Norman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property develo... Read allNorman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property developer (boo hiss!) who is also the chairman of the orphanage board wants to close the orphana... Read allNorman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property developer (boo hiss!) who is also the chairman of the orphanage board wants to close the orphanage and build a factory on the site. The children are sent to Brighton for the day and Norm... Read all
- Gunner Mac
- (as Ricky Mc Cullough)
- Martin
- (as Antony Green)
- Constable in Theatre
- (uncredited)
- Stagehand
- (uncredited)
- Boxing Spectator
- (uncredited)
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
Norman is general dogsbody at quaint orphanage under threat of demolition and replacement by a factory this umbrellas various episodic adventures he has in his drive to buy an expensive £12 toy car for little Jimmy. Favourite bits: annoying the First Class rail passengers with his vivacity/yobbishness depending on your point of view; making the best of a trouserless situation; peeling the onion with the sewing machine, to everyone's distress; the boxing bout; conducting the orchestra; the Black Sheep Of Whitehall and Happiest Days Of Your Lives type reprises. Thora Hird got more of a showing than in Black Sheep too. Two sentimental songs from Norman along the way: Step In The Right Direction (bedtime at the orphanage) and one he wrote himself Please Opportunity (at the funfair), both perfectly sung just how much did Anthony Newley and Robbie Williams owe to him?
Along with some of the sets some of the acting could be a little wooden but much more preferable to me than todays plastic. For a glimpse of a safe but dead Britain it's great stuff, also a pleasant non-heavy comedy in all departments.
I loved the film, a wonderful story and always love a good laugh and norman's films never fail to do that for me even when ive seen them all many times.
There just don't make films like this anymore..
The level of invention is certainly average (though already a few gags and plot details are reprised from its immediate predecessor, TROUBLE IN STORE [1953]), notably the trip to Brighton culminating in a marathon walk, Norman's hilarious stint as an orchestral conductor (even if it's a situation that's been done to death, and the subsequent destruction of the stage was practically ripped off The Marx Bros.' A NIGHT AT THE OPERA [1935]) and the star's myriad attempts to raise money in order to buy the boy a motor-car he had promised him.
Interestingly, watching Wisdom at work here immediately after MORGAN - A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENT (1966) irresistibly draws parallels with David Warner's own child-like behavior in that film (albeit dealt with, obviously, in a more adult manner).
Did you know
- TriviaProducer Maurice Cowan made Norman Wisdom's first film, and wrote the story for his third film. He so disliked working with Wisdom on this film that he never produced another film for the comedian.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema: British Comedy (2021)
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 30m(90 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1