La folle mission

The film begins with the superb opening credits by Bob Godfrey, and a Mona Lisa start which is not unlike (and predates) Terry Gilliam, and sets one up for a light hearted typical British affair. It frequently uses the streets of London as a backdrop and is filled with some marvellous cameo roles by numerous character actors. They seem to be all here.

There are quite a few memorable roles but accolades go to Terry Thomas, Lionel Jeffries (that's a first for me), and Denholm Elliot glides through his performance with aplomb. Of course the plot is ridiculous, and the film is not a gem, but I was delighted to catch this film. I even laughed during the film. There's a little bit of 60's saucyness, pop references (The Cavemen), sending up of the upper classes, the obligatory (largely unknown) Amercan actor and cuts that are pure 1960's.

It's not a Carry On film, it's much better, and if you like black & white British 1960's movies and the (now lost) actors from then, you will not be disappointed.

This is one of those twerpy 'swinging 60's' films with cavalier photography, 'swinging' introductory and background music, to get us all in a 'fab' mood to insure us that the everything you are about to endure is not to be taken seriously. It's all the fault of the Beatles wonderful 'A Hard Days Night' that all the others are trying to catch up. However, this film couldn't catch a George Formby film on a bad day. And why-oh-why did it have to have the obligatory American actor in the lead role? To me this lowers the tone completely as we have many, many British actors who would be more than willing to make a complete fool of themselves.

Smashingly funny and character driven film with a scavenger hunt leading to the stealing of the Lord's of London bell. Shown primarily as a second biller in the 60s, at least in the US, and hasn't been seen much since. An all-around-good flick (Laurie "Avengers" Johnson did the music) with a bit of Richard Lester vibe.

Quite a lot of old movies don't live up to their animated credits. Not this one, even though they were the work of Bob Godfrey.

In 1968 Andrew Sarris rated Winner higher - among The 'Oddities, One-Shots and Newcomers' - in 'American Cinema' than Stanley Kramer ('Miscellany'). At the time Sarris seemed not to have seen (and probably never bothered to catch up with) this low budget but very funny imitation of 'It's a Mad Mad Mad World' from a mildly satirical script by the author of 'I'm All Right Jack'. It was also Michael Winner's last film in black & white, in those very far off days when even he couldn't help making a decent film.

Energetically shot entirely on location (94 in all) in and around a very wintry looking London and then frenziedly cut together (NERD NOTE: Winner's used of hard-edged wipes probably seemed very 'nouvelle vague' at the time but were actually a common feature of quota quickies thirty years earlier). It depicts a world in which audiences would have known the significance of plaster flying ducks and Trechikoff's 'Green Woman', now as impossible to revisit as the planet Jupiter itself. Shot by '2001's director of photography and featuring a Who's Who of British supporting actors past and future, most of them on good form, with Bernard Cribbins the victim of a hilarious running gag; English actor Lionel Jeffries playing a mad Scotsman would however probably offend today's politically correct sensibilities.

(In smaller parts, James Robertson Justice looks incongruous as a supercilious librarian who makes no attempt to keep his voice down; while the ubiquitous Marianne Stone looks even more striking than usual forging signatures in a collar & tie.)

It's somewhat strange how this cheery and pleasing film has been almost totally forgotten today - perhaps in part despite its 'Swinging London' ethos that it was filmed in black & white?

Michael Winner's 1960s films were noted for their vivid and lively style, and it's a pity that when he moved to Hollywood in the early 1970s he seemed to lose that style and his films became defined by being dour, downbeat and often quite nasty.

Back to YMBJ, acting standouts include Lionel Jeffries who steals the film with his funny performance just as he did a few years previously with 'The Wrong Arm of the Law' and Terry-Thomas in a small but typically very amusing performance.

The film's finale is a bit messy and incoherent, but otherwise the film is full of good fun and laughs.