Le vilain petit canard

I saw this film on its initial release as the lower half of a double bill,I forget what made up the other half as this is the film that impressed me. The star was Bernard Breslaw a popular comic actor at this time as he was one of the troop of conscripts in a TV show called "The Army Game". A show that was loosely based on the classic "Phil Silvers" or "Bilko" show transported to an English setting. Breslaw played Pvt "Popeye" Poppelwell. This show was popular enough to get a Film Version made called " I only Arsked" Popplewell's catchphrase and Breslaw had a hit single with a song called "Mad Passionate Love" delivered in the style of his Popeye character. N.B IMDb only lists him as appearing in two episodes of "The Army Game" but I remember him as one of the main recurring characters.If it was indeed only two episodes he made a hell of an impact as he is fondly remembered by those who recall the series, fifty years later.

I don't think it is giving too much away to say that "The Ugly Duckling" is a comic updating of the Jekyll and Hyde story. Breslaw in Popplewell mode as Henry Jekyll is a pharmacist working in a chemists shop. He discovers the formula for the Mr Hyde solution and is transformed from the idiot Jekyll into the smooth and dashing Teddy Hyde. As the dashing and handsome Hyde dressed in a natty suit he becomes the fearless leader of a gang of crooks. Breslaws performance in the dual role is terrific. Moving from the bumbling incompetent to the suave master criminal with equal conviction.

One thing to note is that the gag of having Hyde as a handsome womaniser pre dates the same idea used in "The Nutty Professor", with Jerry Lewis making a similar transformation, by four years. I have often wondered if Lewis saw this before making his own version.

Sadly this film is unavailable at the time of writing I would welcome a DVD release to re acquaint myself with it.

Thanastasia to TPTV I have at last managed to see this film again,59 years after seeing it at the ABC Golders Green.I enjoyed Bernard Bresslaw in the joint role.The film did flag a little towards the end.However the great way of presenting the cast at the end pepper thinks up.Good to see the last of the big band leaders Joe Loss.Incidentally,Sid Colin the scriptwriter,was once a musician in the big bands of the thirties.

Thanks to UK Cable channel Talking Pictures, The Ugly Duckling has resurfaced. While it's no hidden gem demanding to be sought out as a critical must, it is however a joy for fans of British cinema with knowledge of such.

Story is a reworking of the Jekyll and Hyde story, with Bernard Bresslaw as Henry Jekll, a descendant of the not so good doctor. Henry is a bumbling buffoon, sweet, amiable and harmless, he does however drive all around him to distraction. Messing about in chemistry Henry transforms into Teddy Hyde, a womanising spiv, a man easy in the company of girls and gangsters alike. Trouble ahead does wait...

It's all very jolly and harmless, the center piece of plotting being a robbery of precious jewels that thrusts Henry/Teddy to the front of things. There's nothing deep on offer here, the dangers of messing with science, personality changes to fit in etc are not explored, this is played for light entertainment and works on those terms.

The dance hall background is firmly of its time, nicely so, with the Joe Loss Orchestra in full effect. While the period flavours are engaging as the rocking 50s close out as the more decadent swinging 60s beckons. The delight for Brit cinema fans here is with the cast, where lining up for some jollification are Jon Pertwee, Reginald Beckwith, Maudie Edwards, Richard Watiss, Michael Ripper, Shelagh Dey and David Lodge all propping up the ever likable Bresslaw. Bonus here is to get a rare look at the adorable Jean Muir, only two film credits when really she should have had more.

The Jekyll & Hyde axis of the story gives way to the jewel robbery in the final third, making this a tad disjointed, and the comedy is gentle and not likely to bring about raucous laughter (though one great line from Pertwee is absolute gold dust). Ultimately this has the ability to cover a compliant film fan for this ilk of cinema with a warm comfort blanket, for it be a time capsule worth opening. 7/10

THE UGLY DUCKLING, a 1959 Hammer Films crime comedy, is a parody of DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE. In fact, the opening credits state the idea for the film was stolen straight from Robert Louis Stevenson. The movie, like its namesake, was underappreciated for a very long while but seems to have come into its own. As of now a pristine print is available on YouTube and one can only hope it stays there until whoever owns the rights decides to issue UGLY on home video complete with subtitles, commentary, and additional extras. It's that good. Great, not, but amusing in its British way, really quite charming, and an excellent time capsule of the era.

The movie reimagines DR. JEKYLL & MR HYDE as a comic farce, and incorporates elements of the heist picture genre so popular at that time. Henry Jeckle (note the change in spelling) is a klutzy pharmacist's assistant who accidentally stumbles upon the transformation formula of his infamous ancestor (the reason for the spelling change) mixes it up, and after mistakenly drinking it, becomes Teddy Hyde, a smooth, suave, confident man about town who is in control of every situation. There's no way Jerry Lewis didn't see UGLY before making his 1963 THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (remade by Eddie Murphy in 1996).

Henry, his brother Victor, and their sister Henrietta run a small chemist's shop (pharmacy) in a neighborhood district in London. Victor and Henrietta enjoy participating in community dance gatherings which are also attended by local youths who are keen on swing dance, much to the consternation of their seniors, who come to watch formal-dress performances of old fashioned ballroom dancing. Joe Loss and his orchestra, one of the top British big band outfits of the day, perform a lively style of swing, and accompany a well-choreographed, crisply edited dance sequence at the beginning of the film, which is reprised at the end.

After clumsy Henry gets pressed into service for a ballroom dance performance that fails miserably, he discovers the formula which turns him into Teddy Hyde, everything Henry Jeckle is not. Cavalier Teddy is taken in by a gang of criminals (the owners of the club where the Jeckles go dancing) and helps them steal a set of valuable jewels through a series of bold and daring maneuvers. When Teddy becomes Henry again, he tries to return the jewels with the help of his girlfriend Snouty, and his brother Victor. Bernard Bresslaw, who plays the dual role of Henry and Teddy, is 6'7" tall and it's hard to see him and not think of Ted Cassidy's Lurch from THE ADDAMS FAMILY or Fred Gynne's Herman Munster although Bresslaw predates both by several years.

Jon Pertwee (of DOCTOR WHO fame) plays Henry's brother Victor while pint sized Jean Muir (no relation to the fashion designer) is Henry's plucky girlfriend Snouty. The comic contrast between Muir and Bresslaw is considerable. Character actor Reginald Beckwith is ideal as Henrietta's put upon suitor while Maudie Edwards as the spinster sister is the picture of punctured dignity. THE UGLY DUCKLING was intended as a comic opposite to Hammer's upcoming TWO FACES OF DR JEKYLL (1960) and was produced to show that, now that Hammer had become successful, they could still make something other than horror movies...For more reviews visit The Capsule Critic.

FYI: There's an in-joke in UGLY which would have been recognized instantly by Hammer horror fans. When Henry turns into Teddy, it's to the soundtrack of James Bernard's theme for Christopher Lee's DRACULA. DRACULA had been made the previous year (1958).

Bernard Bresslaw is the clumsy and backwards member of the once proud family of Jeckle. While working on a pick-me-up, he samples the concoction and turns into..... yep, you guessed it, Teddy Hyde.

It's Hammer's humorous take on the Robert Louis Stevenson classic, and has such talented comic performers as Jon Pertwee and Maudie Edwards in support. The trouble is that Bresslaw is more to be pitied than laughed at as he turns unconsciously into a dangerous man of action who steals the crown jewels without realizing it as his better self. I found myself more interested in Joe Loss's orchestra and the issue of where they had had found a contrabass saxophone and someone to play it, than the story, or the lack of funny shenanigans.