Down Among the Z Men

Hmm. as most people who are goons fans have probably done, I watched this film purely out of curiosity having never seen the format "on screen". It didn't work. There is nothing whatsoever to recommend this film, boring, unfunny and unwatchable. as the goons huge popularity in later years goes to show, that's not to say that their talent is in any way called into question, I just think they really hadnt quite decided on which comedic routines would work and which wouldn't as early as 1952. Far better to watch something like "the muckinese battle horn" from 1957, which although doesn't feature secombe, is far nearer the mark to the goons madcap fast moving humour, and fans of the radio show will feel more at home. "z men" is quite frankly embarrassingly bad.

E J Fancey productions occupied a space on a quality scale somewhere between educational films and home-movies. While US budget movie-makers had a knack of doing a lot with just a little. E J Fancey had a knack of making very little look even less.

So its a shame that this group of entertainers who were already popular on radio as The Goons, and later went on to better things should have this as part of their legacy.

Who were the Z Men? I'd never known but saw that they feature in another disappointing '50s army comedy "You Lucky People" - starring Tom Trinder in his last film. I see from Wikipedia that they were British army soldiers and officers who'd served in WW2 and became a reserve to be recalled if needed.

I was never a great fan of any of the "Goons" so approached this with quite a bit of trepidation. Sadly, it is all rather silly and presented in such a stilted fashion as to appear to have been rehearsed to within an inch of it's life - totally devoid of anything that looked convincingly genuine or spontaneous. There is a storyline involving a rather flaky professor who leaves a top secret formula in a grocer's shop. When he attempts to return it, he is mistaken for one of the "Z" (British army reservists) men, dragooned into the army and soon exposed to criminals who are also after this scientific boon. Curiously enough, there are one or two quite redeeming musical performances dotted throughout this featuring Carole Carr and Harry Secombe; but the performances of his fellow goons - Messrs. Bentine, Sellars and Milligan - really have suffered badly from the ravages of time, so much as to make this pretty unwatchable to all but real "Goonies".

The dancing girls are the only polished act in this whole movie. Even the goons themselves were embarrassed about the final film (it was filmed at breakneck speed due to an extremely short filming schedule forcing them to improvise).

The only reason to watch this film is out of historical interest. It's amazing to see a then 27 year old Peter Sellers showing early signs of his incredible character range, something which would stand him in good stead in the years to come. Spike Milligan (who I once met) looks so young in this but is his usual zany self. Harry Secombe often seems a bit lost in this film, not having a proper script to follow and not knowing how to react to the improvisations going on around him. In some ways he was the most professional of the Goons.

And finally we see Michael Bentine, a man I associate with zany children's comedy from the 1970s. A unique looking individual who's appearance changed quite dramatically once he cut his hair and lost the beard ,Bentine left the goons soon after this movie was made so this film is a unique insight into the group before they became a trio.

It's a shame this film is almost unwatchable and not representative of the fledgling talent within. It tries to play out like a Marx brothers comedy, but contains none of the polish or acerbic wit of those films. However as a snapshot of what was to come it's an interesting curiosity.

As already stated, a fairly confusing mishmash of a film.

HOWEVER ! If you are a UK resident over the age of fifty, it *might* just make a bit more sense, as the Goons were the UK's greatest comedy team ever. I have no idea who "the good guys" were (other reviewer's comment), but the Goons were "Gods" in their day - and it's the "in their day" which is most relevant now. Sadly, the film has aged dreadfully, sorry lads.

Bentine as Purehart (whitehead, blackhead, whitehouse etc...) is probably the funniest character, even outshining the immortal Eccles for most of the time. Sellers could have easily played 6 or 7 more characters, easy, but that's the movie industry for you.

1952, early days for the Goons, and most of their fame still to come on BBC radio. Shame Blinbottle couldn't have joined up with Eccles for some naughty sossinges.

An advisory 7/10 for old fart UK types.