Helter Skelter

This film is periodically repeated on Australia's ABC and each time I watch it I am struck by how far ahead of its time it was. Sure, it's black and white, but the jokes are funny and the story actually takes advantage of tricks one can do with film which hadn't been possible with theatre.

The story centres around heiress Susan Graham (played by Carol Marsh) and her quest to rid herself of the hiccups. She is alternately aided and hindered in her quest by two guardian uncles (each of whom has a son who they hope will marry Susan), 'heroic' radio man Nick Martin (David Tomlinson) who in fact is brow-beaten by his domineering mother Mrs Martin (Judith Furse), but the film also segues into little comic vignettes.

Look quickly and you'll see Wilfred Hyde-White (of "My Fair Lady" fame) playing Dr Jekyll, Harry Secombe, Terry-Thomas, Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns and many other notables of the time.

All in all, Helter Skelter is good clean fun and well worth watching at least once.

A mad cap comedy with many stars taking very small parts. The story line is pretty weak but the fast pace and non stop incidents makes this a very entertaining film and the time goes quickly.

In the days when having a million dollars made someone rich, Carol Marsh is a carefully brought up girl who has developed the hiccups. Aided by figurative characters, she and mama's boy BBC broadcaster David Tomlinson fall in love, but how can they find true love when they live in an Olsen & Johnson HELLZAPOPPIN' world?

Gerald Thomas' second movie is a crazy comedy filled with a lot of well-known comics of the era doing their shticks. There are lots of good ones, including Terry-Thomas doing his 'Technical Hitch' routine and Jimmy Edwards showing Walter Forde silent comedies, but just as you're getting into the rhythms of the ridiculous revue, the film makers switch gears to advance the ridiculous 'Love Among the Hiccups' plot, and just when that seems to be going someplace, it halts to show us a ridiculous series of mishaps at a haunted castle or the BBC. I would imagine that if you were a member of a contemporary audience, you would be charmed to see your favorite players interrupt this pre-Goon-Show nonsense, but if you're not, it seems more chaotic than funny.

This is a riotous and sometimes chaotic comedy that was probability years ahead of its time. The story is a straightforward romantic comedy about a woman who can't cure her hiccoughs, she is told that a fright will cure her ills so she visits a haunted house.

However what differentiates this film from comedies of this time is that it is littered with cameo roles from some of the all times greats of British film comedy.... Terry-Thomas, Wilfred Hyde-White, Jimmy Edwards and Jon Pertwee (twice) to name a few.

This film is directed by Ralph Thomas of the 'Doctor' films and it is easy to see many parallels with those classic movies.

I saw this film many many years ago on television with my parents. As a child I used to watch Richard Hearne as Mr Pastry in his comedy shows on television and quite liked those.

So I was intrigued by this film when it was shown to see what it would be like. The omens were quite promising, it was written by Patrick Campbell who I knew from the many times he was a captain on Call My Bluff (the other captain was Frank Muir and it was hosted by Robert Robertson). It was directed by Ralph Thomas who directed many popular British films of the 50s and 60s (Campbell's Kingdom and some of the Doctor films), It starred David Tomlinson (best known for the father in Mary Poppins).

I think the film was supposed to be a comedy, about the efforts made to try and stop a girl from hiccupping.

I and my parents found the film to be completely unfunny and we did not even manage a smile at any time. It was so bad that I have never forgotten this film and have no hesitation in saying that, of the many thousands of films I have seen, this stands out as the worst film of all.

I see that a DVD of this film is due to be released in April in the UK. I will not be buying a copy.