Nearly a Nasty Accident
{{Short description|1961 British film by Don Chaffey}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2014}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Nearly a Nasty Accident
| image = "Nearly_a_Nasty_Accident"_(1961).jpg
| caption = UK theatrical release poster
| director = Don Chaffey
| producer = Bertram Ostrer
| writer = Jack Davies
Hugh Woodhouse
play Touch Wood by
David Stringer
David Carr
| starring = Jimmy Edwards
Kenneth Connor
Shirley Eaton
Eric Barker
| music = Ken Jones
| cinematography = Paul Beeson
| editing = Bill Lenny
| studio = British Lion Films
Bertram Ostrer Productions
Marlow Films Ltd.
| distributor = Britannia Films (UK)
| released = {{Film date|1961|05||London|1962|03|28|Boston|1962|06|27|New York City|df=y}}
| runtime = 86 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Nearly a Nasty Accident is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Don Chaffey and starring Jimmy Edwards, Kenneth Connor, Shirley Eaton and Eric Barker.{{Cite web |title=Nearly a Nasty Accident |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150033608 |access-date=22 March 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43901 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115093609/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43901 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-01-15 |title=Nearly a Nasty Accident (1960) |publisher=Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk |date=2009-04-16 |accessdate=2014-03-07}}
The screenplay was by Jack Davies and Hugh Woodhouse, based on the 1958 BBC TV Sunday-Night Theatre play Touch Wood by David Stringer and David Carr.{{Cite web |title=Touch Wood|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/f507cb7024d1fa918447ee7d94f52ba1|access-date=22 March 2024|website=BBC Programme Index}}
Plot
Alexander Wood is a cheerful, well-intentioned and mechanically minded aircraftman. He is also dangerously accident-prone. Always on the lookout for things to fix and improve, he constantly creates chaos and arouses the anger of the airbase commander, the promotion-seeking Group Captain Kingsley. Nevertheless Wood wins the heart of Corporal Jean Briggs.
Cast
- Jimmy Edwards as Group Captain Kingsley
- Kenneth Connor as AC 2 Alexander Wood
- Shirley Eaton as Corporal Jean Briggs
- Eric Barker as Air Minister
- Jon Pertwee as General Birkinshaw
- Ronnie Stevens as Flight Lieutenant Pocock
- Richard Wattis as Wagstaffe
- Joyce Carey as Lady Trowborough
- Peter Jones as Flight Lieutenant Winters
- Terry Scott as Sam Stokes
- Charlotte Mitchell as Miss Chamberlain
- Jack Watling as Flight Lieutenant Grogan
- Joe Baker as Watkins
- Jack Douglas as Balmer
- Cyril Chamberlain as Warrant Officer Breech
- John Forrest as Flight Lieutenant Bunthorpe
- Vincent Ball as Sergeant at Crybwyth
- Harold Goodwin as aircraft mechanic
Critical response
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An air of desperation pervades the homely humours of this stereotype farce, in which Eric Barker and Richard Wattis contribute their standard Whitehall representations, and Jimmy Edwards explodes and stutters and wields his swagger-stick like a cane. Kenneth Connor, wrecking aircraft, flooding South Wales and generally costing the Air Ministry five million pounds in damages, shoulders the main burden of the sub-standard script. At his best, he manages to provide an echo of the late George Formby's gift for this kind of riotous-pathetic "'erk" portrayal; at his worst, he merely parodies Chaplin's little man."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1961 |title=Nearly a Nasty Accident |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305820422/D70ABAC1CAB843C6PQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=28 |issue=324 |pages=83 |via=ProQuest}}
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Jimmy Edwards teams with Kenneth Connor for this old-fashioned blend of slapstick and bluster. Although Edwards, his handlebar moustache bristling with indignation, is the nominal star as the RAF officer whose cushy lifestyle is shattered by the arrival of an accident prone mechanic, it's Connor's talent for timidity and catastrophe that makes this cataloqgue of disasters so amusing, Don Chaffey directs with undue fuss, and there's practised support from some stalwart players."{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=651}}
Leslie Halliwell said: "Familiar faces just about save from disaster this underscripted comedy for indulgent audiences."{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=718}}
The New York Times called the film "essentially a one-joke comedy hanging on the thinnest of plots."{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/127704/Nearly-a-Nasty-Accident/overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228235642/http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/127704/Nearly-a-Nasty-Accident/overview |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-02-28 |title=Nearly-a-Nasty-Accident - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes |department=Movies & TV Dept. |work=The New York Times |publisher=Baseline & All Movie Guide |author=Eleanor Mannikka |date=2014 |accessdate=2014-03-07}}
TV Guide said "Connor is a soldier who is obsessed with repairing things and is fascinated with anything mechanical, in this cute British comedy".{{cite web|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/nearly-a-nasty-accident/review/127754 |title=Nearly A Nasty Accident Review |publisher=Movies.tvguide.com |date= |accessdate=2014-03-07}}
References
External links
- [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055221/ Nearly a Nasty Accident] at the Internet Movie Database
{{Don Chaffey}}
Category:1960s English-language films
Category:Films directed by Don Chaffey