Private's Progress
| Private's Progress | |
|---|---|
 Original UK cinema poster | |
| Directed by | John Boulting |
| Screenplay by | John Boulting Frank Harvey |
| Produced by | Roy Boulting |
| Starring | Ian Carmichael Richard Attenborough Dennis Price Terry-Thomas |
| Cinematography | Eric Cross |
| Edited by | Anthony Harvey |
| Music by | John Addison |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films (UK) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £310,870 (UK)[1] |
Private's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.[2]
Plot
During World War II, the young undergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), is conscripted into the British Army. Unlike his friend Egan (Peter Jones), Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone Barracks. Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas). Most of the soldiers there are malingerers and drop-outs.
Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil; he's then contacted by his uncle, Brigadier Tracepurcel (Dennis Price), now a senior officer in the War Office, to join a secret operation known only as "Hatrack". He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, Windrush becoming an unwitting participant in a scheme ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans, but really to steal them and sell them to two crooked art dealers.
Windrush survives the operation, despite being briefly arrested by British forces whilst in German uniform, and is discharged from the army. Tracepurcel and his associate Private Cox (Richard Attenborough) fake their own deaths. Windrush returns to university after the war, and is surprised to receive a visit from Cox, who brings him an attache case. However, Cox is arrested as he leaves, he and Tracepurcel having been tracked as source of a counterfeit copy of one of the artworks. Windrush innocently reveals to the military police the contents of the case—a large sum of money—and is also arrested, assumed to be complicit in the fraud.
Cast
- Ian Carmichael as Stanley Windrush
- Richard Attenborough as Private Cox
- Dennis Price as Brigadier Bertram Tracepurcel
- Terry-Thomas as Major Hitchcock
- Peter Jones as Egan
- William Hartnell as Sergeant Sutton
- Thorley Walters as Captain Bootle
- Jill Adams as Prudence Greenslade
- Ian Bannen as Private Horrocks
- Victor Maddern as Private Blake
- Kenneth Griffith as Private Jones
- George Coulouris as Padre
- Derrick De Marney as Pat
- Ronald Adam as Doctor at medical hearing
- Miles Malleson as Windrush Sr.
- Sally Miles as Catherine
- David King-Wood as Gerald
- Brian Oulton as M.O. at Gravestone Camp
- Michael Trubshawe as Col. Fanshawe
- John Le Mesurier as Psychiatrist
- Robert Raglan as Gen. Tomlinson
- Henry Oscar as Art expert
- Christopher Lee as General von Linbeck's aide (uncredited)
- Basil Dignam as Col. Martin (president of Selection Board) (uncredited)
- John Harvey as RAF officer at headquarters (uncredited)
- Glyn Houston as Corporal on sick call (uncredited)
- Lloyd Lamble as Officer at medical hearing (uncredited)
- David Lodge as Lance Corporal on guard duty, Holding Unit (uncredited)
- Marianne Stone as Expectant mother talking to Capt Bootle (uncredited)
- Michael Ward as Sidney (guest at party) (uncredited)
- John Warren as Sergeant Major Gradwick
- Trevor Reid as Adjutant (uncredited)
- Theodore Zichy as German Agent (uncredited)
Production
The film was primarily filmed at Shepperton Studios, however a number of scenes were filmed at Wantage Hall, a hall of residence for the University of Reading.
It was the first in a series of successful satirical comedies made by the Boulting brothers for their production company Charter Films.[3] Their 1959 comedy I'm All Right Jack featured many of the same actors and characters. A number of references are made to the events of Private's Progress.[4]
Reception
The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1956.[5]
The New York Times wrote, "the Boultings have come up with an ingenious story and injected hilarious moments. But the whole thing sparkles and fizzles."[6]
References
- ^ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p506
- ^ "Private's Progress (1956) - BFI". BFI.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Boulting Brothers". screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: I'm All Right Jack (1959)". screenonline.org.uk.
- ^ BRITISH. FILMS MADE MOST MONEY: BOX-OFFICE SURVEY The Manchester Guardian (1901-1959) [Manchester (UK)] 28 Dec 1956: 3
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9802E7DC133FE03BBC4C51DFB166838D649EDE