Very Important Person is a well-written, and enjoyable British comedy that really belongs with other classic 1950s films. 1935 - 1962s British Comedies are my absolutely favourite genre as they hold their charm and wit even now and Very Important Person has a great deal of the essentially British humour in tough straights.
The plot of the genius scientist - JRJ - who ends up in a POW camp and must escape at all costs is a good vehicle to hang some nice character acting from Stanley Baxter and let Leslie Philips do his bounder at play act.
There are a ton of recognisable faces from John Le Mesurier to Eric Sykes, and the terrific part actor Richard Wattis, who everyone in Britain would recognise but few can name, all making the time fly by to perfection.
Above all, there's James Robertson Justice. Justice ironically nearly always played characters that looked and sounded true Tory but was the child of two of Britain's better Socialists (They did a lot in educational reform). He, himself, stood for parliament in Scotland as a Labour MP. Thank goodness he lost! His curmudgeon, which he had already perfected as Sir Lancelott Spratt in the Doctor series, is at its best here; he takes rude to a comic art form - and we love him for it.
Ken Annakin directs, and given that his list include Battle of the Bulge and Those Magnificent Men in their FLying Machines and Monte Carlo or Bust you know you're in excellent hands.
All in all, this is very reminiscent in style to The Wooden Horse but with laughs, a classic of its style and one that will still bring a wry smile to the face.
