john audley

I have noticed the thread about the funniest film or script but comic films are mostly made up of comic sketches linked together to make the whole.
The British film industry turned out so many great comedies before, say, 1970 with Two Way Stretch being superb. This was Peter Sellers at his best and also the really
funny film for me was The Wrong Arm of the Law, very funny from start to finish. A brilliant script.

What I would like to start going here is, what particular sketch of any film can be judged really funny? I mean, some films in total may not be that good but one particular sketch can be really funny.
I have seen the film, I can't remember how many times, The Wrong Arm of the law and the sketch where the team is trying to change a wheel to hit the approaching van must be the funniest piece of cinema ever made! I cry with laughter everytime from beginning to end. Yet another scene that is so funny is where 30 policemen search a flat and the three villains drive off in the police car! The joke is compounded when the car is found - in Scotland Yard. Wonderful.

'You should be kind to us normals, there are not many of us left you know'!

Dave Rattigan

The Meaning of Life is one film that I think is pretty mediocre as a whole, but contains one or two great sketches. Every Sperm Is Sacred is a highlight for me.

BillTurner80

One scene that sticks in my mind from an otherwise below par film is the scene in 1966's Press For Time in which Norman Wisdom somehow manages to get his bicycle stuck in the chandelier of the house owned by the parents of a lady he's trying to impress - well, it was funny when I was 13!

But for a one off classic, look no further than 'Dinner for One', a sketch starring the great Freddy Frinton, who plays a butler called James, whose duty it is to serve Miss Sophie, a mad eccentric who believes that she is throwing a dinner party; of course as she is 90 years old, all her guests have long since passed on. James has to play each of the guests and drinks a toast as each one, and as he makes his way round the table, gets progressively more 'as a newt'.

The sketch is shown on all channels in Germany on New Year's Eve and is also popular in Scandinavia - but hasn't been seen on TV on these shores since its first performances in theatres.

It's available to watch on Yoof Tube - and is a classic!

john audley

Hi Bill

You mention the great Freddy Frinton. He worked the same sketch when he starred in the old Variety theatre circuits and always brought the house down with it.

Two brother comedians who also made films, 'In the Nick' was one that I remember (how long since it was on television) when, again on stage, worked the most funniest act with great comedy to live audiences. Never quite transfered over to television, they were Mike and Berney Winters.

'You should be kind to us normals, there are not many of us left you know'!

BillTurner80

I saw Mike and Bernie live in panto a couple of times and they were, in a word, brilliant - but never did quite cut it on TV, probably being unkindly compared too much with Morecambe and Wise. Shame really. In today's TV world there may have been room for them both - what did we get instead? Cannon & Ball!

Steve Crook

I think the cleverest part isn't just that way he portrays someone getting steadily more and more drunk. Many people have done that equally well. It's the business with the tiger skin rug that I like. It takes a lot of skill to time and pace your steps properly so that you trip over it every time. You don't see him shortening or lengthening his pace so he's got it worked out from some distance away.



As you say it is very popular in Germany (that's where I first saw it) and in quite a few other countries but it's almost unknown here. Maybe all the people in those other countries, especially Germany, think we're all like that?

Steve

Cooper S

Will Hay and his crew installing their new fire station pole in 'Where's that Fire' is a gem.

'I've only got one spare'

'Well, borrow one !'

Bulldog Jack

One of the funniest skits I've ever seen is in WHERE'S THAT FIRE. Having visited a modern fire station, Will, Albert, & Harbottle decide to install a fireman's pole in their old station house.

Speaking of the MEANING of LIFE, the funniest scene to me is the episode with morbidly obese, Mr Creosote.

BDJ

cletus awreetus

Speaking of Will Hay, I like the dance routine with Claude Hulbert and Derna Hazell in "Safety" Wilson's speakeasy in the film My Learned Friend.

john audley

Will Hay, so many great sketches in all the films. What about when they were searching for the replacement Station Master because the last one had signed himself Napoleon and had retreated to Moscow

'You should be kind to us normals, there are not many of us left you know'!

cletus awreetus

"Poor Bill....."

Chris B

the scene in Tons Of Trouble (Mr Pastry) where he is summoned to unblock the bath in one of the flats and in the course of talking to the owner of the flat he manages to get his large sink plunger stuck to several surfaces and most of the furniture. Pure slapstick.

the scene in On The Beat (Norman Wisdom) where dozens of police are running all around the neighbourhood, through the houses and over the gardens, great musical sound track to accompany it.

Regards Chris Bryan

Lady Lois

Speaking of On The Beat - like the medical examination where Wisdom wears stilts, one stilt flies off after a reflex test, as he scrambles over to retrieve it Doctor remarks, "Bit of a limp...?"

Gosh there are so many Will Hay sketches, but I love Harbottle's dad in Ask a Policeman, trying to recall the rhyme about smugglers.

I have enjoyed thinking over some of the funniest sketches... too many to go in here... but I always laugh at Contraband, the warden's reprimand a chap for lighting his pipe... just before Conny lights up a whole building... ending with Conny asking for a taxi in a room full of drivers and one driver complaining, "But I'm having my dinner!"

Rob Compton

[quote=Lady Lois;107033]Gosh there are so many Will Hay sketches, but I love Harbottle's dad in Ask a Policeman, trying to recall the rhyme about smugglers.

/quote]

Plus the blackcurrant sweets, of course!

Steve Crook

And their calling the villainous heavies The Brothers Grimm. It's a script full of gags. My real favourite is Esmond Knight as the talent spotter who travels around Europe and America looking for acts he can bring to Britain. When they are all being interviewed by the Royal Navy contraband inspection party they say to him that that must be hard work. "Oh, Per Ardua Ad Astra." he replies.
That is of course the motto of the RAF and means "Through adversity to the stars"

But it's also a very sexy film, full of flirtation and innuendo.
See my description of it as The sexiest film of the 1940s

Steve