You Must Be Joking!

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.

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.)

"you must be joking!",the title says it all.more like you cannot seriously think this woeful rubbish is the slightest bit amusing.just goes to show that once again,a non-stop barrage of star cameos does not compensate for lack of comic material.truly dire.

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.

"You Must Be Joking!" Is a film about 5 Men, all from different armies, going on a scavenger Hunt throughout Britain for 5 different items, and is sort of similar to the movie "It's a mad mad mad mad world". The film was funny at some points and was also fun to watch. It is a bit vague on explaining the plot in the beginning though. All of the acting was good, and I enjoyed Lionel Jeffrie's acting the most. Some of the scenes were a bit bizarre, but these bizarre moments weren't necessarily bad. All the scenes range from average to good. Overall, it was a fun and nice movie to watch. I'd give it 6/10.