Dry Rot

Dry Rot has its funny moments, but the trouble is it just seemed to go on forever, perhaps the gags got a little laboured towards the end of the film, but it still contains a few laughs. Only in it for a small part, but Peggy Mount makes a hilarious Policewoman, in the commanding, domineering battleaxe manner that served her so well. The principle leads are ok, Sid's perhaps the best of the trio, for my money he had more charisma and a better eye for comedy then the other two. Joan Sims is so likeable as hapless housekeeper Beth, but I suppose there were only so many trays she could drop. The script is really good, plenty of slapstick, feels like a grounding for the earliest Carry on films.

It's not a film I'd rush to watch again soon, but I liked it. Cheered me up, 7/10

Another attempt to translate a popular stage farce to the screen runs into a familiar problem. Getting the long central section in the boarding house to work, particularly the business with the horse behind the sliding panel, would require much more adroit direction and editing. The comedy in this part is not allowed to flow, dissipating amusing performances from veterans Joan Haythorne and Michael Shepley. Brian Rix is not seen at his best and his one-note, relentlessly gormless character soon becomes tiresome, though Sid James can't fail to raise a few chuckles. But it's quite a likeable British comedy of its day and the final slapstick chase sequence with Peggy Mount at her most terrifying ends the proceedings with a bang.

Three not-too-bright bookies -- Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix and Sidney James -- decide to fix a race. They get a terrible horse and set it up to be a long shot, to bring in the punters, and lose. While waiting for the race, they set up in a house run by Michael Sheply and Joan Haythorne. The house is falling apart with dry rot, and supplied with many secret passages, as well as young lovers, a maid-of-all-work played by Joan Sims, and French farceur Christian Duvaleix, with frequent visits by policewoman Peggy Mount.

Director Maurice Elvey is completely out of his depth. I regret to say this, because I am fond of a lot of his work, but there are too many experts in farce pulling in all sorts of directions -- not to mention the horse, who pops up at the most inconvenient moment. For farce to work well, it has to run like clockwork, with a plot that seems to run out of control, until the finale, when everything comes together. That doesn't happen here. Instead, there are dangling plots -- we abandon the young lovers at the racetrack -- for a chaotic chase by the police of the three bookies atop a ladder on a firewagon driven by Duvaleix. The story falls apart in the need for yet one more laugh. It's a pity for such a talented cast and crew.

Shout your lines, misunderstand everything that is said to you. Lots of cameo appearances of stock British Actors. I guess a lot of this would work better live in a theatre , Dry Rot was a long running London theatre production. But on the big screen it all seems laboured , jokes telegraphed in advance.

A shady, british gang tries to fix a horse race, among other crooked activities. Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix, Sidney James star as Alf, Fred, and Flash, who run the Honest Alf bookmaker. But they are anything but honest! and Danby (Lee Patterson) gets mixed up with them. some slapstick comedy, three stooges... british-style. it all gets silly, but it's light, fluffy fun, not to be taken at all seriously. running gag about the broken stairs. which never seem to get fixed. and Peggy Mount steals the show as the loud, annoying Sergeant Fire. some clever wordplay with french. and it's even funnier if you actually speak french. directed by Maurice Elvey. apparently he was a bigshot in the early, silent days of British film-making. and made the very first talking film at the studio. (Gaumont British Films was active 1898-1938) Dry Rot was one of Elvey's last films. it was fun to watch. shown on FilmRise channel.