The Bulldog Breed

I think the talent of Norman Wisdom has it's own unique quality.

There is only one Norman Wisdom and that is what some believe is a disadvantage because he seems to play the same character in all his films, to others this is good and of great entertainment.

Have been watching his films since I was a child up to present day, they never fail to make me laugh, no matter how many times I see them.

There seems to be a split amongst some about the talents & films of Norman Wisdom, they either hate him or love him. Personally I love him.

Our Norman is in his 90s now. I wish him continued long life and long may be reign.

From

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Norman Wisdom is- in all of his films- very human. The puppy-dog eagerness, willingness to do anything set before him, ability to make a mistake and then go on to make it worse- are, of course, the very stuff of the comic character that he sets up for us to laugh at. But his genius lies in the ability to make us identify with him, to 'live the life' with him, even as we guffaw.

In the Bulldog Breed there are stock characters aplenty, and the players act their roles accordingly, but Wisdom- like a wicked imp- seems to dodge and dart round the convention & hierarchy that still- in 1960- characterized much of the English way of doing things. He is like the benign counterpart of a poltergeist: causing disruption, certainly, but not as an alien or supernatural incursion, rather a human intervention into a stiff and inhuman environment. The sequence in which he gets a whole ship's crew into the water is an excellent example of this.

One thing that often goes unremarked in Wisdom's films is the sexual presence there. There is almost always some lubricious lovely in the line-up and, in this case, Wisdom (after some other amorous adventures) ends up on the beach with a girl in a grass skirt, being told to 'carry on'. By contemporary standards what is there is so laughably little that it seems distinctly odd to regard it as 'sex interest' but, in historical context, it is definitely that, and as much a part of the humour as 'dirty postcards' were a part of the English seaside holiday of the time.

Bear in mind, by the way, that in the years running up to the first moon-landing, this film is also a comment on Britain's presence in space!

Our Norman's appeal was that of the 'little man' - which is why his films were considered sufficiently politically correct to be screened in Albania, where he remains a household name to this day - while the recruitment methods employed by the Royal Navy are definitely shown to be highly questionable.

The proof the pudding however is in the eating, and the little weasel shows a nasty inclination to throw his weight around whenever he gets the chance and often demonstrates that the ability to hurt goes straight his head and just what he is capable of when permitted a modicum of power over others; although his stunt work is up to his usual high standard.

They say women love a man in uniform, which is the only plausible explanation that in one memorable scene the gorgeous Liz Fraser gives him the time of the day.

Norman takes on the Navy and its archaic judging system, there are a few laughs but nothing tremendous, Norman is still fun and accident prone, but not as funny as in other films.

Look out for a droll John Le Mesurier and Frank Williams, both who found fame in Dads Army later, Liz Fraser who was in the Dad's Army film, David Lodge, Cyril Chamberlain, Michael Caine and Oliver Reed, there were also a few bit-role players who did a good few Carry On's.

Not the best, but worth watching if not for the actors, but just to see Norman in another film.

I think that I first saw this on its original Odeon release.My excuse being that I was young and impressionable at the time.I normally cannot stand Norman Wisdom films,but I did laugh a few times at this.The problem with this film is that it is very episodic and that it has been through the hands of a number of writers.Often they seem to work on the basis that if a gag is funny once why not repeat it six times.The man overboard sequence being a particularly unfunny example of this.Norman Wisdom is one of those actors whom you either like or dislike.I tend to be in the later camp so the end of this film could not come quickly enough for me.