Having being a fan of British comedy films for as long as I can remember (going back to the early seventies) it is a sheer joy to see something that is completely new to me. While I realise that there must be many films that have passed me by, there is a good chance that if it has had a few TV airings at some point during the last few decades I will probably have seen it. I even use to feign sickness to get off school if there was a particular film I wanted to see. I could be quite clever at that as well. On noticing in the Radio Times that that The Big Job was going to be on television the coming Friday I started making my plans early. By Wednesday I was ‘feeling a bit poorly’. On Thursday I was ill but still managed to get to school but by Friday I wasn’t well enough to attend; this being after setting the alarm clock for 2 am and 4 am so I could get up and pretend to be throwing up in the toilet, which helped my cunning plan to be allowed to stay off without any problems. Job done.
Anyhow, I digress. It is still a joy to come across something new, or at least haven’t seen before. And so it was that I sat down to watch Brandy For The Parson. The name in itself attracted to me to film. The title is taken from the Kipling poem ‘A Smuggler’s Song’:
“Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!”
The film centres around a young couple who are planning on a holiday with some gentle sailing, but the run into, and sink, Kenneth More’s boat who, unbeknownst to them, was on his way to pick up some kegs of brandy from France. Through a sense of duty they help More pick up the brandy and when they find out the truth feel they have to see the job through as they are as guilty in the eyes of the law as More is, in fact more so. So they have to dodge the customs and try, with the aid of some ponies, get the brandy to its destination, but things don’t run as smoothly as they would wish.
The film is a gentle sub Ealing comedy that relies on charm rather than outright belly laughs. It is a reasonably early appearance for Kenneth More, whose youthful looks and twinkling, mischievous eyes instantly place him as a star in the making. He effortlessly steals every scene he appears in and would continue to do through most of his career. As the young couple James Donald and Jean Lodge equip themselves admirably, Jean Lodge in particular being very easy on the eye making me ask myself why this lady didn’t become bigger than she was. Supporting the main three there is a sizeable part for the legend that is Charles Hawtrey in a very (for him) understated role. For me Hawtrey is one of those faces that brightens up any film in which he appears and is a true legend in British Comedy.
An added bonus within this film is the truly sumptuous location filming that shows the Britain of yesteryear in its greatest light.
While it has to be admitted that Brandy For The Parson is a ‘light’ film, it is a highly enjoyable one and if you find yourself with a copy on a rainy Sunday afternoon there are a multitude of worse things to do than give this one a watch.
Anyhow, I digress. It is still a joy to come across something new, or at least haven’t seen before. And so it was that I sat down to watch Brandy For The Parson. The name in itself attracted to me to film. The title is taken from the Kipling poem ‘A Smuggler’s Song’:
“Five and twenty ponies,
Trotting through the dark -
Brandy for the Parson, 'Baccy for the Clerk.
Laces for a lady; letters for a spy,
Watch the wall my darling while the Gentlemen go by!”
The film centres around a young couple who are planning on a holiday with some gentle sailing, but the run into, and sink, Kenneth More’s boat who, unbeknownst to them, was on his way to pick up some kegs of brandy from France. Through a sense of duty they help More pick up the brandy and when they find out the truth feel they have to see the job through as they are as guilty in the eyes of the law as More is, in fact more so. So they have to dodge the customs and try, with the aid of some ponies, get the brandy to its destination, but things don’t run as smoothly as they would wish.
The film is a gentle sub Ealing comedy that relies on charm rather than outright belly laughs. It is a reasonably early appearance for Kenneth More, whose youthful looks and twinkling, mischievous eyes instantly place him as a star in the making. He effortlessly steals every scene he appears in and would continue to do through most of his career. As the young couple James Donald and Jean Lodge equip themselves admirably, Jean Lodge in particular being very easy on the eye making me ask myself why this lady didn’t become bigger than she was. Supporting the main three there is a sizeable part for the legend that is Charles Hawtrey in a very (for him) understated role. For me Hawtrey is one of those faces that brightens up any film in which he appears and is a true legend in British Comedy.
An added bonus within this film is the truly sumptuous location filming that shows the Britain of yesteryear in its greatest light.
While it has to be admitted that Brandy For The Parson is a ‘light’ film, it is a highly enjoyable one and if you find yourself with a copy on a rainy Sunday afternoon there are a multitude of worse things to do than give this one a watch.
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