alan gowdy

We need to differentiate between 'favourite' and 'best' of course. League Of Gentlemen is probably my favourite British film for a number of reasons but I would not claim it as the best.

"Don't forget... one of petrol, two of meths"

lordtednfs

[quote=The_Late_Peter_Cook;4536]Poor Sir Norman seems very under-rated today, perhaps because, unlike say, the Carry On movies, his films can’t be seen as being “camp” or “ironic” and it will never be fashionable to like him.

Norman today is held in very high esteem throughout the third world, because they have yet to discover how much cinema and the world has changed and sometimes changed for the worst. I live in the Philippines and hardly anyone has ever heard or seen a Norman Wisdom film, but when I show them to my family or friends, laughter fills the house. Slapstick in the UK has gone, long gone, because of over exposure to action movies. Comedy movies were here long before action movies. Black humour seems to be in the in thing, it's not a bad thing, but black humour has difficulty transfering to other parts of the world.

The Early Bird is a classic of slapstick comedy, so well performed that it cannot and will never be bettered. One of my earliest memories of watching Norman was on Sunday Night At the London Palladium where he performed a sketch with one of the greatest entertainers the like the world will never see again, Sir Bruce Forsyth, "All Right my Love", where they were decorating a room and all hell was breaking loose. The timing was perfect and not only my side, but the sides of the audience were splitting with laughter and all this was done without a word being spoken. Looks spoke volumes and thats sadly missing today.

I recently bought a book called "1001 Movies To See Before You Die" and there is no mention of the legend that is Norman Wisdom, and why. It was written by a yank, and yet only one is item dedicated to another legend, Peter Sellers and its not "I'm All Right Jack' or even "The Pink Panther", it was for "Being There" a movie the Americans loved, I think if they watched it now it might remind them of who is in charge at the White House, I wanted to be rude here but thought against it, George W. "Chance the Gardner" Bush. As a movie buff I want my movie buds to be tickled by every genre, but comedy, especially comedy well performed keeps us laughing and keeps us young. And that's what Sir Norman will always do best.

Maybe a book entitled "1001 British Movies To See Before You Die" should be written. Now there's a thought!

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Hooked off the line

clitheroekid

Poll everyone on this forum what they consider to be the 1001 British Movies to see, and I will guarantee they will all be different. And Wisdom will probably be missing from some lists. To say none of his films were listed in the book you bought because it was written by a "yank" misses the point.
I'll wager there are thousands of Americans who would include his work - it's all subjective.