Man of the Moment (1955)

Simply Perfect

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Absolutely Brilliant!

A different way of telling a story

Norman Wisdom (Norman), Lana Morris (Penny), Belinda Lee (Sonia), Jerry Desmonde (Jackson), Karel Stepanek (Lom), Garry Marsh (British delegate), Inia Te Wiata (Toki), Evelyn Roberts (Sir Horace), Violet Farebrother (Queen of Tawaki), Martin Miller (Swiss tailor), Eugene Deckers (day lift man), Hugh Morton (Mitchell), Cyril Chamberlain (British delegate), Lisa Gastoni (chambermaid), Harold Kasket (Enrico), Beverly Brooks (air hostess), Charles Hawtrey (producer), A. J. "Man Mountain" Dean (bodyguard), The Beverley Sisters, Macdonald Hobley, Philip Harben, Ronnie Waldman, Bruce Seton, "The Grove Family", Philip Gilbert, Julia Arnall, Doreen Dawne, Edward Evans, Ruth Dunning, Sheila Sweet, Peter Bryant, Margaret Downs, Susan Beaumont, Michael Ward, Derek Sydney, Peter Taylor, Peggyann Clifford, Ivan Craig, Joseph Behrman. Director: JOHN PADDY CARSTAIRS. Screenplay: Vernon Sylvaine, John Paddy Carstairs. Story: Maurice Cowan. Photography: Jack Cox. Film editor: John Shirley. Art director: Cedric Dawe. Costumes: Joan Ellacott. Music composed and conducted by Philip Green. Songs; "Man of the Moment" (sung off-camera by the Beverley Sisters) by Jack Fishman, "Beware" (Wisdom) by Norman Wisdom, "Yodelee, Yodelay" (Wisdom and chorus), "Dream for Sale" (Wisdom) by Arthur Groves and Peter Carroll. Furs: Molho. Make-up: Geoff Rodway. Special effects: Bill Warrington. Camera operator: Jack Atcheler. Set continuity: Joan Davis. Sound editor: Archie Ludski. Production manager: R. Denis Holt. Assistant director: Robert Asher. Production controller for Pinewood Studios: Arthur Alcott. Sound recording: John Dennis, Gordon K. McCallum. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Hugh Stewart. Executive producer: Earl St John. A Hugh Stewart Production. Made at Pinewood Studios, London. Presented by the J. Arthur Rank Organisation.Copyright 1955 by Group Film Productions Ltd. U.S. release through Rank Film Distributors of America. No New York opening. No recorded U.S. release date. U.K. release: 10 October 1955. Australian release through British Empire Films: 20 April 1957 (sic). 7,980 feet. 88 minutes. Cut to 83 minutes in Australia.SYNOPSIS: A minor Whitehall filing clerk inadvertently gains the confidence of an island queen.NOTES: TV comedian Norman Wisdom's third adventure on the big screen proved almost as popular as his previous outings. Although it missed a place on the top ten money-makers, it certainly ranked in the first twenty. All the same this slight slip puzzled Rank who wondered why this picture should take slightly less money when it received far better reviews, with all critics agreeing it was Wisdom's funniest.COMMENT: A grab-bag of frenetic visual gags and chaotic slapstick — some of it very funny. But there are two black spots. Both Wisdom and his main stooge Desmonde play all their material at such top speed they have nothing in reserve for a climax. And the final chase through BBC TV is so poorly mistimed, ineptly cut and generally mismanaged as to fall rather flat, despite all the guest appearances by the Grove Family, television chef Philip Harben, Bruce Seton as Fabian of Scotland Yard, Macdonald Hobley and so on.Belinda Lee looks radiantly charming, despite being somewhat miscast as a French villainess, would you believe? And cute Lisa Gastoni has but a tiny walk-on as a Geneva maid.A lot of money has been spent on props and sets and the destruction thereof. Cox's rather grainy, gray-toned photography often looks unattractive on the big screen, though most audiences will be laughing too much to notice. Wisdom has three songs, the liveliest of which, "Yodelee Yodelay", was eliminated in Australia as it was the easiest to remove without affecting continuity.

In his third film appearance as the lovable bumbling Norman, Norman Wisdom is a file clerk who becomes a delegate to a diplomatic conference, befriends the queen of a remote island, and winds up a knight. Wisdom's movie Norman became a knight nearly half a century before the Queen knighted Norman himself. "Man of the Moment" follows an episodic internal logic that provides Wisdom with ample opportunity to display his slapstick skills. Norman leaves rooms in shambles, tailors in shreds, and diplomats in bandages. His tea service at a government strategy meeting is hysterically priceless. Chased by gunmen, Norman runs through active TV studio sets and interrupts various programs and performances in progress; the results are inspired and funny. Meanwhile, Norman rarely looses his broad smile and cheerful demeanor.A Tony nominee for his Broadway appearance in the musical "Walking Happy," Wisdom has a fine robust singing voice and delivers three pleasant songs herein. Despite a tedious extended bomb-in-suitcase sequence that is more scary than funny, the movie moves. Norman has two love interests, Sonia, the unattainable blonde goddess, and Penny, the down-to-earth girl that he initially annoys. "Man of the Moment" has all the essential ingredients for a pleasant 85 minutes of entertainment: music, love, comedy, and, above all, Norman Wisdom.

A mostly pleasing star farce in which Norman Wisdom - who's so modest that his greatest ambition in life is to become chief filing clerk in a Ministry! - unwittingly tries his hand at international intrigue, as he gets to replace an indisposed British diplomat at a Geneva conference and causes no end of havoc!! There are some nice moments along the way (though there's an overabundance of songs), particularly during the flight to Switzerland, the initial business at the hotel and the climax in a TV studio (notably a running gag involving a French chef), but the subplot involving conflicts over a South Seas island (which Norman somehow ends up representing to the chagrin of his fellow delegates) is rather dreary.At least, the return of his co-stars from 1953's TROUBLE IN STORE (leading lady Lana Morris and comic foil Jerry Desmonde) elevate this to above medium grade. Belinda Lee also appears as a movie siren, Norman's dream-girl, who also turns up in Geneva but is exposed as a femme fatale involved in the plotting! The bumbling diplomat plot was reprised several times by other film comics, notably Danny Kaye in THE INSPECTOR GENERAL (1949), Terry-Thomas in CARLTON BROWNE OF THE F.O. (1958; co-starring Peter Sellers and also dealing with the fate of an island in the Pacific), etc.

Norman, a well-intentioned but clumsy and simple filing clerk in the British Civil Service is taken to Geneva with the British delegation of an international conference. When one of the delegates falls ill, Norman stands in for him and accidentally vetos a British and US endorsed plan to set up an experimentation base near the unspoilt island of Tawaki. He is thrown off the delegation, but his move earns him the respect of the Queen of Tawaki, so when the British attempt to reopen negotiations with her, they must fawn over Norman in order to use him as an instrument of negotiation.The first twenty minutes of this film are very funny - a mad mixture of misunderstandings, caricatures (including a camp photographer) and well executed visual humour. Unfortunately, the rest of the film is not as funny - once the delegation arrives in Geneva, the humour is subordinated to the plot. Nevertheless, the plot is sufficiently interesting and there are still enough jokes to make this film enjoyable throughout. The humour comes mostly from Norman's childishness and his tendency to cause disasters wherever he goes. It's good fun, even though most of the film is not laugh-out-loud funny. However, there are a few stand out scenes, including the very funny tailor scene. There are three songs in the film, which I thought were unnecessary.Norman Wisdom gives a good performance as the naive simpleton Norman. It is his performance that makes the film - none of the other cast members particularly impressed me (perhaps because I'm not familiar with many of them.) They were all good nevertheless, but Wisdom is the definite star of this film. Charles Hawtrey's role is sadly only a cameo and isn't particularly funny. A highly entertaining film which ought to be more famous.