The Square Peg (1958)

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Good movie but grossly overrated

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

On one level The Square Peg is just a typical Norman Wisdom knock about comedy but dig a little deeper and its quite a clever satire on small town politics.Norman plays a cocky little road mender who makes himself a thorough nuisance outside an army camp with his stop go sign.He's been told by his boss Mr Grimsdale,played by the great Edward Chapman,"Pitkin,the war's going to be won on the home front keeping the arteries of the nation open" The exasperated military see it differently and call up the entire town hall staff (His Worship the Mayor will hear about this) There is a hilarious scene with Campbell Singer as an exasperated sergeant teaching Pitkin bayonet practice."Come on Pitkin buckets of blood" Forget about Pitkin's infatuation with Honor Blackman who plays a secret agent we will cut to the quick with Pitkin and Mr Grimsdale coming out of the pub,jumping into the wrong lorry which is full of paratroopers,and finding themselves landing in France where they start digging up the french roads causing more chaos.Pitkin goes into town to buy milk where it is discovered he is a dead ringer for the local German commandant.The French resistance persuade him to dig his way into the castle and release all the prisoners.The commandant is General Schreiber,a thoroughly nasty piece of work who has a weakness for a large female opera singer played by Hattie Jacques and enjoys singing duets with her. I can give no higher praise than to say that Danny Kaye in his prime could not have been funnier.The scene where Pitkin,disguised as the general duets with Miss Jacques is sublimely funny. Pitkin of course gets caught,is put up against a wall to be shot,then falls down the hole he dug to get into the castle,makes his escape,cue happy ending.The last scene sees him as the new Mayor with Mr Grimsdale as his obsequious minion. Yes the plot is absolutely ridiculous but there are so many funny scenes along the way who cares? Norman Wisdom of course became a knighted national treasure who ended his acting career making welcome guest appearances in the long running TV series Last of the Summer Wine.

Although this isn't my favourite Norman Wisdom film it has all the qualities that make his work so popular and has several laugh out loud moments.Norman shines in his everyman role of Pitkin and is well supported by Edward Chapman as the infamous Mr Grimsdale.The pairs comedic timing is perfect and the film moves along at a fast pace moving from one set piece to showcase Normans talent to the next.Although this film gets a little bogged down by it's plot it is a great piece of classic comedy that is just as funny now as it was upon release.

Norman Wisdom has to be one of the best British comedians of the 20th Century. For fifty years he has continued to entertain the British public with his films, TV appearances and one-man shows.Between 1953 and 1966 Wisdom worked with the J. Arthur Rank Organisation and there, starred in some of the best loved British film comedies of all time, including The Square Peg.The plot for the film is that council worker Norman and his boss Mr Grimsdale come into conflict with the local military. They are then drafted into the army themselves and sent to Nazi-occupied France where Widsom manages to foil the plans of German general.If you like Wisdom's comedy or just want a little entertainment, then watch this film, you won't be disapointed. The scene with Wisdom in his dual role as Norman and the General and German opera singer Hattie Jacques is side-splittingly funny.

All Norman Wisdom Films tend to follow a simple formula. Loveable Norman has a simple life, usually overlooked by a father figure (Mr Grimsdale) who takes care of him. An antagonist enters the frame and usually angers Wisdom. Much revenge type comedy ensues. Throw in a little child or children who needs help and a unfeasibly attractive woman for Norman to fall in love with. So once this formula has been established it's very unusual to expect anything else. Not that The Square peg does a great deal different but it looses the child element and offers up instead, Wisdom in two roles. The first is his standard 'Pitkin' role and the second is the evil Nazi general. Sure he camps up the Nazi and plays it for all the laughs possible but this film is nothing more than comic brilliance. The scene between Wisdom in his two characters and Hattie Jaques as a Teutonic opera singer is staggeringly funny.