Will Any Gentleman...?

This comparatively little known and far from uninteresting 1953 comedy was adapted by veteran farceur Vernon Sylvaine from his hit West End stage play and features a cast of stalwart British favourites. It’s also filmed in Technicolour which makes for a nice change. When a timid and strait-laced bank clerk bank clerk is hypnotized during a visit to the local music hall it has hilarious consequences for the viewers though not exactly for him…

Timid bank clerk Henry Stirling (George Cole) is a henpecked husband married to Florence (Veronica Hurst) and also has a brother, Charley (Jon Pertwee), who is a bit of a gadabout and is not to be trusted with money. Charley is a frequent visitor to Henry’s house (a rather large and opulent one for a bank clerk it has to be said) and if that’s not enough trouble in Henry’s private life he lives under the thumb (though thankfully not under the same roof) of his battle-ax mother-in-law Mrs. Whittle (Heather Thatcher) whose domineering portrait over the mantelpiece gives a clue as to her personality.

One day while at work, exceptionally well dressed theatre manager Mr. Hobson (the ubiquitous Sid James) comes to the bank to cash a cheque for 5 pounds - trouble is that it's one of Charley's cheques and the fussy old bank manager Mr. Jackson (Brian Oulton) knows only too well about Charley's credit rating… and therefore the money is refused!
Upshot is that brother Henry decides to go to the music hall theatre managed by Mr. Hobson to give him the five quid owed. Pleased about getting his money he insists on giving Henry a free front row ticket and during one of the stage performances at this marvellous palace of varieties Henry becomes a guinea pig of sorts when – to the amusement of the audience – he is hypnotized by the Great Mendoza (Alan Badel sporting a hilariously silly hair-do). Before Henry’s turn Mendoza hypnotized a miserable mortuary attendant who henceforth can’t stop laughing no matter what (neither could the audience).

Returning home from his night out Henry’s memory now is a blank as to his earlier whereabouts and instead a dynamic and reckless persona continually comes to the fore. He stands up to his wife, cheekily pinches the bottom of housemaid Beryl (a much slimmer Joan Sims) which results in her getting the mad hots for him... I know, I know but this was 1953! He then starts to behave in a maverick manner at his workplace, playing double or quits with a customer with the bank’s money (god what kind of early 1950's anarchy is this!) and even hands out money to a customer - if only there were more clerks like him. It all comes on top when he opens the safe and is sorely tempted to put the £300 he sees there on a 10 to 1 shot. Thinking again he returns the money in a brown manila envelope but inadvertently puts his sandwiches in the safe instead of the three hundred smackers. Here then is the cue for the ensuing farce in which a fair bit of 'business' including a riotous chase in the theatre is on offer, we also have William Hartnell turning up as Detective Inspector Martin and yep, so with Jon Pertwee we get to see two future Dr. Whos’! Quite how this madcap farce was achieved in the stage play we can only try to imagine. The plot is not exactly that original inasmuch as it is only too obviously a variation on the old Jekyll and Hyde theme (there was also a comic American variation with Jerry Lewis) - but there is plenty of room for laughs when it comes to a split personality and even more so in a domestic setting.

George Cole is very much in his element in the lead role; he had a good mentor in Alistair Sim. Jon Pertwee could turn his hand to pretty much anything. William Hartnell as the no-nonsense police inspector is wearing an overcoat at least two sizes too big. Joan Sims is already showing her comedic talents as the housemaid though strangest of all is seeing classicist Alan 'the voice' Badel as the Great Mendoza. Not an actor one ever identified with comedy, immediately prior to this he had played ‘John the Baptist’ to Rita Hayworth's ‘Salome’. Here, with a feasible French accent, we see a precursor to his much later Svengali. The film is ably directed by Michael Anderson and there is no let down here. Nicely crafted and good all round vintage fun.

The Bonus material in this newly re-mastered Blu-ray release is comprised of two 2021 interviews with Lillemor Knudsen and Eleanor Fazan, two now elderly women who were among the Can-Can dancers at the Theatre of Varities who inform us as to just how problematic their sequences were. Have you ever tried doing the splits?