On the Fiddle

Alfred Lynch - Horace Pope
Sean Connery - Pedlar Pascoe
Cecil Parker - Group Captain Bascombe
Stanley Holloway - Mr. Cooksley
Alan King Top - Sergeant Buzzer
Eric Barker - Doctor
Wilfrid Hyde-White - Trowbridge
Kathleen Harrison - Mrs. Cooksley

Hit-and-miss comedy adapted from the R.F. Delderfield novel Stop at a Winner, notable only for an early appearance by Sean Connery in a comedy role.

Spiv Horace Pope (Alfred Lynch) joins the RAF during World War II and persuades a fellow-recruit, the amiable but slow-witted gypsy Pedlar Pascoe (Sean Connery) to help in his moneymaking schemes. The duo soon set-up a scam to provide the local butcher, Mr Cooksley (Stanley Holloway), with army meat and ingratiate themselves with his family to such an extent that Pope is intended to wed Cooksley’s daughter Iris. The pair get posted to the frontline in France after a Pascoe gaffe, and straight into the action when the pub they are drinking in is hit during an air-raid, after which they try to work a medical posting fiddle. After a short spell of leave in England they are once again posted back to France – but their service record has come to the attention of Hixon (John Le Mesurier), who intends on disciplining them. Meanwhile, Pope and Pascoe are drawn behind enemy lines and come face-to-face with German soldiers masquerading as Americans. Due to their exploits, the unlikely heroes return home to be decorated with military honours, and an unexpected surprise for Horace.