The Harassed Hero

Firstly can I make the point that despite what is said in the earlier review this film is now available on DVD as part of the "Best of British" collection,which I would add is the only laughable thing about this film.Shot on a small budget at Walton on Thames studios.Guy Middleton is going into a clinic for his nerves.He accidentally picks up a briefcase from a taxi.It turns out to contain forged five pound notes and counterfeit plates.Middleton removes and replaces the notes but not the plates.The plates then seem to have a life of their own as they are chased constantly by the crooks.I would mention that the DVD also has the original trailer which is a lot better than the film.Incidentally one gaffe I spotted.A crook takes a motor launch out to a yacht.When he gets in the launch he is alone,when he gets off on to the yacht there is someone with him.Now that is funny.

Guy Middleton is a hypochondriac. His doctor prescribes a good rest rest, and an attending nurse. It's the nurse, Joan Winmil Brown, who brings about his recovery, even when he finds a bunch of plates for printing counterfeit five-pound notes. Soon, however, the villains whose plates those are come around looking for them. Will Middleton collapse, or will he buck up and put an end to his problems, real and imagined?

Fans of silent comedy will, of course, recognize the situation of Harold Lloyd in his feature WHY WORRY? and be in little doubt of the outcome. So will anyone who has ever seen a romantic comedy of any sort. In such matters, the important part is less where the story is going and more on the journey, and under the direction of canny director Maurice Elvey, it's a very pleasant trip, concentrating more on the thriller aspects of the story, rather than the comedy.

Initially there are shades of 'Jeeves and Wooster' with Murray Selwyn and his servant Twigg in this mildly amusing crime-comedy. Selwyn arrives home one day by taxi and Twigg carries his purchases into the house. However they soon discover they have also acquired a briefcase stuffed with five pound notes left in the taxi by the previous passenger. These are actually forged notes made on engraved plates by an expert engraver called Joe Pasquale who is currently doing 10 years in Dartmoor. The plates were never found by the police but they also fall into the possession of Selwyn by circumstances too complicated to explain here. The rest of the film is concerned with a criminal gang's efforts to acquire the plates (ably led by Elwyn Brook-Jones) and their frustration at always being one step behind the location of the plates.

Throughout the film, circumstances lead the police to suspect Selwyn of being implicated in the crime and much of the humour involves his truthful explanations to the incredulous police Inspector Archer (nicely played by the usually staid Clive Morton). Overall the acting is good with Guy Middleton as Selwyn being his usual suave self and the plot fast moving.

Apparently this ultra-rare film has not been seen since its initial release but if you're an aficionado of British second features of the 1950s I venture to say you will not be disappointed with this one

'The Harrassed Hero' sounds Hitchcockian, and is yet another British crime film whose 'McGuffin' is plates used by counterfeiters.

Silly but cynically amusing, it as usual makes light of violent death as the cast scurry about various cheap studio sets.