Press for Time

The best analogy for American audiences for a Norman Wisdom film is Jerry Lewis. Like Mr. Lewis, Mr. Wisdom, at least in the films I've seen, have him playing bumbling, fish out of water, slightly dim characters. This film is no exception, as he plays Norman Shields, the grandson of the Prime Minister (also played by Wisdom), who gets sent to provincial seaside town Tinmouth in England to become a reporter. Things happen, mostly slapstick type mishaps, all because of him. There is political commentary here which is lost on me, bit it hardly matters. Its a silly comedy, but its a Norman wisdom comedy, so its hard to take seriously. For the uninitiated, try "Just My Luck" or "Trouble In Store" first. For those who know of Norman, add a notch to my vote and enjoy.

Not quite Norman's best film, but it has plenty of great comic moments. Stanley Unwin's contribution in his inimitable gibberish (you can in fact follow the meaning if you listen very carefully!) is brilliant as always. Frances White gives a lovely performance as Liz. She may not have been as 'attractive' as Norman's primary love-interest Eleanor, but she turns out a much more worthy character. The seaside locations are beautiful (I must visit Teignmouth one day). And the condemnation of tinpot local politicians is perfect, and should be seen more often. For me, though, the supreme glory of 'Press For Time' is Norman's stunt when he visits the Mayor's house. Liz's mother introducing him to her daughter, while he's hanging from the chandelier, is a truly unforgettable moment in British cinema.

Press for time, where to begin? It's a somewhat madcap comedy, I'm not sure why, but I get glimpses of some of the earlier Carry on Films, it has that vibe, no smut, good clean humour. It takes its time to get going, but the scenes involving The Mayoress are hilarious, particularly in the debating chamber and at the 1000th house.

The Beauty Contest scene was perhaps a little deeper than you would perhaps think, there are several messages in it, the first being that beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder, and secondly, how refreshing to see women with curves!

Stanley Unwin is great to watch, delivering his gobbledegook lines in his own unique style. Frances White is lovely as Norman's eventual live interest, but the one that stole the show for me was Noel Dyson, who played The Mayoress.

Not a classic, but enough madcap moments, and if course shows us that the eternal battle between Labour and Conservatives has gone on for a very long time. 6/10.

Norman Shields is the Grandson of the Prime Minister of England. He was fathered by a drain inspector and has been shunned by his family. However the PM feels an obligation to look after him and sets him up as a journalist in a small town paper. Despite causing chaos wherever he goes, Norman gets involved with both Labour and Tory councillors and eventually teaches them a thing or two about what politics should mean.

This film was yet another in the long running series of Norman Wisdom comedies that relied on his talent to be a likeable, misunderstood, clumsy, common clown. Here the story has it's usual message for the working classes - here Norman shows up the toffs in local government as self-centred and disconnected. The love interest is even more interesting than usual, here she is a plain Jane type rather than a stunner who falls for Norman's charms. As a film it is interesting enough, but the comedy is not as fresh as in other Wisdom films.

It may be because he is a little older than other films, his character doesn't feel quite so innocent or wide-eyed as before and it makes his antics seem less acceptable. He also plays his own Mother and Grandfather, however they are quite empty characters and are only amusing because they are played by Wisdom.

Overall this is not quite up to Wisdom's usual standard but it has a good message, an interesting story and some genuinely amusing scenes.

This is more of a social drama than a comedy, although it does have comedy in it, it is slightly different than the other Norman films in that.

It is more interesting than anything else to me, to see what it was like in a seaside town in the sixties, Teignmouth looked absolutely lovely, filmed in the summer of 1966 when England was on top of the world.

The comedy was fun, but not that funny, there was no instant laugh for me, but it was good acting, the girls were a bit of a side issue, it was more about politics. And there lies the problem, its difficult to make good comedy from politics (It has been done well since - Yes Minister), and even Norman could not pull it off, his accident stunts looked more embarrassing than funny, and the choosing the ugly girl to win the beauty contest was a bit cheesy.

However I give it a 6 because it was interesting.