There Was a Crooked Man

I was never a fan of Norman Wisdom. I found that the plots were very simple,unfunny,with a tendency towards mawkishness.

So I was surprised by the first hour of this film which was actually watchable,but even funny in places.

Alas after an hour it goes very much downhill. Wisdom decides he could do an American accent,for some reason. The plot changes course and becomes a bore. At one hour forty seven minutes this is about thirty minutes too long.

The supporting cast is fine. Debutant Susannah York, with a brunette hair do,shows some early promise. Reginald Beckwith was always a favourite of mine and he is always reliable.

It's a shame the writer couldn't have come up with a funnier last act.

This long lost classic is out there somewhere. During the last Christmas break I joined a group of people in our local pub to watch Norman Wisdom in The Bulldog Breed on someone's laptop. It was from one of those streaming sites. At the end of the film someone mentioned TWACM and this chap brought it up on his screen. I sat and watched it right through - full titles, music, credits etc. Therefore if it is available to screen on the internet then surely it must be available to buy on DVD? I have tried to find a copy without luck, however, on the Darwen, Lancashire web site there is mention of this film being screened recently in the town hall in celebration of films made in Darwen - Brief Encounter etc. Apparently the town hall scenes in TWACM were filmed there.

You might have thought that every single film Norman Wisdom ever made had been on TV at least twenty times in the past five years. But this - his personal favourite - has been unseen on British television for over half a century (although it is thankfully now available on YouTube and DVD).

Chafing at the restrictions imposed by Rank, Wisdom made two independent productions (the second being a version of Wodehouses's 'The Girl on the Boat') described by Robert Murphy as "refreshingly unusual" released through United Artists for a company that promptly went bust (the former having already been swiftly withdrawn from cinemas following protests from the Americans at the way they were caricatured in it); leaving them in a rights limbo that has kept both off television for a generation while his Rank productions are on all the time.

Based on James Bridie's 1949 play 'The Golden Legend of Shults', directed largely on location at Darwen in Lancashire serving as mill town Sleeth-on-Sea by theatre director Stuart Burge; further enhanced by terrific photography by Arthur Ibbetson fresh from 'The League of Gentlemen' and slick editing by future James Bond director James Hunt it all builds to a memorably explosive conclusion.

An excellent supporting cast (with venal authority embodied by Andrew Cruickshank rather than Jerry Desmonde) includes blonde bad girl Jean Clarke, little seen thereafter, and - in only her second film - an appealing young brunette named Susannah York, much seen thereafter.

Despite this not being seen since it's general release, i was lucky enough to see this classic comedy. This really stretches Normans talents to the full, This really deserves a DVD release of some sort cause it's probably lost or forgotten, someone needs to save this film!!!!!! There are however some fine performances from certain other actors, but norman steals the limelight, accidentally getting in trouble for robbing a safe, it's probably his best work in a movie, other wisdom films at the time were "the bulldog breed" and "on the beat" both classics by far, but this one glimmers alone on a shelve in an achieve somewhere waiting to be cleaned up for our general viewing.

What a surprise to find this film available from Network on Air via Amazon. Norman plays a much calmer role than his usual Gimp character, and so shows a completely different side to his acting. and I must say what a wonderful script for this film as it was a joy from start to finish with some real twist and turns, Wisdom still had the chance to do some of his slap stick which he seemed to do the stunts himself. Picture quality of the new DVD was a mostly very good and was in full widescreen, although I would also love to see this released on Blu-ray as it must be one of Normans greatest achievements, I worked with the great man on a charity film "Cosmic Brain suckers" and had the chance to spend many hours chatting to him over the shoot, I found him to be a most charming man with immense talent but also for his ability to play many musical instruments and through one of his later TV performances in Going Gently about a man dying of cancer. a great and powerful performance in a strait acting role. Thanks so much Network for releasing this great film so we can all enjoy it after not being seen for more than 50 years.