Die grüne Minna

Describing a film as 'lightweight' shouldn't always be seen as a criticism. Two Way Stretch deserves the description, but it should be seen as praise rather than a put-down.

Back in the 50s and 60s, the British film industry seemed able to churn out these comedy films at the drop of a hat. The Ealing Comedies are the best known, but there are also any number starring Norman Wisdom, and also a few gems with Peter Sellers in them.

Sellers takes the leading role here, that of a criminal in the last weeks of his sentence. He and his three cell mates are drawn into a daring robbery - one that involves them breaking out the night before their release, then breaking back in again, thereby ensuring they have a watertight alibi. Just about every character in the film is a caricature - the kind-hearted chief warder, the bumbling prison governor intent on seeing only the best in everyone, the army chief in charge of moving the jewels. Yet it all works, so long as you don't go in expecting some significant piece of cinema.

An excellent cast, with Sellers on top form. Maurice Denham, as the governor, Lionel Jeffries, as the control-freak warder, and Wilfred Hyde-White, as the crook planning the robbery, are worth singling out.

This 1960 M. Smedley Aston production has everything lovers of classic British comedy could hope for.Sellers plays Dodger Lane,a lag who is having such a cushy time in the clink he couldn't care less whether he gets out or not.'Rooming' with two old chums they plan an unlikely heist of priceless diamonds while still inside. This is probably my favourite Sellers comedy of all time with marvellous performances from all concerned.Star of the show, hands down,has to be Lionel Jeffries as the hard-boiled prison officer 'Crouty' who is hell-bent on making the lads last few days of incarceration as miserable as possible. If you haven't seen this movie you're in for a treat.Forget Inspector Clouseau,this is the definitive Peter Sellers.

A very influential film in the history of the British cinema that spawned one of the most popular TV series that there has ever been in Britain.

The characters are all wonderful. Peter Sellers as the suave and crafty Dodger, Bernard Cribbins as the not too bright Lenny, David Lodge as the old lag Jelly, Lionel Jeffries in a masterful performance as Mr. Crout (who bears more than a passing resemblance to Hitler), Wilfred Hyde White as the slippery and devious Soapy Stevens and, my favourite, Liz Fraser as the ravishing Ethel. Most of these characters plus others were lifted wholesale from the film, with name changes, to form the cast of the hit TV series 'Porridge', still one of the funniest things on British TV, even 30 years down the line.

The plot is inventive and extremely silly, if a little predictable, and there are plenty of laughs even if some of the vehicles are pretty well tried. The film stands the test of time well I feel. The characters are well stereotyped and so live on and prison doesn't change much, I suppose, and so it retains its relevance.

Quite what non-British viewers would make of it, I'm not sure, as there is much British slang in the dialogue and much of it would be meaningless, but if you can get round that, this film is well worth a watch.

This is a not particularly famous comedy starring Peter Sellers. It's rather sad that all Sellers is known for today, for the most part, are the Pink Panther movies, as he made many lovely small-time movies in the UK that are hardly ever seen in the United States. Most were made before the Panther movies and sadly, other than Panther films, most of what we do seem to see here are his lesser films from the 60s and 70s. Thankfully, THE FIENDISH PLOT OF FU MANCHU is seldom seen on American television (uggh).

Unlike so many of these little films, however, Sellers plays a role that is relatively "normal"--without the odd accents or flamboyant acting. Instead, while a comedy, he plays his part of a prisoner rather straight. This isn't bad, however, as the film is a very low-key comedy and many of the supporting actors help out quite a bit with the comedy--particularly Lionel Jeffries, who plays a rather uptight guard.

The film begins with Sellers and his buddies incarcerated in one of the worst prisons in the UK. Colonel Klink of "Hogan's Heroes" did a much better job of running a tight prison compared to the Governor (Maurice Denham)! Despite being a con-man and habitual crook, Sellers is made a trustee and practically every sort of vice occurs right under the guards' noses. In fact, it's so lax there that when an old partner (Wilfrid Hyde-White) of Sellers arrives (disguised as a minister), Sellers and his friends agree to sneak out of prison a day before their discharge to commit a crime and then sneak back--guaranteeing them the perfect alibi. All looks like it will go like clockwork until the head guard is replaced by a martinet played by Lionel Jeffries. They are ready to abandon their plans when they realize that they can get past Jeffries--it will just take a lot more patience and planning.

There's a lot more to the film than this, but I don't want to spoil it. The bottom line is that the script is just lovely and it's no wonder that the film works so well. A nice little almost forgotten gem.

A trio of prisoners, aided by outsiders, plan and execute an elaborate escape plan from under the nose of militant prison guard (Jeffries) and the gardening fanatic warden (Denham). Sellers is superb as the mischievous Dodger, with David Lodge and bumbling Bernard Cribbins his cohorts on the inside. Criminal mastermind Soapy Stevens (Hyde-White) who engineered Sellers' incarceration is top of the wanted list, and Sellers is determined to get him his comeuppance. Also hilarious is Irene Handl and Liz Fraser as the 'girls', using their collective skills (brains and beauty, respectively) to aid and abet Sellers' escape plan.

Jeffries is the real sleeper here; his comical, gestapo like prison captain, continually tortured by Sellers' antics, earns him the ire of the usually passive warden Maurice Denham (Denham more concerned with the quality and size of his garden produce than Jeffries' constant bleating about Sellers). The bane of his existence, Jeffries promises to catch Sellers out, but of course, he only ends up with egg on his face, again and again. Poor Lionel.

Liz Fraser is a voluptuous beauty, and her thick cockney accent and dumb-blonde demeanour make her the ideal vice. Her knack for these type of parts earned her recurring roles in several "Carry On" films later in the sixties, a series that excelled at 'accentuating' her talents, you might say. The mercurial Bernard Cribbins, a relative newcomer in this picture, also had the good fortune to team up in a couple of "Carry On" films, as well as several other Sellers' vehicles.

Not just a Sellers picture, all the cast succeed with their timing and delivery, but it's Lionel Jeffries who showed here his diverse ability to express humour, in addition to the straight roles he played throughout his long and distinguished career. Slapstick and farce, simple to enjoy, highly recommended.