I'm All Right Jack 1959 film

 

1959 film poster

After the disappointment of For Whom the Bell Tolls, this was a relief, albeit a light one. I'm Alright Jack is dated (but really remarkably up to date); it's silly, some of the acting barely passes, as well-known British character actors trundle through their character acts, BUT it's good fun.  Poking fun at both sleazy management and Neanderthal  union members is bound to get laughs. The main actors feel as if the parts were written just for them: Ian Carmichael as the incompetent, well-meaning Stanley Windrush; Peter Sellers as the trade-union leader Fred Kite; Terry-Thomas as the lazy personnel manager Major Hitchcock; Dennis Price as Stanley's uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel, and Richard Attenborough as Bertram's old army comrade, Sydney DeVere Cox - both trying to swindle government and everyone else; the three main women - Margaret Rutherford as Aunt Dolly, Irene Handl as Mrs Kite and Liz Fraser as Cynthia Kite, all mucking in with abandon. Then there are the bit parts, made up of the afore-mentioned character actors - John Le Mesurier, Raymond Huntley, Miles Malleson, Kenneth Griffiths, John Comer, Sam Kydd, Cardew Robinson, Ronnie Stevens and Terry Scott (I never found him funny). All are incompetent, corrupt, smug and amazingly selfish, with Stanley trying to plough a lone and lonely furrow between them.

There are some amusing scenes, such as Stanley's early forays at "Detto" making washing detergent, at "Num-Yum" making processed cakes - in all adding up to 11 interviews in 10 days. Finally he is taken on at his uncle's Missiles Ltd factory - unbeknown to him, to cause chaos. His over-keenness at his job leads to a strike, led by the humourless Fred Kite. It doesn't help that Stanley is lodging at Kite's home and making progress with his sexy daughter, Cynthia. Further ructions occur - only when on a TV programme, hosted by the real Malcolm Muggeridge, Stanley reveals to the viewers the underhanded motivations of all concerned (he throws DeVere Cox's bribe money into the air) does everything come into the open. The film ends, like the opening, at the Sunnyglades Nudist Camp, where his father resides, fleeing from naked women; the difference is that, this time, he is naked. All very jolly.

2018 DVD