Lo stravagante mister Morris

Just another case of Hollywood pinching an idea from British comedies. Seven years after the release of "Will Any Gentleman," Hollywood come up with "The Nutty Professor". Not an exact remake but the idea is not far removed.

With a strong cast of well known character actors, I expected a much more entertaining film. George Cole, plays the upright and meek, bank employee Henry Sterling, who suffers from sudden temporary fits of 'womanising' and playing the 'cad' which land him in all all sorts of marital and work problems. His 'Jekyll and Hyde' shenanigans is made worse by his scatty brother, played by Jon Pertwee. Enter all sorts of idiosyncratic characters, such as James Hayter playing a 'mad hatter' doctor, as Henry's lothario habits and misunderstandings land him in one crisis after another. Although the pace is fast and furious, the storyline borders on the absurd and infantile, and long before the end, the scenes showing Henry, morphing into a sort of 'Brian Rix' become too much! I found the character of George Cole annoying and frankly irritating! He was never a photogenic male lead and the idea that eligible young woman would swoon over him, seemed faintly ridiculous. A tedious film with too many cringeworthy scenes.

Story of what can happen when hypnosis goes all wrong. Timid bank clerk henry sterling ends up on stage, gets hypnotized, and has no memory of flirting with angel, the hypnotist's assistant. Apparently, he was never brought out of the hypnosis. And now he doesn't even want to go to work. Pretty similar story to office space, from 1999. This one stars george cole, jon pertwee, veronica hurst. It's okay. The first twenty minutes are actually a bit annoying. All running around, no-one really listens to anyone. No likeable characters. The incompetent doctor, flitting about. But it calms down, and comes to a happy place. It's okay. An old fashioned farce. Nobody wakes up dead! Office space did a much better job with it. This story started as a play. The film directed by michael anderson... he was nominated for around the world in eighty days. Based on the play by vernon sylvaine.

I wonder if the director of this film went to see a stage performance of this film and decided to keep all the stage directions and mannerisms in the film.It seems that every line is shouted and the actors indulge in the most cringe worthy mugging.perhaps the only actor exempt from this criticism is George Cole.Incidentally the poor put upon member of the audience in the music hall sitting next to George Cole is none other than Richard Massingham who made public information shorts.There is a good cast including John Pertwee,James Hayter,Sid James,Diana decker but they are all wasted.It is woefully unfunny,although the technicolour photography gives a certain freshness to the picture.

While this film version of a then popular stage show never quite gathers the momentum to be a full success, it's likable and fitfully amusing.

The biggest weakness is how the key plot function of George Cole's character turns from a meek bank clerk to an unstoppable force of nature in an instant. There's no trigger for this to occur so it seems like it only exists when it's convenient for the plot and therefore feels contrived and forced. As a lot of humour and narrative is reliant on this, it's a significant problem for the film.

Still, after a slow start the film becomes increasingly fun. This is mainly due to an excellent cast. Cole is good, but some of the supporting performances are even better. Joan Sims is a delight as Cole's maid and Alan Badel - completely unrecognisable from his usual upper- class persona - is a delight as the hypnotist who begins all of Cole's problems.

Worth a look.