O Gênio que Sabia Demais

Very Important Person is a well-written, and enjoyable British comedy that really belongs with other classic 1950s films. 1935 - 1962s British Comedies are my absolutely favourite genre as they hold their charm and wit even now and Very Important Person has a great deal of the essentially British humour in tough straights.

The plot of the genius scientist - JRJ - who ends up in a POW camp and must escape at all costs is a good vehicle to hang some nice character acting from Stanley Baxter and let Leslie Philips do his bounder at play act.

There are a ton of recognisable faces from John Le Mesurier to Eric Sykes, and the terrific part actor Richard Wattis, who everyone in Britain would recognise but few can name, all making the time fly by to perfection.

Above all, there's James Robertson Justice. Justice ironically nearly always played characters that looked and sounded true Tory but was the child of two of Britain's better Socialists (They did a lot in educational reform). He, himself, stood for parliament in Scotland as a Labour MP. Thank goodness he lost! His curmudgeon, which he had already perfected as Sir Lancelott Spratt in the Doctor series, is at its best here; he takes rude to a comic art form - and we love him for it.

Ken Annakin directs, and given that his list include Battle of the Bulge and Those Magnificent Men in their FLying Machines and Monte Carlo or Bust you know you're in excellent hands.

All in all, this is very reminiscent in style to The Wooden Horse but with laughs, a classic of its style and one that will still bring a wry smile to the face.

John Robertson Justice , the head of some very hush-hush research group during the war, needs to get a look at some German fortifications from the air. Things go pear-shaped and he's captured and sent to a Naval P.OW. camp. There, being John Robertson Justice, he convinces everyone he is a German spy, until orders come from Britain: he's got to be gotten back to Britain. Being John Robertson Justice, he handles it all himself.

Usually Justice is the terrifying authority figure in a comedy fronted by some one else. Here, with the lead role, he's about eighty percent of the show, and a very good show it is, with his usual comedy persona in full bloom. It's a fine mixture of comedy and thriller, with Justice being annoyingly right at all times.... we hope.

With John Le Meseurier, Norman Bird and Leslie Phillips as his stooge

Avoid the book of the same name clumsily written by John Foley if you ever see it, based on the film's screenplay by Jack Davies. The main thing here is that the film was a showcase for the mammoth personality of James Robertson Justice, it would be virtually nothing with someone else in his role of frosty crusty portly professor. The book is nothing without him; get the DVD.

In WW2 acidic high-up professor (JRJ) has to get into Nazi-occupied Europe to try out some scientific experiment but gets captured and sent to a POW camp in Germany to his disgust. Then he has to get out again with the help of his room-mates who eventually discover just how important he is – to Winnie in London at least. A lot of old British actors were paraded here, but particularly manic Stanley Baxter (x2), lascivious Leslie Phillips and poncey Jeremy Lloyd, all making for a comfortable familiar ride. JRJ surpassed himself, evincing stoical but disdainful contempt for everyone British or German and his surroundings, barking orders to all lesser mortals and generally displaying an organisational brainpower not usually found this side of Mount Olympus. Favourite bits: Phillips immortal impatient leg-crossed line when JRJ as a Red Cross Inspector is imperturbably wasting time in front of the German guards; and almost everything JRJ uttered during the film.

All in all, a typical British comedy from the time but turned into something special by a tour-de-force performance, and one I've seen umpteen times since the late '60's. What an original the man was – to me indeed, a Very Important Person.

VERY IMPORTANT PERSON

(USA: Coming-Out Party)

Aspect ratio: 1.66:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white)

Internees at a German POW camp plot the escape of a high-ranking British scientist (James Robertson Justice) who has fallen into enemy hands.

Entertaining mixture of comedy and drama, directed with cut-throat efficiency by Ken Annakin (later responsible for blockbusters like BATTLE OF THE BULGE and CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG), and headlined by some of the most popular names in contemporary British cinema, including Leslie Phillips and Jeremy Lloyd as upper-class comic relief, and Stanley Baxter playing dual roles as a temperamental Scottish prisoner and an unpleasant Nazi officer (when the German calls him a 'British swine', Baxter retorts with haughty pride: "SCOTTISH swine!"). Robertson is at his most gruff and lovable here, initially appalled by the company he's forced to keep in the POW camp, then quietly appreciative of the lengths these 'idiots' will go to secure his safety. The tone is pretty low-key, which means the film isn't always as funny or as suspenseful as it could have been, but it's a hugely enjoyable treat nonetheless. Eric Sykes, Richard Wattis and John Le Mesurier are featured in supporting roles.

This comedy-thriller gives an unexpectedly authentic look to a German prisoner of war camp, suggesting a practical knowledge of the subject from some of those involved in the making of the film.

I remember seeing this film on TV as a kid, and enjoying it immensely. Recently, it cropped up on UK's Channel Four, and it was still just as entertaining and oddly touching.

James Robertson Justice gives a great performance as the grouchy, but underneath it all, sensitive boffin, and it's a real treat to see the young Eric Sykes, Stanley Baxter and Leslie Phillips all relishing their work. Wonderful support also in the always solid and dependable forms of John Le Mesurier and Richard Watiss. Many other familiar faces from films of the era add to the overall success of this movie. A very British little gem of a movie.