Make Mine Mink

Charming comedy about a bored group who board with Dame Bea (Athene Seyler) in an apartment. She supports many charities but has now run out of money. Through a series of events, they hit upon the idea of stealing fur coats and selling them to a fence so that she can continue to support her charities. The others are all bored so they go along ...since it's for charity. Implausible plot makes little difference as this disparate group of oddballs start their series of robberies. Subplot has Dame Bea's maid (Billie Whitelaw) who has a prison record, falling for a cop (Jack Hedley).

The robberies are masterminded by the Major (Terry-Thomas) who calls on his military experience to plan the robberies, including all manner of disguises. Because they have no police records, they rob shops and gambling joints right under the cops' noses.

The cast is uniformly excellent is this bit of craziness. Terry-Thomas and Athene Seyler turn in star performances, matched by Hattie Jacques as Nan and Elspeth Duxbury as the hapless Pinkie--their cohorts. Others in the cast include Raymond Huntley as the inspector, Irene Handl as Spolinski, Penny Morrell as Gertrude, Sydney Tafler and Joan Heal as the neighbors, and May Hallatt as the old lady. Kenneth Williams also shows up as the fence.

The ending is priceless.

For no reason I can fathom, this title recently popped into the disordered clutter of my memory. I haven't seen it since those halcyon days in Southern California, before multiplexes, when admission prices were affordable on a frequent basis, and when the area where I lived had theaters that booked all sorts of films from all over the globe, or so it seemed. It's one of the few films I went back to see almost immediately, since the uproarious laughter it provoked obscured some of the dialogue during my first viewing.

Terry-Thomas and his female partners-in-crime are truly hilarious and, for me, the special bonus of two of my favorite British character actresses, Irene Handl and Hattie Jacques, appearing in a film together, made this one of those gems I'll never forget. The slapstick elements are handled with that special brand of wit for which English comedies are noted and the modest production values actually enhanced the fun. I note that it's not currently available from American purveyors to the U.S. video market, but a DVD is offered in the U.K. Guess it's time to discover what's involved in exchange rates, international shipping, and so forth. It should prove worth the effort to renew a happy memory.

Very odd film. The sort of film that only the British could make.

Terry-Thomas is cast out of his usual flash, boisterous role as the rather timid Major Rayne, down on his luck and living in a boarding house with the weirdest collection of women you're ever likely to see, including a very young Billie Whitelaw and a masterful Hattie Jacques.

By pure mischance, they embark on a campaign of fur robbery in order to support their landlady's charitable work. The film is a wonderful caricature of the down-at-heel gentry in Britain at that time, includes some very endearing characters and is genuinely funny in its naive fashion.

Recommended to any fan of the wonderful Terry-Thomas and British comedies of this era.

Just saw it on TCM. It was much funnier than I expected. It is unusual for a slapstick comedy to have so much sympathy for the characters. You really get to like them. Even the love interest is well done. Its well worth watching. Terry Thomas is superb. As good as I remembered him from my misspent youth. The three women who worked with him were also very good. I didn't remember any of them but will look for them in the future. It is a shame that the wondrous tradition of British comedies disappeared. From Guiness to Sellars to Margaret Rutherford. The Remake of The Ladykillers proved just how good they were. It is amazing how even a fine actor like Tom Hanks was unable to match the quality of the original movie.

A warm view of the criminal temptation as seen through the eyes of the comic displaced. Fine team performances, particularly from the female cast members, topped off by a Terry-Thomas character out of his own flawed top-drawer. A real treat for those who like their view of the British as slightly off-centre, warm and hypocritical...which is not a bad summary of the national character. Kenneth Williams in an early appearance shines as a character that he never really succeeded in developing for the screen but which points to a keen comic enjoying himself in very good company. Billie Whitelaw playing against type is also a revelation in a role that hints strongly at the type of role that she made her own in films later in the decade