The Punch and Judy Man

As mentioned by someone else, this film has matured with age. I watched the Punch and Judy man because I was a Hancock fan. Sadly this is not classic Hancock but I don't think the movie was meant to be HANCOCK.

The thing with Tony Hancock was that he was always trying to not be Tony Hancock, the trouble was he could never get away from being the Lad From East Cheam and he couldn't understand why. Which in the end led to him taking his own life.

The movie itself feels like the Two sides of Hancock. The start is the Hancock he wanted to be, dramatic, and the end the Hancock we all knew and loved. the comic.

This gentle comedy features Tony Hancock as Wally Pinner, the eponymous entertainer, with Hugh Lloyd helping him run the show. His wife (Sylvia Syms) dreams of social advancement among her 'betters' who Pinner can't stand. Naturally, with Hancock involved, it all goes wrong. There are several of those British actors who were in everything but never starred such as Mario Fabrizi, Norman Bird, Michael Ripper and Eddie Byrne (the ice cream man in the brilliant 'Piltdown Glory' sketch) plus John Le Mesurier (and a brief appearance from his wife at the time, Hattie Jacques). It is paired on the DVD with The Rebel, Hancock's better-known film performance. The Punch & Judy Man is not quite up to the same standard but nevertheless is a very pleasant and nostalgic way to spend an hour and a half.

My cd came with "The Rebel" which I have commented on elsewhere on the Imdb.Many of Tony's old friends from his "Half-Hour" tv series were in this film, Hattie Jacques, Mario Fabrizi, Hugh Lloyd and of course John le Mesurier.The broader canvas of cinema allowed Tony to develop his humour around a story set in a typical early sixties English seaside resort run by a myopic town council led by Ron Fraser.It is refreshing to see Sylivia Sims playing comedy as his wife who has social pretensions of meeting the pompous lady who will open the town's illuminations.I don't believe Hancock is "married" in any of his other films or tv comedy and this gives him a chance to interact with her in the domestic scenes together, certainly a novelty.His friend John le Mesurier does beach sand sculptures with commentaries and with Mario Fabrizi, the beach photographer and his assistant in the Punch and Judy stall, Hugh Lloyd, they adjourn to the pub to annoy the local worthies.

This film has a gentle humour and Hancock gets away from the pseudo intellectual persona he so often played in his tv comedy shows and in "The Rebel".Highly acclaimed is the mime sequence in the ice cream parlour run by Eddie Byrne with the little boy fan.Do we assume this is the son he never had in the film?I believe viewers today are giving more generous ratings to this film than when it was first released in 1963.I rated it 6.

Hancock's determination not to reprise the role that he had so successfully established on television, meant this film would always be doomed to failure at the box office. Undoubtedly the film is at its best where it is at its most subtle - John Le Mesurier's 'Strong' is a perfect example as is the opening scene in the Pinner house. I often wonder how much influence the director had on the less-effective scenes compared to Hancock or visa-versa. Perhaps I'm fortunate in that I saw this film long before I saw Hancock's Half Hour or knew of Hancock's unfortunate end and can therefore give Hancock the benefit of the doubt - something nobody else seems to want to do. No other film I have ever seen captures more perfectly both the highs and lows of the English seaside along with the petty aristocracy that was a more rampant feature in the UK in the 60s than Hippies or free love ever were. Rarely comfortable or even obviously funny, at times this is simply a work of art.

I am still trying to decide which one I like the most - this one certainly made me laugh out loud more than once - the scene in the ice-cream parlour is a brilliant example of comic timing at its best, the illuminations going wrong has that bizarre inevitability that all spectators know and love - but, yes, it is a strange and ultimately sad little film. And for that, with its well-observed little cameos and support parts, and its little gems of scenes, it just scores over Tony's other film. If you like The Rebel and the half-hours you'll probably like this cos you're won over already. This one just stands on its own and is all the better for it. It's also an interesting snapshot of a more innocent Britain which has gone for good, and it's very well done.