the humor so slyly, with just a minor change of expression. What a wonderfully artistic contrast he is to today's rub- your-nose-in-it brand of comedy.

This is not his best vehicle, but the movie does have a clever premise and a couple of good set-ups—the shoplifting sequence, and any scene with Joyce Grenfell. The sketches, however, are more amusing than hilarious, and the humor never really peaks out in a climactic way. It's also perhaps one of the sweetest comedies on record, insisting that the key to happiness is pairing up with another, even in the case of those two cranky old people. That's the wisdom behind the will's requirement— old man Russell makes each beneficiary experience what is most missing from his or her life, and in the process, become a better and happier person.

Note the shot taken early on at America's brand of hard-boiled detective fiction, probably then making inroads into popular British fiction. So, by combining America's street- tough style with traditional British prose, writer Russell (Sim) produces something amusingly ridiculous, like "Petal arched her alabaster arm above her patrician brow in a moment of precise exasperation before he smacked her in the kisser." Anyway, I thought those passages were both funny and cleverly offbeat. All in all, this little comedy may be no knee-slapper, but it is rather sweetly memorable.

Few things are as enjoyable in cinema as stories about conditional inheritances. The idea that an eccentric old man can, from beyond the grave, manipulate the lives of his heirs always leads to great situations. Laughter in Paradise (1951) embraces this premise by following four characters who must complete absurd tasks to secure the fortune. The result is an engaging comedy with efficient humor and messages that, even without great depth, are conveyed with precision. If the narrative doesn't aim for complexity, it at least delivers good doses of entertainment.

Of the four stories, the one that stands out the most is about the woman who mistreats her maid and must work as a housekeeper for a month. The irony of the situation creates funny moments, although her transformation happens too quickly. She goes from bitterness to redemption with ease, but within the light tone of the film, it makes sense. The writer who must be imprisoned comes next, providing one of the funniest parts of the film. The comedy builds on the absurdity of the situation: a man who spends his life writing about crimes but fails miserably at committing one. His growing desperation is priceless.

The shy banker who must rob his cruel boss offers a good story, mainly due to the protagonist's charm. There's an interesting balance between humor and overcoming challenges, even though the short time limits its development. In contrast, the story of the conman who's forced to marry is the most predictable. From the beginning, it's clear that his fiancée will be a fortune hunter, which takes away some of the fun. It doesn't ruin the film, but it doesn't add much to it either.

In the end, Laughter in Paradise is an efficient, well-paced comedy that never loses its rhythm. It works both due to the charm of the cast and the construction of situations, which are engaging even without major surprises. Perhaps a remake could explore some nuances that the original script only hints at, but as it stands, the film fulfills its role well: to entertain effortlessly and show that, for some people, not even a fortune comes easily.

What a great British comedy. First of all it was cool to see Fay Compton from "The Hauting" and "Orson Welles' Otello" again. The script is original and very funny in a lighthearted and intelligent way and the actors are all just great. I liked the writer and his funny secretary best. His spouse was really funny, too and her character made me wonder what Hollywood would make out of it in a contemporary comedy: I guess they would turn her character into "a lesbian", you know, one of their silly clichés.

This movie is so much better than those dumb primitive comedies Hollywood treats its viewers to! See it if you have the chance.

Very enjoyable, especially when Sims is on screen. Here's an astonishing fact: Alistair Sim was nominated for one bafta, never won an award!!!! Was the world such a strange place then that this truly great comedic actor didn't win any awards?

This has got to be a classic of Ealing comedies.

Alistair Sim is at his best, the scene with the window (Fact-he ad-libbed most of the scene too)is proof that actors like him are few in between.

I saw this when I was a nipper as my father said that he enjoyed it when it first came out and even though I've seen it quiet a few times it's still fresh and amusing. Watch it and anything else with Mr Sims, this is British at it's best.

Only saw 'Laughter in Paradise' recently with my godparents as the film of choice, chosen by me from their carefully chosen list of films for one of the evenings when staying with them. Due to being fascinated by the premise, who highly appreciates comedy (if more the older comedies than those now) and being someone who loves Alastair Sim. They love Sim as well so it suited all of us just fine with nobody objecting, not always the case in my family.

Had no doubt that 'Laughter in Paradise' was going to be a great film. It absolutely was, to me one of the funniest and most likeable recent film viewings and a real pleasure to watch. Saw a lot of films from all genres and decades and while a lot were decent and more, there were others that were barely average and less. Having seen a lot of wastes of potential recently, where films mess up a good concept and do the talent involved no justice, part of me was starting to feel nervous when seeing a film that intrigued me. 'Laughter in Paradise' though was something of a refreshment.

Will admit to guessing the outcome early on, but the film still executed the ending very well and it at least gelled with the zany premise.

'Laughter in Paradise' looks good though, the black and white photography being very pleasing on the eye and transitions from scene to scene are smooth enough. The music score matches the zany tone of the story and is suitably whimsical. The direction handles the different story strands seamlessly, managing to keep the pace energetic but never rushed throughout and making the storylines equally interesting.

The script is very funny, with Sim agreed having the best lines, yet also manages some surprising pathos in Agnes' storyline. With Agnes progressing the most in a character change that is touching and sympathetically handled. Perhaps Simon's storyline comes off least, but only because there were funnier (and more of them) moments elsewhere and Agnes' especially had more heart. It is entertaining still though and suave Simon just about avoids being annoying. Although it was entertaining seeing George Cole going through lengths to rob a bank, it's Sim's scenes that brings out the most joy. Have never known any film character to go to prison willfully, while there have been few funnier shoplifting attempts scenes than in 'Laughter in Paradise', loved everything with the brick (and the dog in the car) too.

Sim of course is fantastic, one doesn't expect any less though, and is the one that holds 'Laughter in Paradise' together. Fay Compton mixes unsympathetic and sympathetic quite touchingly, while George Cole's earnestness is appealing and Guy Middleton does suave very well. Joyce Grenfell, really liked her chemistry with Sim and her body language, and John Laurie, in full cantankerous mode, are hoots in their supporting roles.

In conclusion, great fun. 9/10

This charming little beauty obviously struck a chord in postwar austerity Britain since it hit the number one spot in that year's table of box office winners. The long-suffering public probably laughed themselves silly in painful recognition at it's painfully accurate portrayal of a Britain rife with low level criminality (Alistair Sim, for example, promptly gets his pocket picked in one scene) and the ignominious treatment wage slaves reached at the hands of their employers.

It's success ushered in Mario Zampi's career in comedy in which his essential good nature perfectly complimented writer Michael Pertwee's hearty cynicism.

I don't often watch 70 years old movies but the plot seemed interesting and I was not disappointed. It's a great movie with a cast delivering a very good performance. The story is well written, often funny but deliverying some good lessons. Definitely worth watching.

This is something that I have to comment on before I commence with the film review, regarding points made by other reviewers. The notion that this film makes a nod to the film Brewsters Millions, and the question of how would Hollywood remake it? Well this film Laughter in Paradise was made in 1951 and Brewsters Millions was made in 1985, so really it is the American film that makes a nod to the British film and is effectively its Hollywood remake.

With other reviewers expounding on the films plot, there is absolutely no need for me to elaborate on it.

The film has an embarrassment of riches in its cast of British acting talent of the period.

I am a huge fan of Alastair Sim as one of Englands finest, character actors straight or comedic, as ever his performance was simply sublime. Having his character Deniston Russell the author under numerous nom de plumes, of penny dreadful's is priceless. Especially working with his devoted secretary Sheila Wilcott the wonderful Eleanor Summerfield, they have a perfect working arrangement. Pairing his character with the Inimitable Joyce Grenfell, as his doting fiance Fluffy is a total joy. Her dadykins Sir Charles the Magistrate is, brilliantly played by a suitably crusty A.E.Mathews.

Cousin Agnes Russell ably played by Fay Compton has to work as a servant and gets a job as a maid, for the cantankerous old miser Gordon Webb. Played delightfully by John Laurie looking a lot younger, than as Mr. Fraser the undertaker in Dad's Army.

George Cole is aptly named as the proper Herbert, Russell the timorous bank clerk, who has to rob his boss Mr. Wagstaffe.

It's a great shame that one of my favourite Welsh actors Hugh Griffith only has the most fleeting of cameos, as the practical joking uncle Henry Augustus Russell.