Norman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property develo... Read allNorman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property developer (boo hiss!) who is also the chairman of the orphanage board wants to close the orphana... Read allNorman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and now acts as their caretaker. All the orphans are very happy and well cared for. The adventures start when a nasty property developer (boo hiss!) who is also the chairman of the orphanage board wants to close the orphanage and build a factory on the site. The children are sent to Brighton for the day and Norm... Read all
- Gunner Mac
- (as Ricky Mc Cullough)
- Martin
- (as Antony Green)
- Constable in Theatre
- (uncredited)
- Stagehand
- (uncredited)
- Boxing Spectator
- (uncredited)
- Minor Role
- (uncredited)
Featured reviews
It is a truly lovely, sweet film, it has some very funny moments, the scene inside the first class carriage, and the orchestra conduction are works of pure brilliance.
Lots of familiar faces, a young William Russell, a good few years before his break on Doctor Who, Thora Hird is lovely as Cook.
Wisdom as always is just wonderful, a great actor, boundless charisma. 8/10.
It's a joy.
Its more of a moral humorous comedy than a funny one, Wisdom gets up to his usual antics, but with a slightly serious angle, Norman was an orphan, so its a subject that's in his heart, its no coincidence this is the subject of his second film in, it was a life project. His whole life leading up to him being a star is around being an orphan and fighting for them, he did charity work in that line for many years after.
But its still fairly good, look out for a character actor with the name of Thora Hird, a stalwart of British Film and TV.
Norman is the oldest orphan at Greenwood Children's Home and has slotted into the furniture as the unpaid caretaker. The happiness and tranquillity of The Orphanage is greatly disrupted when it comes to light that the Orphanage chairman wants to sell it and turn it into a factory. Can the staff, the kids and the biggest kid of them all - Norman - stop the scheming rotter?
A delight for Wisdom fans, this monochrome piece finds the jumping bean that is Wisdom on fine form. There's nothing new in the narrative threads, it's Norman causing chaos when he's trying to do good, and those around him are affected either physically or emotionally. So watch Norman with a wasp up his trousers, bringing the tears with onions, a child's motor car chase, a charity walk, taking control of an orchestra and more! The kids are great, as is the wonderful as usual Hird, and there's even a couple of musical numbers to ease the flow of the ebullience.
We know where we are heading, but really who cares? The fun is in getting there and finding Wisdom doing what he does best - lifting those blues. 7/10
Did you know
- TriviaProducer Maurice Cowan made Norman Wisdom's first film, and wrote the story for his third film. He so disliked working with Wisdom on this film that he never produced another film for the comedian.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Mark Kermode's Secrets of Cinema: British Comedy (2021)
Details
- Runtime
- 1h 30m(90 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1