Review: The Comedy Man

Based on a Douglas Hayes novel, Kenneth More stars as an actor in his 40s whose career has still yet to take off. He’s barely earning a quid, and resisting the urge to do commercials. He sees himself as a ‘real’ actor, aspiring to take on the classics, and enjoys low-paying provincial repertory theatre acting until he hopefully gets that big break. However, how long can one’s pride hold up to rejection after rejection and a lack of money coming in? Billie Whitelaw plays More’s long-suffering occasional bed companion, who is tired of his shit. Edmund Purdom (who attained brief stardom in 1954’s “The Egyptian”) plays More’s acting mate who eventually lands a fairly substantial gig overseas. Cecil Parker plays a failed theatre actor who moves in with More for a few days…and then keeps staying. Dennis Price turns up briefly as an a-hole agent, whilst a bespectacled Frank Finlay can be seen as More’s agent.

 

Here’s one you’ve probably never even heard of. The underrated Kenneth More headlines this 1964 drama about working actors, which was apparently his favourite role that he played. Directed by Alvin Rakoff (“Hoffman”, “Death Ship”) and scripted by Peter Yeldham (“Age of Consent”, “The Liquidator”), it’s a little like the excellent “The Entertainer”, except that film was about a performer in his decline hoping to make a comeback. Here we’re dealing with folks struggling to even really get off the starting blocks as performers.

 

Although amusing in parts, the title is somewhat deceptive: It’s really a rather sad, bleak 60s British drama. This is actually pretty interesting stuff, with an excellent Cecil Parker showing a very different, somewhat undignified side to him. It’s not a huge role, but it’s easily one of the best showings he ever had. The always underrated Kenneth More is in very fine form in the lead, as a struggling actor in his 40s whose career still has yet to go anywhere. For some reason this ended up being More’s last-ever leading role in cinema, and his career never quite was the same afterwards as he went to mostly theatre and TV work instead. There’s also excellent support work by the versatile Billie Whitelaw, a nice sleazy character turn by Dennis Price, and an aptly cast Edmund Purdom is quite good in what to some extent amounts to playing pretty much a version of himself.

 

A rather bleak and sad drama that won’t appeal to all tastes. However, this well-acted and unglamorous look at struggling actors is actually really fascinating and well-done. It deserves as much recognition as the other 60s British dramas like “The Entertainer”, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”, “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner”, etc.

 

Rating: B