The Green Man

A murder, a deliberate mix-up with house numbers, a vacuum-cleaner salesman and a young bride-to-be in a compromising position. Oh, and a pompous politician about to be blown up by an assassin with a bomb in a wireless. It gets even better when these people are played by George Cole, Jill Adams, Raymond Huntley and of course the great Alastair Sim. This is a farce in the true British sense, with lots of running about, hiding of bodies and misunderstandings. Add to the mix Terry-Thomas making the most of his modest role and the much underrated Colin Gordon playing a stiff BBC announcer on the edge of a nervous breakdown and we have the recipe for a wonderful Sunday afternoon film. Britain made this type of film with great aplomb in the 50's, perhaps because our National Character was so 'send-upable' at the time and we didn't mind laughing at ourselves. We don't make them now, which is why we go out and buy DVD's of 50-year-old comedies that have no equal. Superb.

Great performance from Alistair Sim surely Britains greatest actor (well I think so), with good performances from the rest of the cast, especially Terry Thomas a top hoe old boy performance. The film is farcical in the best tradition of British farce, man caught in compromising position with another man's fiancée under a bed, man caught in compromising position with same fiancée in her under garments, a murder,a missing body, plus confusion and misunderstanding, but all good clean innocent fun, maybe the plot does contain more holes than a swiss cheese.....is that not what farce is meant to be, the audience see the outrageousness and implausibility of the situation while the characters think it's all perfectly normal and explainable, but above all the film is truly funny and it contains one of the funniest lines in British film comedy, when the character Reginald Willoughby-Cruft (Colin Gordon) confronts William Blake (George Cole) and says, "by heaven I'd thrash the life out of you, if I didn't have to read the 9 o'clock news." How much more British can you get!!

This little gem ranks with MONSIEUR VERDOUX and THE LADYKILLERS as the best black comedies.

The hilarious Alastair Sim stars as Hawkins, a freelance assassin who merrily goes round the world blowing up pompous twits. He runs into trouble, however, when he writes some notes on his girl friend's (Avril Angers) desk, not knowing there is carbon paper underneath. His notes about her boss' (Raymond Huntley) stay at an inn called The Green Man arouse her suspicions.

She investigates but goes to the wrong (and vacant) house runs gets bumped off by Hawkins' associate who then and runs into a pushy vacuum cleaner salesman (George Cole). When the new owner (Jill Adams) suddenly appears, the two begin a hilarious chase to tracks down Hawkins at The Green Man and stop the assassination.

Of course they have no idea who Hawkins is and Huntley registers under an assumed name. They assume that a guest (Terry-Thomas) is the intended victim and turn the inn into a mad house.

Sim, Cole, and Thomas are hilarious, each playing his patented British eccentric. Adams is very pretty. Good support from Angers and Huntley. Also good are the inn keepers (Arthur Brough and Dora Bryan), the associate (John Chandos), Colin Gordon as the fiancé, and the boozy music trio (Marie Burke, Lucy Griffiths, and Vivien Wood).

Interesting to see Brough (Mr. Granger on ARE YOU BEING SERVED?) years before his television stardom.

Utterly hilarious from the first montage of droll assassinations (not really funny in news-horror 2006) but hilarious in it's clunky 50s tone set by Alistair Sim, THE GREEN MAN is a situation comedy of mistaken identity (including the title) that is as sharp now as 50 years ago. From clumsy George Cole and his vacuum cleaner salesman antics at the wrong house (Windybanks? anyone?) to Terry Thomas' leering spluttering "Basil Brush" type pub skirt-chasing THE GREEN MAN lurches hilariously from one weird character and place to screamingly funny suspense with the radio on the wrong station at the pub of the title. This is one of the most unappreciated and funniest Brit pix of the 50s and I implore you to get a copy any way you can. It should be up there with THE LADYKILLERS or SMALLEST SHOW ON EARTH in beloved UK comedies...it even has Richard Wattis! Delight! And Alistair Sim...a sublime dry performance of apt face contortions ...his look of disgust alone had me laughing for days.

A top cast starting with Alastir Sim, George Cole and Terry Thomas. Sim plays the pretty evil hitman, Harry Hawkins who is foiled in his quest to blow up a politician by vacuum cleaner salesman William Blake (George Cole). The plot twists and turns to such an extent that it's quite hard to follow, but brilliant all the same. Terry Thomas appears for only about 20 minutes, but adds a hint of magic to the whole film. As always Sim and Cole work together brilliantly on screen and it's just a funny, quite creepy, good film.