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British Films and Chat For movie polls, thoughts, and discussion.on British films and stars.


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Old 21-02-2008, 01:20 PM
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For on-course betting, See FOLLOW THAT HORSE ! (1960) starring David Tomlinson

EDUCATED EVANS with Max Miller (hard to find !)


???? with Norman Wisdom


In HEART OF A MAN (1959) there is an off-land gambling /casino operation on a boat moored
on the River Thames, run by super-smoothie Tony Britton (Fern Britton's dad......? ), catering for the 'Chelsea set'....all perfectly legal in the 1950s' apparently....did such boats actually exist ? They also feature in JAZZBOAT (1960) starring Anthony Newley....

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Old 21-02-2008, 01:24 PM
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And I'm never far away.....

Indeed; All the depictions of Betting Shops (That's Post '61 in the UK, post-'30ish in Eire) and their customers that I have ever seen are negative stereotypes. Seen always as filthy (cf. Trainspotting, The Most Disgusting Toilet in Scotland sequence) and hangouts of crooks and informers (Man In A Suitcase, being my favourite as a genuine and still-existing-from '68 Corals, The Sweeney, The Professionals, Drop The Dead Donkey, a short-lived Scots series called Bookie, Strangers, Hustle from last year )and where people go to get degraded, mostly in Fitz, but Josh in Casualty too (Another Corals, here in Bristol, although he may just have been attempting CPR in that episode), and I see you already have the laughable examples in our national soaps mentioned.
Pre '61 this was all illegal, of course, so by definition all illegal street-corner bookies had to be scum; from silent examples as in the Squibs series, an episode of the Bonzo series; Frank Cellier in Love on the Dole, trying to buy young Deborah Kerr (Did I mention an exquisite taste in women? No?).....The gang in Brighton Rock (The Book ) were explicitly a protection racket gang who victimised Racecourse Bookies...but it's unusual to be seen as likely to be on the receiving end of 'Sending The Boys Round'.
In all the films where I've seen Bookies portrayed, I can only think of one positive example; from about 1943, step forward the Patron Saint of Bookies Everywhere, Mr Gordon Harker, in Saloon Bar. He's the avuncular good guy who sorts everything out; in the sterotype loud checks and strange hat (You didn't think McCririck was an original did you?) he wins the day for the young couple in need of help.
Does anyone have a copy??
Do you work for Corals?my old man worked for them (Bill Powell) did you know him ??
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Old 21-02-2008, 02:21 PM
  post #18
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For on-course betting, See FOLLOW THAT HORSE ! (1960) starring David Tomlinson

EDUCATED EVANS with Max Miller (hard to find !)


???? with Norman Wisdom
If off-course betting counts, then surely Prince Monolulu, real-life celeb bookie long before John McCricrick was even thought of, deserves a mention.
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Old 21-02-2008, 04:08 PM
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Another one I've always missed....thanks!! Keep them coming, people...
What about Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck (1957)?
Norman works in a jewellers workshop and fantasises (in the nicest way) about meeting the window dresser across the road from his workshop. He wants to buy her a diamond pendant but calculates it will take him over 100 years to save up for it. He is talked into betting a pound on a six horse accumulator at the Goodwood races with a slightly shady bookmaker. When he has won on the first five races, the bookie owes him over 16,000 pounds and everyone begins to worry. Everyone's future depends on a single race ... what can be done?

Steve
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Old 21-02-2008, 04:10 PM
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What about Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck (1957)?
Norman works in a jewellers workshop and fantasises (in the nicest way) about meeting the window dresser across the road from his workshop. He wants to buy her a diamond pendant but calculates it will take him over 100 years to save up for it. He is talked into betting a pound on a six horse accumulator at the Goodwood races with a slightly shady bookmaker. When he has won on the first five races, the bookie owes him over 16,000 pounds and everyone begins to worry. Everyone's future depends on a single race ... what can be done?

Steve
Steve you have a great memory
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Old 21-02-2008, 04:25 PM
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Steve you have a great memory
I just copied my own plot summary from the IMDb

Steve
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Old 21-02-2008, 05:32 PM
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I just copied my own plot summary from the IMDb

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LOL
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Old 21-02-2008, 06:20 PM
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I just copied my own plot summary from the IMDb

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Always the smart ar........I mean, very clever!

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Old 21-02-2008, 07:40 PM
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Not exactly a betting shop but in the same range of establishments.
In "The Counterfeit Plan" (1957), Mervyn Johns and a few cronies are seen hatching a plot in a billiards club.
Authentic stuff in the background too. By the time they finish talking, a real life (uncredited) Australian, professional snooker player of the time, Horace Lindrum, has knocked up a 78 break.
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Old 21-02-2008, 07:49 PM
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At a bit of a tangent, but the 'tossing school' scene in Hell is a City is a great evocation of a time long gone. Donald Pleasance as the bookie in that comes across as a law abiding citizen.
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Old 22-02-2008, 12:00 PM
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At a bit of a tangent, but the 'tossing school' scene in Hell is a City is a great evocation of a time long gone. Donald Pleasance as the bookie in that comes across as a law abiding citizen.
Hell is a City is a Hell of a good film. Also Donald Pleasance was a very good actor who could do nice & bad. I thought he was quite an underated actor.
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Old 22-02-2008, 12:06 PM
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Hell is a City is a Hell of a good film. Also Donald Pleasance was a very good actor who could do nice & bad. I thought he was quite an underated actor.
Absolutely. Donald Pleasance in a film always make it that bit more interesting.
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Old 23-02-2008, 12:30 AM
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The track bookies in The Blue Lamp helped the police catch Bogarde.
The TicTac Men! I'd forgotten them...good shout....
Bit of a Bay Window, what??
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Old 23-02-2008, 12:32 AM
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What about Norman Wisdom in Just My Luck (1957)?
Norman works in a jewellers workshop and fantasises (in the nicest way) about meeting the window dresser across the road from his workshop. He wants to buy her a diamond pendant but calculates it will take him over 100 years to save up for it. He is talked into betting a pound on a six horse accumulator at the Goodwood races with a slightly shady bookmaker. When he has won on the first five races, the bookie owes him over 16,000 pounds and everyone begins to worry. Everyone's future depends on a single race ... what can be done?

Steve
Shoot Norman Wisdom??
Bit of a Bay Window, what??
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Old 23-02-2008, 12:43 AM
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For on-course betting, See FOLLOW THAT HORSE ! (1960) starring David Tomlinson

EDUCATED EVANS with Max Miller (hard to find !)


???? with Norman Wisdom


In HEART OF A MAN (1959) there is an off-land gambling /casino operation on a boat moored
on the River Thames, run by super-smoothie Tony Britton (Fern Britton's dad......? ), catering for the 'Chelsea set'....all perfectly legal in the 1950s' apparently....did such boats actually exist ? They also feature in JAZZBOAT (1960) starring Anthony Newley....
Casinos, boat-borne or otherwise, have been around for yonks longer. Actually, to straighten things up, Betting Shops were made illegal in the Victorian era; they had been legal up to that point; and then legalised again in '61. Commission Agents, the equivalent of the modern phone account operations, were always legal. Before the days of phones, they used the telegraph system: because messages (ie bets) were timed to the minute, so long as they were sent prior a race's off-time, bets would stand; they could wire money (Using stamps I believe) with the bet messages, so accounts weren't necessarily established. Of course, if you could somehow persuade your local telegraph office to send a 'message', mistimed, once you knew the result.....another side effect of this was, until recently (About ten years ago, that's all) races were deemed void for betting purposes if they started earlier than the advertised race time....
Back on topic....Educated Evans....you say it's rare...I didn't know it still even existed.... Do you know someone with a copy???
Bit of a Bay Window, what??
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