Review: Some Will, Some Won’t

Crazy old Wilfrid Brambell kicks the bucket, and four of his relatives turn up for the reading of the will. It seems Brambell was a bit of a black humoured prankster (whom we see via a recorded message) and has devised a task for each of the relatives to perform or else they will not get the promised 150,000 pounds from him. Milquetoast little bank clerk Ronnie Corbett is tasked with robbing his own bank, managed by John Nettleton. Serial skirt-chaser Leslie Phillips has to marry the first girl he next comes across. Trashy crime author Michael Hordern needs to commit an actual crime that will result in a 28 day prison sentence. Perpetually rude Thora Hird is required to work as a hotel maid for four weeks.

 

Having not seen the original “Laughter in Paradise”, I’m able to look at this 1970 Duncan Wood (mostly a TV guy, principally “Steptoe and Son”) comedy on its own merits. As such, I rather enjoyed it, the cast is full of familiar faces, all of whom do excellent work with one exception I’ll get to later. Ronnie Corbett is either your thing or very much not your thing. I’ve always preferred the funny little man over the other Ronnie (Barker), and was glad to see him get a fairly meaty part here. He looks comically ridiculous wearing glasses over his chimpanzee mask disguise at one point. The man simply is funny, he can’t help but be funny. Leslie Phillips is very funny as a pants man forced to find someone to settle down with. Michael Hordern probably should’ve been first-billed here instead of Corbett, as his is clearly the lead role. The veteran character actor is better-known to me from his dramatic work, but he’s absolutely terrific here, even if it has him going on a similar path to Corbett’s character. There’s an especially clever bit where Hordern’s character takes to shop-lifting…and gets robbed. Wilfrid Brambell’s cameo meanwhile, is uproariously funny.

 

By now you’ve probably figured out that the lone exception to the fine cast here is Thora Hird. It’s not really the actress’ fault, her character arc simply isn’t the slightest bit funny. I actually felt rather annoyed that precious screen time was being wasted on her dull exploits when it could’ve been better used up by one of the other actors in the film – even James Robertson-Justice, who gets barely a cameo and is rather wasted (Ditto a smug Dennis Price). The complete lack of humour in Hird’s section of the film is why this one gets only a soft recommendation from me, though a recommendation nonetheless. It’s no great shakes and apparently the original is vastly superior. However, I found this one pretty amusing. Based on “Laughter in Paradise” the screenplay is by Lew Schwarz (like the director, a veteran of British TV).

 

Rating: B-

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