Convict 99

...but yet SO ridiculous that it draws you in and you have to stay watching to see what happens.

Benjamin Twist was a school master, and he's at this agency wanting a job in a school for reformed boys. But a general misunderstanding/mistaken identity gets him instead a different job, that of a prison governor! You see the man they wanted for the job is called Mr. Benjamin, as in *last* name Benjamin. So when everyone starts calling Mr. Twist 'Benjamin' (which is his first name), he just calls them all by their first names back and they all think he's such a riot. He does eventually realise their mistake, but at the same time finds out that the job pays £2000 a year; where the job he was actually after only pays £75. Well, being a prison warden isn't THAT much different from being schoolmaster to difficult boys, is it...

Whilst the changes Will Hay makes to the prison aren't quite as pink and fluffy as what Paddington achieves in PADDINGTON 2, you can't help drawing comparisons. Both films are warm, silly, funny and uniquely English.

Like the Carry On films, all Will Hay's Gainsborough films including CONVICT 99 essentially have the same plot and characters as all the others. It was however such a brilliant plot with such brilliant familiar characters that they could keep remaking the same picture over and over again and they'd still feel fresh. This one has different writing team to usual and they have created a story that's slightly more sophisticated (not a word often found in a Will Hay review!) from his other pictures.

Obviously it's not as good as OH MR PORTER because that's OH MR PORTER but being from Mr Hay's golden period, this is still one of the best comedies of the 1930s. ASK A POLICEMEN and WINDBAG THE SAILOR are possibly closest in style to PORTER but this very close.

I had ordered the marvelous Oh Mr Porter from my DVD rental firm and was sent Convict 99 by mistake. This is not a patch on Oh Mr Porter; indeed I found it alternately boring and pathetically unfunny. It might have been a hoot in 1938, but it has not worn well. The backchat between Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffat, hilarious in Oh Mr Porter, is here irritating and totally unfunny. The story is, of course, completely unbelievable, but that doesn't matter if the situations are comic, or the dialogue amusing. I just thought the whole thing a total waste of time. I'm trying to get Oh Mr Porter to reassure myself how funny Will Hay and his team can be. A complete dud.

"Conflict 99' is an enjoyable prison farce that puts one in mind of the 3 Stooges and Laurel and Hardy at their comedic best in the Thirties. Will Hay plays a school master turned convict turned warden in all less than 90 minutes. Moore Marriot is a stitch as 'Jerry the Mole,' an ancient forever breaking through walls and floors as he attempts to tunnel himself out. The great Graham Moffatt is on board as a high-pitched prison guard. I am an American who has developed a keen taste for British comedy, so I'm not sure how much many of my countrymen will get out of this one but it's worth a risk. I think this film compares favorably with the 5 other Hay, Marriot and Moffatt films that I have viewed on-line.

This is one of the many Will Hay films that were made in the early 1900's, and in case you didn't know, Will Hay was a true British comic genius. Convict 99 Hay plays a school teacher who is being transferred to another school but due to a mix-up with some names he is mistaken as a prison governor and sent to some tough prison down in Devon. To make it worse when he arrives in a drunk state he is mistaken for a convict. From beginning to end this film is full of laughs. Original British comedy is truly a gem; Will Hay does comedy brilliantly and this film is no exception and as with most of his other films it also stars crazy old Moore Marriott and funny kid Graham Moffatt who add to the laughs as well. The story isn't half bad as well and you love how the characters react to different situations. Don't always turn away from black & white movies, especially the comedies, I'd give Convict 99 a 10 out of 10 any day, pure AWESOMNESS.