Un détective très privé

Who Done It? is out of Ealing Studios, directed by Basil Dearden and written by T.E.B. Clarke. It stars Benny Hill, Belinda Lee, David Kossof, Gary Marsh, George Margo, Ernest Thesiger and Denis Shaw. Music is by Philip Green and cinematography by Otto Heller.

Benny Hill's first foray into film has him playing Hugo Dill, an Ice Rink attendant who dreams of one day becoming a detective like those in the magazines he reads. When he wins a competition that sees him land £100 and a Bloodhound! He promptly sets up his own detective agency, which provides colourful chaos...

It came out as Ealing Sudios was entering its last furlong, the great studio's wonderful comedies behind them, this very much feels like a last throw of the dice whilst giving Hill's career a timely push. As it happens, and as we now know, Hill would find his fame and fortune in Television and not on film. This s amiable stuff for those after a bit of slapstick and prat falling. Basically Hill is thrust into a murderous plot involving spies, where he's out of his depth and not aware of what is really going on half the time, which sets it all up for mishaps, misadventures and misunderstandings.

Love interest and muscle foil (seriously) comes via the gorgeous Belinda Lee, sadly to lose her life in a road accident five years later, whilst a number of well known British acting faces are in and around the plot so we can play spot the star. The number of chaotic scenes involving chases and destruction of events and property etc are well played out, with the obligatory speed framing technique showing its face as well, and it builds to a frenetic last quarter of film that culminates at the old West Ham Stadium, a location familiar to Stock Car/Speedway/Greyhound enthusiasts before its closure in 1972. It's a finale that saves the film and rewards those who have stayed with the pic throughout its daft formulaic throes. 6/10

Benny Hill fans will enjoy this free-for-all nonsense about International espionage and a "secret weapon" developed by stereotypical Eastern-Block scientist. Benny, our likable hero, is a "Inspector Clouseau" type amateur detective, ready to tackle his first assignment: impersonate the famous professor, as part of the secret plan for the bad guys to rule the world.

The story is "formula" and thin as a satin thread, but an extra large helping of "Benny Hill" slap stick, complete with lots of pretty girls and the obligatory Benny-in-drag scenes, make this predictable vehicle hobble along. The final car chase on (are you ready for this?) a race track is totally stupid, but what did you expect? Given the 1950s mentality and the limited budgets available to produce a silly comedy, the objective was met. Today something similar would hope to recoupe it's investments in direct-to-video sales.

My Ratings: Story 1.25: Direction 1.50: Pace 1.75: Acting 1.50: Entertaining 1.75: Total 7.75 out of 10.

I do believe it's a shame that you need to watch old movies to have a good laugh. However, since most of today's humour is puerile rubbish, which is by and large unamusing, then back in time I'll travel. Thank god for the time machine called video.

Hugo is an accident-prone fellow whose luck isn't too great but has a strange way of working in his favour. In this story, we catch him working as an ice-rink sweeper. However, Hugo has dreams above his station. He fantasises about becoming a Private Eye. Today could be the day his luck changes because he's just won first prize, in the monthly detective magazine he reads. A large cash reward and a fully trained bloodhound. Which is lucky, because his bad luck has just cost him his job.

No sooner has he opened the doors of his agency than a woman enters and obtains his services... though it's not to be a detective. Through a series of consequences and mishap, the woman believes Hugo to be a talent agent. Now, the conversation between her and Hugo is beautifully sculptured and written. You know the two are assuming different things. However, the exchange works. This style of chat is a hard thing to create, but T E B Clarke does it so well. What elicits amusement is the juxtaposition between the pair and their parlance. I was chuckling hardily at this scene.

Unfortunately... or fortunately, these misfortunes of happenstance continue and suddenly Hugo finds himself embroiled in an international conspiracy to blow up the worlds best scientists... and a misconstrued attempted kidnapping.

ThisWho Done It is a hell of a well-constructed story with lots of humourous twists and turns. But the humour isn't limited to dialogue and situation. No, director Basil Deardon adds more than a splash of slapstick. Of which, the catastrophe on ice and the malfunctioning weather machine were my favourites. Deardon's pacing and timing are perfect for these styles of comedy. Even the way he works the shots and scenes add to the power of the film. These are sublime, and most won't appreciate them. But the part where Hugo, who is impersonating the foreign professor, realises he's in trouble is excellent. It's shot between three rooms. The main room on the left, the hall in the centre, and a secondary lounge to the right. The section is important to drive the comedy, and Deardon nails it. However, he does it so smoothly you don't notice how excellent it is. Because your eyes are glued to the screen, and you're engrossed in the segment.

Not only are the writing and the direction good, but the cast is also great. This is the first time I'd seen Benny Hill in a movie. I'd never thought of him as a movie actor until Talking Pictures aired this film. Now, I'm going to see if there are any others I've missed.

There's nothing wrong with film at all. The only reason I didn't give it higher marks is that it feels dated. It's especially evident in the weather machine. It's funny. And, at the time, the effects would have looked great and more than passible. But, not so now. It's these small things that restrict the ratings.

I'd happily recommend this to everybody. It made me laugh out loud a few times, and that is great. Plus it's a movie for all the family. You don't have to worry if a comedian is going to throw in some inappropriate content just for a cheap laugh.

Please skate on over to my The Game Is Afoot and Just For Laughs lists to see where I've rated this lucky unlucky Private Eye.

Take Care & Stay Well

On kanopy. The awesome comic benny hill, in his first, full length film role. When hugo gets kicked out of the stage show, he takes any job he can get. And gets mixed up with a group of spies. They hire him to imitate their evil scientist, to demonstrate a machine that can control the weather. And of course, that all goes wrong too. Along the way, he rescues a girl who doesn't need to be rescued. But she's flattered he would go to the trouble. It's mostly pretty light and fluffy. Lots of sight gags, jokes, misunderstandings. Pratfalls. Comedy bits. Co-stars belinda lee as hugo's girlfriend. She made a few more films, but died at twenty five in a car accident, just a few years after this was released. The story is quite silly, and nothing too special. Of course, he needs to dress up in drag, as part of the plot. Historically, it's fun to see a thirty two year old benny hill, years before he starred in his own show. The magic chair scene is right out of the marx brothers, or maybe the three stooges! Directed by basil dearden. He won the bafta for sapphire. Written by tib clarke, who had won his oscar for lavender hill.

Benny Hill's big screen debut came in this modest production from Ealing Studios which seems to draw inspiration from Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau and Bob Hope from The Paleface. It's not a remake of Abbott and Costello's Who Done It from the early forties although both films involve Benny in his film and Bud and Lou in their's as newly minted private detectives.

But Benny makes Costello look like Sherlock Holmes. He gets hired to impersonate an Eastern European scientist visiting the United Kingdom, but the idea is to bump Benny off so the scientist can return to his country with a new weather machine which puts climate totally at man's control. Has Al Gore heard about this?

But all kinds of problems arise including the bad guys bumping off the real scientist whom they mistake for Benny. Nothing sophisticated in this film, it's one catastrophe after another for Ben, starting with him wrecking an Ice Capades Show and a chase reminiscent of that other Ealing classic, The Lavender Hill Mob.

Where The Paleface comes in is that Benny has an Amazonian girl friend aiding and abetting him and pulling him out of many scrapes the way Jane Russell did for Bob Hope. In Who Done It the Amazon is Belinda Lee who was definitely built along Jane Russell's measurements. For some reason Ms. Lee had a blond wig on for this film, I suppose so folks would view her as a British Marilyn Monroe.

Special mention must go to Garry Marsh playing the Scotland Yard inspector in the same manner patented later on by Herbert Lom as Inspector Dreyfus of the French Surete. His reaction shots are priceless.

Benny Hill's greatest success was on the small screen first in the United Kingdom and then in America when his shows were syndicated here. Nevertheless Who Done It is definitely a good example of his zany comedy style.