Just My Luck

A pretty average vehicle for Wisdom. The story about betting on a horse race and winning a fortune doesn't really seem to go anywhere so the resultant narrative feels episodic at best, a little tedious at worst. Our star certainly makes plenty of effort and it's as nice as ever to see the likes of Margaret Rutherford co-starring, but this one just lacks a certain magic.

I caught this movie on TV on night many years ago, and I still remember laughing so hard I had a stomach ache! Norman Wisdom is one of the funniest men in film. Just the eclair eating scene alone is worth renting this or catching it on the late, late show one night. If you see it, don't miss it. You will go to bed giggling!

Norman is on top form with this splendid tale of the turf. Dreaming of the shop girl he sees each day, Norman borrows a pound from his Mum and backs a six horse accumulator. Against the odds, each horse keeps winning and an increasingly excited Norman dreams of riches. There are delightful cameos from Leslie Phillips and Margaret Rutherford (bathing a chimp!?) and see if you can spot the uncredited Stringer Davis. This is one of Normans best films simply because it has all of the ingredients. The scenes when he is 'drunk' on chloroform gas are priceless.

I'm very fond of Norman Wisdom and of his movies. He has a wide-eyed innocence that I do find charming, endearing and amusing too. Just My Luck is not his best film by a long shot, it is a paper-thin plot, a couple of scenes such as the movie theatre scene that were rather tedious and unfunny and I personally think it could have been longer as well.

However, the production values are thoroughly decent, and the music has its quirkiness. The dialogue and gags are amusing if nothing exceptional, though the eclair scene, the bathing the chimp scene and the scenes where Wisdom is high on chloroform are priceless.

There are several other joys as well, while the story is thin there are components, characters and themes that make it quite touching such as the shop worker/beautiful girl and the Greenwood races. Also Wisdom has a dual role, and while he has been better he is as endearing and charming as ever. There's also Margaret Rutherford who is such a lively presence in this movie and Leslie Phillips who also shows some above-credible comedic flair while playing it straight. While I have nothing against musical interludes, I did like that there aren't any here to perhaps endanger it from slowing down.

All in all, enjoyable without being one of the best. 7/10 Bethany Cox

We are starved for British comedies of this era. We love movies with Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, of course Peter Sellers & Alec Guinness, and way up on our list, Margaret Rutherford.

Which brings us to why we watched this movie--she got second billing. Had never seen Norman Wisdom, but he's well-known, so why not give it a chance? Plus, we are big horse racing fans, & that's the main subject.

Sad to say, we were highly disappointed. No captioning for the film, so we struggled to understand some of Wisdom's Cockney dialogue.

A couple of the stock characters were mildly amusing: the battle-axe mother, also the battle-axe-in-training girlfriend.

Happy finally to see the wonderful Margaret Rutherford, but much too little & too late in the movie.

Mainly saw a succession of pratfalls and low comedy, very little Brit-wit.

The first & last time we'll watch Norman Wisdom--save him for the music halls.