There Was a Crooked Man (1960 film)
{{Short description|1960 British comedy film by Stuart Burge}}
{{other uses|There Was a Crooked Man (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = There Was a Crooked Man
| image = There Was a Crooked Man FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption =
| director = Stuart Burge
| producer = John Bryan
Albert Fennell
| based_on = {{based on|The Golden Legend of Shults
1939 play|James Bridie}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C&q=james+bridie+play+There+Was+a+Crooked+Man&pg=PA979|title = The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film|isbn = 9783110951943|last1 = Goble|first1 = Alan|date = 8 September 2011| publisher=Walter de Gruyter }}
| screenplay = Reuben Ship
| narrator =
| starring = Norman Wisdom
Alfred Marks
Andrew Cruickshank
| music = Kenneth V. Jones
| cinematography = Arthur Ibbetson
| editing = Peter R. Hunt
| studio = Knightsbridge Films
| distributor = United Artists Corporation
| released = {{Film date|1960}}
| runtime = 107 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
There Was a Crooked Man is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Stuart Burge and starring Norman Wisdom, Alfred Marks, Andrew Cruickshank, Reginald Beckwith and Susannah York.{{Cite web |title=There Was a Crooked Man |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150054096 |access-date=29 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}} It is based on the James Bridie play The Golden Legend of Schults. The film was one of two independent films (the other being The Girl on the Boat (1962)) in which Wisdom appeared in an effort to extend his range, as British audiences strongly identified him with his Gump character.{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/450916/ |title=BFI Screenonline: Wisdom, Norman (1915-2010) Biography |publisher=Screenonline.org.uk |date= |accessdate=2014-06-10}}
The film's title is taken from the English nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man".
Plot
A naïve explosives expert is tricked into working for a criminal gang.
Cast
- Norman Wisdom as Davy Cooper
- Alfred Marks as Adolf Carter
- Andrew Cruickshank as McKillup
- Reginald Beckwith as stationmaster
- Susannah York as Ellen
- Jean Clarke as Freda
- Timothy Bateson as Flash Dan
- Paul Whitsun-Jones as restaurant gentleman
- Fred Griffiths as taxi driver
- Ann Hefferman as hospital sister
- Rosalind Knight as nurse
- Reed De Rouen as Dutchman
- Brian Oulton as Ashton
- Glyn Houston as smoking machinist
- Percy Herbert as prison warden
- Edna Petrie as woman at Assembly Hall
- Jack May as Police Sergeant
- Ronald Fraser as General Cummins
- Ed Devereaux as American Colonel
- Sam Kydd as foreman
- Redmond Phillips as padre
- George Murcell as receptionist at "The McKillup Arms"
Production
Hugh Stewart, who produced several of Wisdom's films for the Rank Organisation, stated that the film was financed by United Artists based on the success of The Square Peg (1959).{{cite web|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/hugh-stewart|website=British Entertainment History Project|title=Hugh Stewart|date=22 Nov 1968}}
Reception
= Box office =
Kinematograph Weekly called There Was a Crooked Man a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_kine-weekly_1960-12-15_523_2776/page/n7/mode/1up|last=Billings|first=Josh|magazine=Kine Weekly|date=15 December 1960|page=9|title=It's Britain 1, 2, 3 again in the 1960 box office stakes}}
= Critical =
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Out of the rut in its satiric conception but uneven in quality, this is very much a one-man show, with Norman Wisdom at last achieving a personally sharp and distinctive comedy identity. Though the film relies mainly on parody, the best episodes are the frankly slapstick ones: Norman sharing a shower unobserved with a financier, Norman caught in the machinery of the wool factory, above all the climactic orgy of destruction, helped by Andrew Cruickshank's refreshing switch from straight "heavy" to farce. Otherwise there is too much that is sluggish and inconclusive, and the style does not always fit the mood."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1960 |title=There Was a Crooked Man |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305821643 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=27 |issue=312 |pages=144 |id={{ProQuest|1305821643}} |via=ProQuest}}
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "Even some of those generally left cold by clown Norman Wisdom admit that this is one of his best films. This comedy allowed him to show more versatility, although he holds fast to his "poor but honest" persona, inspired by Chaplin. Released from jail, Wisdom teams up with crooks to outwit the venal mayor of a northern town. Alfred Marks as the gang boss and Andrew Cruickshank as the mayor are excellent foils."{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=922}}
Leslie Halliwell wrote: "Semi-happy attempt to humanize a knockabout clown; good supporting performances and production."{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=1008}}
Release and home media
The film was commercially unavailable for many years. It was aired by ITV on Boxing Day 1965{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}. Wisdom biographer Richard Dacre wrote{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}} that he, Wisdom and director Stuart Burge were present when the Barbican Centre Cinema in London presented the next known public screening at a "Wisdom Weekend" in 1998. In 2008, it was shown in Darwen, Lancashire, where location shots had been filmed in 1960.{{cite news |url=http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/1979371.lost_norman_wisdom_film_to_be_shown_again/ |title='Lost' Norman Wisdom film to be shown again |newspaper=Lancashire Telegraph |date=20 January 2008 |first=Catherine |last=Pye |access-date=27 September 2014}}
The film was released on DVD on 8 May 2017{{cite web |title=Network ON AIR > There Was a Crooked Man |url=http://networkonair.com/shop/2610-there-was-a-crooked-man.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170411135758/http://networkonair.com/shop/2610-there-was-a-crooked-man.html |archive-date=2017-04-11 |website=networkonair.com}} and as a Blu-ray disc on 30 April 2018.{{Citation |title=There Was a Crooked Man Blu-ray (United Kingdom) |url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/There-Was-a-Crooked-Man-Blu-ray/199380/ |access-date=2023-07-02}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0054379}}
- {{TCMDb title|id=557534}}
{{Stuart Burge}}
Category:1960s crime comedy films
Category:British crime comedy films
Category:British films based on plays
Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Category:Films directed by Stuart Burge
Category:1960s English-language films
Category:English-language crime comedy films
Category:Films scored by Kenneth V. Jones
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