Make Mine Mink

The last time I saw this film was about 40 years ago when I was a kid. My sister and I would watch movies on Channels 9 and 11 in NYC and we saw Make Mine Mink about 3 times, I figure. Since then, I have unsuccessfully sought it in movie stores, like a man wistfully returning to the haunts he frequented with his first love, hoping against all odds to catch another glimpse of her. Part of my curiosity is determining whether I would think it as funny today, and my sister wonders the same thing. Terry Thomas was an absolute favorite of mine back then, too, and I haven't seen anything of him on TV for a long time. So what's this got to do with the movie itself? Well, it's just that kind of film. There's such a combination of comedy, sweetness, surprise, and intelligence in it that it sticks with you for a long time. The combination of the odd British major living in a rooming house with an extraordinary collection of women, the craziness of their plans and the situations they get themselves into, and the smart understating of the comedy that was such a British specialty before they became so self-conscious about that particular gift, make it a rarity in more ways than one.

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

I liked this. I suggest you reserve it for a time when you want something that isn't much work in viewing (which means that 1960 is about the latest you can consider).

The structure is a familiar one: we watch a bunch of actors portraying unlikely characters who themselves play unlikely characters precisely as far away. The joke of course is in the overlap, and the competence of the first contrasted with the incompetence of the second. Its all about coats and appropriation.

There's an interesting performer here, one I haven't seen before. She plays a painfully reserved spinster who's occupation is mending broken china. Her character, Pinkie, is immensely inept and most of the polished humor (this was a successful stage play) is hers. We are introduced to her when the silly major breaks in on her bath because she has extended into his time.

This is moments after having the first long segment of the movie linger on the sexy, pretty maid. And we see a naked skinny old maid in the bath. The major is retired from his duty as commander of "portable baths."

That's the attention to detail you'll find in how this humor is constructed.

Anyway, Pinkie (with the wonderful name of Elspeth Duxbury) only lived a few years after this. Too bad.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Paris used to be the place where you can see all sorts of "rare" films. But how comes we always have Man in the White Suit and Ladykillers when it comes to British comedy ? I discovered Terry-Thomas in the Dr Phibes movies (IMDB kindly tells me he's showing as well in that great French war classic, La Grande Vadrouille. How silly of me) and, rather charmed by the gap between the teeth, bought a Terry-Thomas DVD set in London. Mark that, readers ! It contains Make Mine Mink, Too Many Crooks and Naked Truth. They're all very good but Make Mine Mink has the very special charm of its female cast, from oddly beautiful Billie Whitelaw to wonderful Hattie Jacques (and a special mention to Penny Morrell in a faultless dumb blonde part).