Up in the World

The irrepressible Norman Wisdom goes "Up in the World" from poster hanger to window washer at a lavish estate, and the estate is lavish indeed as the film's exteriors were shot at the magnificent Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. Norman again tangles with his old nemesis, Jerry Desmonde as the estate manager, and finds a new foil in a spoiled young heir, Michael Caridia. Although Norman never falters, the film does. An extended soccer match wears on, and an involved kidnapping plot has few gags. However, the finale's Marx-Brothers-like mayhem leaves an elegant hall in shambles, as befitting the ever-bumbling Mr. Wisdom.

"Up in the World" is formula Norman, which is not all bad. Norman is fired over and over; he sings the title song, one of his own composing; and he falls for a young housemaid, who is in the mold of the young ladies Norman always falls for. Michael Ward, who played a fussy photographer in "Man of the Moment," amusingly returns as a fussy uncle here, and Lionel Jeffries pops up in a funny cameo. Mr. Wisdom never lets us down; whether dangling from a window, fooling around in a queue, or doing battle with Jerry Desmonde, his comic talents are pitch perfect. If only the movie had been worthy of him. However, lesser Wisdom is better than no Wisdom, and "Up in the World," while not a great classic, is acceptably entertaining.

This title might just as well apply to Norman as the film, with him coming from an homeless street orphan, up into a film star.

But the title actually refers to going up a ladder, as a window cleaner, in this film Norman becomes an unlikely hero, eventually. And he gets the girl, formula Norman, but at least its a bit funny and got a good moral story.

The girl he got was Maureen Swanson, an an actor from Glasgow who also made her way "Up in the world", a few years later she gave up acting when she married into the nobility, she had 6 children and a good life, passing away in 2011 aged 78, she survived Norman by a year. Jerry Desmonde was in with Norman again, and look out for Brit film character stars Lionel Jeffries and Cyril Chamberlain and future Carry On star Bernard Bresslaw in an early role.

Obviously with Ladders involved, Norman gets up to a few stunts on them, maybe Jackie Chan got his inspiration from him, unless both got it from Laurel and Hardy or Buster Keaton? Anyway its got a good few funny moments. Worth watching just for them.

I regard myself fortunate to have met Norman Wisdom once. He was doing some promotional work up in Newcastle in the late 1990s.

Up in the World sees hapless Norman play a window cleaner on a big country estate. It has more windows than roof tiles. Norman has to put up with the spoilt brat of the household.

Some bad guys plan to kidnap the brat, an heir to the title and they are not happy that Norman bagged the window cleaning job.

Norman is forced to take the lad to a nightclub in London where Norman causes havoc during a magic act. The bad guys make a kidnap attempt and poor Norman is blamed and lands himself in jail.

Some of it is silly fun, there is an opening mishap where Norman places a giant poster over some apartments.

It is knockabout fun but I think it is not a good film. Norman Wisdom's schtick has aged a bit. Some of it comes across as irksome. The singing is irritating.

"Up in the World" is the first Norman Wisdom film that I've ever seen (I'd never even heard of him until watching it, although it sounds like he was a fairly famous comedian in his day). If this one is any indication, then the rest of his movies must be a hoot. What I mean is that "UITW" nearly made me die laughing. It casts Norman Wisdom as working-class Norman, who gets a job as a window washer for some rich snobs. Employed by them, he proceeds to do the sorts of things that we most often associate with Insp. Clouseau and Gilligan, all the while riling the stuffy owners; that whole sequence when he interrupts the meeting is very likely to make you hoarse from laughter. But when some thugs try to kidnap the son, he has to take charge.

One thing that I should identify is that I watched this movie dubbed in Russian and I still laughed my head off. You literally don't need to know what they're saying to have a good time, you just need to see what Norman is doing. I guess that having him develop a relation with the maid did give the movie a humanizing aspect, but the truth is that you could watch "UITW" with the sound off and still get belly laughs. I definitely recommend it.

I thought this was one of Wisdom's very best outings as a hapless window cleaner caught up in a kidnap plot. It has far more story to it than other similar efforts the actor would go on to make, and his camaraderie with the supporting cast is what makes this zing; I particularly enjoyed his developing friendship with the spoilt young lord. The slapstick is very funny too, which helps immensely.