Folly to Be Wise

While Alistair Sim as the padre gives his usual sparkling, witty performance as the chairman of a sort of 'Brains Trust' Panel programme for the soldiers In camp, sadly nothing else sparkles in this laboured and tedious film. The storyline is based around having several local well known personalities to give their personal, but somewhat idiosyncratic views on questions sent in by the young serving men and women of the British army, ostensibly to educate and entertain. However, the whole thing falls flat on its face and fails to ignite any potential humour. The panelists are essentially stuffy, unfunny, middle class stereotypes, who squabble and exchange insults in front of the audience. There are several very good actors in the cast such as Roland Culver, Colin Gordon, Edward Chapman and Martita Hunt, but despite their talents, they're wasted in this unfunny and very dated film.

Saw this about twenty years ago and recall thinking it was dire. With such a talented cast, I thought I'd give it another chance on its appearance on the indispensable Talking Pictures channel the other day. But for the most part it just wasn't funny with the exception of the Brains Trust in the middle, where those entertaining eccentrics Martita Hunt, Miles Malleson, Colin Gordon and the others on the panel couldn't help but raise a few smiles. That was it. A speech close to the end by Janet Brown's dim-witted boyfriend who constantly refers to women as 'judies' - did anyone talk like that? - has to be one of the most excruciating moments in British film comedy.

This black and white cinema adaption of a successful play is probably a bit better than I expected, though either side of the core "Brains Trust" component in the middle is pretty flat and run of the mill.

The Q & A is quite funny with a Labour politician and a drunken Tory artist soon at each other's throats, while the feisty Private Jessie Killegrew keeps on insisting, with the support of the growing audience, that the panel answer her question on marriage. It is literally Alistair Sim's show though and he dominates proceedings and is amusing to watch, just about turning himself inside out, trying to control his rag-tag panel, 2 members of whom are having an affair. The highlight though is the hearing-impaired MD, who suddenly does decide to overrule his earlier claim that he didn't have a sense of humour because it wasn't important. He suddenly decides to tell the audience doctor jokes, not realising quizmaster Sim has moved everyone on to other questions. I found myself really laughing along with the film audience.

The movie's stage origins are pretty obvious, though I am curious how they featured the ever increasing army base audience in the play. This is worth a look if you have the opportunity arises and you don't mind a bit of a laugh.

Alistair Sim is the stand-out in this rather claustrophobic adaptation of a slight stage play. Mr Sim is commendably restrained, more so than in some other Launder & Gilliat comedies, but he has so little to do, and so little happens that nowadays, one wonders why the whole thing was mounted anyway. The relationship between the aspirational secretary and her 'dumb' boyfriend is nicely constructed, and he, Peter Martyn, plays his part very nicely. Otherwise all the focus is on the more upper-middle class characters, who nowadays seem like caricatures. There was a tendency in most British cinema of the 50s to adapt stage plays, but very non-cinematically; this is a typical example. In terms of film study or of entertainment, this doesn't have a lot more than competence to commend it.

The Intelligence Corps Field Security Police would have in a field day writing out the report of the whole proceedings of the Brians Trust set-up for the troops camp concert entertainment. Sim plays his beleagued camp padre role beautifully well, with his typist WRAC girl, persisting in asking the crucial question about marriage to its very extreme detail answer. She typed out the suitable questions for the BT, so in practice, had editorial control of the proceedings & the direction the show took.

For those that do not remember or never heard of the Brians Trust, it was a development from a WW II BBC radio programme, which had wide audience appeal.

George Cole who plays the soldier nervously offering his "vote of thanks" to the padre for his efforts in organising the show, at the end of the film, was by this time, the adopted Barnado boy son of Sim.

For some good innocent Ealing comedy of the era, then this will kill 90 mins for you.

John Locke