Review, buy Comedy: Laurel And Hardy - No. 6 - Compilation 2 [1929], Laurel And Hardy - Bogus Bandits [1933], Laurel And Hardy - No. 7 - Compilation 3 [1931], Laurel And Hardy - No. 17 - Three Programme Special [1927], Laurel And Hardy - No. 13 - Compilation 5 [1933], Cool Mikado, The / A Touch Of The Sun [1962], Laurel And Hardy - No. 14 - Three Programme Special [1929], Laurel And Hardy - No. 3 - Compilation 1 [1930], Man Of The Moment [1955], Doctor In Clover [1966], Charlie Chaplin - The Mutual Films - Vol. 2 [1916], The Prince And The Showgirl [1957], Hancock's Half Hour - Competitions: How To Win Money And Influence People [1961], Light Up The Sky [1960], Press For Time [1966], Steptoe And Son - The Siege Of Steptoe Street [1964], Georgy Girl [1966], His Girl Friday [1940], Trial And Error [1962], Charlie Chaplin - The Essanay Films

After an uncredited cameo alongside a gallery of comedy stars in As Long As They're Happy (1955), Norman Wisdom's third hit was the appropriately titled Man of the Moment. Indeed, by 1955 Wisdom was firmly established as Britain's favourite movie comedian, his shy, helpful and good-natured "gump" character forever unintentionally causing catastrophe in the great tradition of Charlie Chaplin's "Little Tramp". However, while Chaplin ventured into politics in Modern Times (1936) for satirical purposes, when Norman's minor civil servant here accidentally becomes the UK delegate at a conference in Geneva the emphasis is on farce and pratfalls. The plot sees Norman sticking up for the rights of the fictional kingdom of Tawaki against less-than-honest government interests, while his new-found status brings the attention of the ladies, including the return of his Trouble in Store (1953) costar Lana Morris. Continuing his collaboration with veteran director John Paddy Carstairs, the film is a polished laughter machine that continues to entertain. The following year cinema audiences continued to see Norman go Up In the World, while fans of that other British comedy institution, the Carry On series, will be pleased to spot Charles Hawtrey in a supporting role. -Gary S Dalkin.

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Review Cinema Club / Doctor In Clover [1966]

Doctor In Clover [1966] (Cinema Club)

Actors & Directors

James Robertson Justice
Shirley Anne Field
Leslie Phillips
Joan Sims
Ralph Thomas
John Fraser

Release date: 1996-06-03
Run time: 97 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £3.99

Review Doctor In Clover [1966] / Cinema Club:

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Review Universal Pictures UK / Charlie Chaplin - The Mutual Films - Vol. 2 [1916]

Charlie Chaplin - The Mutual Films - Vol. 2 [1916] (Universal Pictures UK)

Actors & Directors

Sindhuja
Premkumar
P.K. Radhakrishnan
Jagathi Sreekumar
Kalpana (IV)
Harisree Asokan

Release date: 1994-05-09
Run time: 80 min.
RRP: ~~£10.99~~
Price: £2.99

Review Charlie Chaplin - The Mutual Films - Vol. 2 [1916] / Universal Pictures UK:

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Review Warner Home Video / The Prince And The Showgirl [1957]

The Prince And The Showgirl [1957] (Warner Home Video)

Actors & Directors

Richard Wattis
Marilyn Monroe
Sybil Thorndike
Jeremy Spenser
Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier

Release date: 2001-02-19
Run time: 112 min.
RRP: ~~£9.99~~
Price: £0.90

Review The Prince And The Showgirl [1957] / Warner Home Video:

The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) was Marilyn Monroe's only British-made film and scores highly for curiosity value. There's something rather outrageous about this iconic American star playing a second-rate hoofer living in a theatrical boarding house in Brixton. Monroe herself is predictably good and touching as Elsie Marina, plucked from the chorus to entertain the Regent of Carpathia for the evening and ultimately smoothing his rough edges. There is, however, a rather uphill feeling all the way. The making of the movie was by all accounts a troubled experience for everybody concerned. Monroe, increasingly unreliable and exasperating, had an unsympathetic director in Laurence Olivier, also playing the Regent Charles, who hardly had the patience for a star of her mercurial talents with her own ideas of professional behaviour. His own performance as the Balkan royal is hammy and mannered and there isn't even a damp squib of sexual chemistry between them. Terence Rattigan's script, based on his successful play, is far too wordy and stage-bound. But somehow Monroe effervesces through all this adversity, aided considerably by British character actor Richard Wattis and the great Sybil Thorndyke, who became her ally during the difficult filming. Not vintage Marilyn but fascinating all the same, and she looks fantastic. [+]

On the DVD: The Prince and the Showgirl is presented in 4:3 with an occasionally muffled, apparently mono, soundtrack, giving this DVD a rather dusty quality which is in keeping with the vintage British 1950s production values. Extras include a cast list, original trailer and newsreel footage of the announcement that Marilyn was to make the film with Olivier, referred to at that stage as The Sleeping Prince. -Piers Ford.

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Review 2 Entertain Video / Hancock's Half Hour - Competitions: How To Win Money And Influence People [1961]

Hancock's Half Hour - Competitions: How To Win Money And Influence People [1961] (2 Entertain Video)

Actors & Directors

Ivor Raymonde
Duncan Wood
Alec Bregonzi
Alan Tarrant
John Vere
Mario Fabrizi
James Bulloch

Release date: 1996-09-02
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Hancock's Half Hour - Competitions: How To Win Money And Influence People [1961] / 2 Entertain Video:

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Light Up The Sky [1960] (4 Front Video)

Actors & Directors

Lewis Gilbert (II)
Benny Hill
Ian Carmichael
Tommy Steele
Dick Emery
Victor Maddern

Release date: 1997-07-21
Run time: 86 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £24.99

Review Light Up The Sky [1960] / 4 Front Video:

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Review Cinema Club / Press For Time [1966]

Press For Time [1966] (Cinema Club)

Actors & Directors

Allan Cuthbertson
Norman Wisdom
Derek Bond
Angela Browne
Robert Asher
Tracey Crisp

Release date: 2000-08-14
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £7.99

Review Press For Time [1966] / Cinema Club:

In Press for Time Norman Wisdom offered his version of the crusading reporter movie, though by 1966 time was running out for Norman's style of big-screen comedy. Wisdom had played duel roles in The Square Peg (1958) and On the Beat (1962), but perhaps a sign of his growing frustration with the formulaic nature of his pictures was that he stretched himself to play not just his usual underdog hero, but also his own mother and his grandfather, the Prime Minister. Wisdom also co-wrote the movie, and as a reporter in a small seaside town causes chaos for the council, organises a beauty parade and manages to reprise his drag act (he dressed as a female nurse in A Stitch in Time) as a suffragette. This was really the penultimate Norman Wisdom comedy, since apart from What's Good for the Goose (1969), he has only made two more features, William Friedkin's The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and the belated thriller Double X (1992). Though now nearing the end of his years as a movie star, Wisdom shows himself to still be as polished as ever at his own brand of good-natured slapstick. Fans can be sure that with Norman around there's Trouble in Store (1953). -Gary S. Dalkin.

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Review 2 Entertain Video / Steptoe And Son - The Siege Of Steptoe Street [1964]

Steptoe And Son - The Siege Of Steptoe Street [1964] (2 Entertain Video)

Actors & Directors

Wilfrid Brambell
Harry H. Corbett

Release date: 1995-02-06
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: ~~£10.99~~
Price: £14.94

Review Steptoe And Son - The Siege Of Steptoe Street [1964] / 2 Entertain Video:

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Review Castlevision / Georgy Girl [1966]

Georgy Girl [1966] (Castlevision)

Actors & Directors

James Mason
Silvio Narizzano
Charlotte Rampling
Alan Bates
Lynn Redgrave
Bill Owen

Run time: 95 min.
RRP: ~~£5.99~~
Price: £12.99

Review Georgy Girl [1966] / Castlevision:

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Review Digital Video Distribution / His Girl Friday [1940]

His Girl Friday [1940] (Digital Video Distribution)

Actors & Directors

Ralph Bellamy
Rosalind Russell
Gene Lockhart
Howard Hawks
Porter Hall
Cary Grant

Release date: 1996-03-11
Run time: 92 min.
Price: £5.99

Review His Girl Friday [1940] / Digital Video Distribution:

His Girl Friday is one of the five greatest dialogue comedies ever made. Howard Hawks had his cast play it at breakneck speed, and audiences hyperventilate trying to finish with one laugh so they can do justice to the four that have accumulated in the meantime. Rosalind Russell, not Hawks' first choice to play Hildy Johnson-the ace newsperson whom demonic editor Walter Burns is trying to keep from quitting and getting married-is triumphant in the part, holding her own as "one of the guys" and creating an enduring feminist icon. Cary Grant's Walter Burns is a force of nature, giving a performance of such concentrated frenzy and diamond brilliance that you owe it to yourself to devote at least one viewing of the movie to watching him alone. But then you have to go back (lucky you) and watch it again for the sake of the press-room gang-Roscoe Karns, Porter Hall, Cliff Edwards, Regis Toomey, Frank Jenks, and others-the kind of ensemble work that gets character actors onto Parnassus. -Richard T Jameson, Amazon. com.

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