Postman's Knock

i am trying to find a DVD or VHS copy of Postman's Knock starring Spike Milligan. i have been looking for months with no luck. if anyone has one or knows where i could get one sent to Australia please let me know. i have not seen the movie as yet as i can't find a copy. but my father in law is a massive fan of Spike Milligan and he has wanted this movie to complete his collection but we cannot seem to find it anywhere.i am willing to pay for the copy and freight to Australia of course. i would just really appreciate if someone who may know how i can get a copy could let me know. i have tried various different sites, but this one seems to be the better of all the others.

Spike Milligan plays a postman transferred from his small country route to the Big Smoke (why is not adequately explained, but never mind). He quickly establishes himself as overly competent and gums up the works, also getting involved with the beautiful Barbara Shelley (here playing an unsuccessful modern artist)and some inept criminals. There is some fairly amusing physical comedy and some interesting location footage, especially of the Tube as it was in the early 60s. Worth a look if you have a taste for British B cinema.

One day I hope they will show this movie again. I saw it in 1964 or so on a weekday afternoon, so the movie was probably badly cut up for commercials. I recall that Milligan (in one sequence) demonstrates that he can sort and dispense letters in the post office better than the machine that they have purchased. And I remember the actors planning the mail robbery. But that said is about it. Although some of the posters here speak highly of the movie, I find it interesting that I can barely recall it. I think that is suggestive that it is not as good as has been suggested. But I can tell if they will show it again, so that I can watch it again.

The mark of the greatest films is that they create a world of their own. "Postman's Knock" is absolutely unlike any other film you've ever seen, and obeys its own rules of plot, character and comedy. The late Spike Milligan was a fitful genius who could, occasionally, lapse into becoming an undisciplined bore, but here he is absolutely at the top of his form.

He plays a country postman seconded, in error it transpires (a conceit not dissimilar to that in 1963's "Heaven's Above!"), to the big city. The conventional comedic take on this situation is to exploit the bumpkin's lack of sophistication in unfamiliar surroundings, but "Postman's Knock" completely inverts this; the bumpkin is shown to be vastly superior to the urban fools with whom he comes into enforced contact. Milligan even gets the girl!

The late 50s and early 60s were, in hindsight, a golden age for British comedy. It's amazing how, at the turn of the decade, a number of highly individual, indeed quietly experimental, comedies were made: e.g. "School For Scoundrels", "Bottoms Up!" and "Postman's Knock". (Later on in the 60s there were "A Jolly Bad Fellow", "You Must Be Joking!" and the amazing "Rotten To The Core".) These were not part of some franchise, however enjoyable (e.g. the St Trinians films, the Carry-Ons, etc), but apparently unrepeatable one-offs.

I'm surprised, and not a little disappointed, at the low rating this film has so far received from IMDb participants. It deserves to be cherished for its unique brilliance (I'd rather watch its opening credits than most complete films of the last thirty years), and I give it 10/10!

Spike Milligan steals the show when on screen but the associated talent helps keep this film interesting elsewhere. The plot, a fairly standard crime caper, rolls along nicely with Milligan seeming to have his own plot line to develop. Priceless comedy.