Private's Progress (1956)

Simply A Masterpiece

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

"Private's Progress" was the first of the Boulting Brothers' anti-establishment satires, (this time it was the army getting it), and over the years it has built up something of a reputation. It's also very funny, (more 'Private Eye' than 'Punch'), and much more cynical than other British comedies of the time. It introduced us to Ian Carmichael's character Stanley Windrush, the perpetual innocent abroad in a world of charlatans and n'er-do-wells beautifully represented by the likes of Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price and, best of all, the great Terry-Thomas. They are all great company and other familiar faces in the cast include Ian Bannen, William Hartnell, Kenneth Griffith and Christopher Lee. It would take the Americans several years to catch up.

Private's Progress is a Boulting Brothers comedy set in 1943 and made just 10 years after the war ended. Its a surprisingly satirical barb at army life during the war starring Ian Carmichael as Stanley Windrush conscripted from University into the Army and a rather inept soldier during basic training under the watchful eye of William Hartnell playing his usual sergeant type.Windrush fails to be selected as an officer and ends up under the command of Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas) in a rare nice guy role where most of the soldiers are as reluctant as Windrush including a crafty Private Cox (Richard Attenborough).Windrush gets a posting to train to be a Japanese interpreter and is contacted by his uncle, a Brigadier (Dennis Price) to join a secret operation which is in fact a scam to steal looted artworks from the Germans and sell them on to crooked art dealers. Cox is in with the Brigadier on this scheme. The film is full of comedy character actors which frequented this type of films in the 1950s and 1960s. Its not laugh out loud but relies on Carmichael's skill as the fish out of water gentle comedy. It almost feels like a vintage Carry on film at the beginning where the plotting is loose and its only in the last third where they go on their mission does the film find focus.Part of the plot about stealing German art treasures reminded me of the more recent The Monuments Men.

Upper class toff Stanley Windrush gets called to join the Army half way thru his university eduction, keen he may be, but he really is a fish out of water.Brought to us from the greatly talented Boulting brothers, is this most adored of British comedies. It's fish out of water plot has been {and will forever be} done to death, but driving this one on is the sly digs at the British class system so evident in the Armed forces from yore. Windrush can't cut it as the officer his standing suggests he should be, so he is promptly sent down amongst the working class, and it's here that the film appeals mainly on the comedy front. Windrush is in with a group of dodgers and bluffers, the army has taken them in, but they are going to take what they can from the army in the process, legal or not! Yet it's here that Windrush learns the most about affinity, friendships and trust, where the classes being broken down provides scope for real good comedy, to which the meeting of the different classes works so well as the makers keenly prod the inside of the cheek with a sharp tongue.Ian Carmichael is not the most gifted actor to have strode out for Britain, but in the right comedy role he could excel, such is the case here as he delivers the goods as the hapless Windrush. Across the cast list we have got Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price, William Hartnell, Ian Bannen and the sublime Terry-Thomas, all names that are familiar with British movie fans from the black and white period. Private's Progress is a very British picture, the humour isn't of the sledge-hammer kind, it's very subtle and very knowing. But it's a film that I'm sure will go down well with anyone who is willing to invest some good, right frame of mind, time with it.Not quite the shower Terry-Thomas would have us believe actually. 7/10

Growing up in England we are blessed to have the comedic genii of the Boulting Brothers and Ealing Studios. Films like Kind Hearts & Cornets, the Lavender Hill Mob, and School for Scoundrels, comedies that make us root for the crook even though we know (thanks to censorship) that they won't get away with it. Private's Progress (the precursor to I'm Alright Jack) is in the same mould. The sublime Ian Carmichael, the Machiavellian Terry-Thomas, the spivvy Richard Attenborough, the slightly otherworldly John LeMesurier - perfect stereotypes of post-war Albion. Movies like this are made to be watched on wet Sunday afternoons, cozy slippers and a pot of tea, perhaps even a biscuit or two or a slice of rich fruitcake dense with candied peel and other goodies. Safe to watch with your Auntie Doris (no sex, violence or swearing, no sir), a film that carries itself purely on a clever script and a rattling pace. Complete fluff, of course, but just the ticket as the winter's evening closes in and you're dreading returning to work on Monday. File under pretty much anything from that era with Alec Guinness (may his name be praised), Sink the Bismark, Ice Cold in Alex, Rommell, or Dambusters. British through and through, and a jolly good thing too. They don't make movies like this anymore, more's the pity.