Don't Panic Chaps! (1959)
During World War II, four British soldiers are commissioned to set up an observation post on a seemingly deserted island in the Mediterranean. However, while surveying the island, the Brits come across four German soldiers holed up in a monastery. The Brits and the Germans agree to a truce, sharing the monastery together until either the British or German troops arrive. But when a shipwrecked Slavic girl ends up on the island, a battle over her erupts amongst the men.
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Best movie of this year hands down!
Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
As Good As It Gets
Absolutely Fantastic
The best thing about this mildly-amusing film is the presence of several well-known actors, not least the reliable Percy Hibbert as a determined NCO - a higher rank than usual for him!The film got sillier as it progressed and several times I wondered if the script could have been stronger.As other reviewers have noted, two of the cast go swimming in the nude (one was to become a popular TV actor) and Talking Pictures (the British TV channel that specialises in old films) thought fit to blur their bottoms. I find it difficult to imagine that these fully exposed would offend anyone, but then we live in an age where great care has to be taken least one does.
DON'T PANIC CHAPS is a typical British WW2 comedy of the late 1950s. It was made by Hammer Films and is better than their I ONLY ARSKED!, although still not perfect. The plot seems a bit weak and flimsy, not to mention unbelievable, and boils down to British and German forces stranded on an island and forced to integrate with each other, with all of the stereotyped humour you could imagine. Once again Hammer have assembled an excellent little cast for their movie, with actors including the ubiquitous Percy Herbert and Harry Fowler playing the troops alongside a youthful Thorley Walters and Dennis Price as a Nazi. Most surprising of all is George Cole, whose nude scene I wasn't expecting. The jokes are rather dated and some of the silliness is irritating, but this is acceptable enough fare for its era.
Don't Panic Chaps is directed by George Pollock and adapted to screenplay by Jack Davies from the Radio Play written by R.G. Holroyd and M.G. Corston. It stars Dennis Price, George Cole, Thorley Walters, Terence Alexander, Nadja Regin and Percy Herbert. Music is by Philip Green and cinematography by Arthur Graham.Blimey! What a war, the Battle of the Sunbathers.Amiable and pleasant British comedy that finds a small group of Brit soldiers commissioned to a remote Mediterranean island during WWII. However, when they encounter a small group of German soldiers holed up in a monastery they are offered a truce by the German commander and begin to live peaceably. That is until a gorgeous woman is washed ashore Underwear from the Byzantine Period.The bickering and banter keeps the pic ticking along, Regin pops in to lower the testosterone levels, while the message about opposing sides being able to live in harmony is a good 'un. It's never uproariously funny and Cole's buffoon act wears thin long before the finale, but there is enough good here to warrant it a good time waster rating. 6/10
You wonder when watching this film if the makers of None But The Brave(1965)had watched this film before starting out.The two films are very similar except in None But The Brave there is a very violent ending whereas in this film both groups go their own separate ways.Thorley Walters is the English officer and Dennis Price,a very unlikely German officer.Both English and German groups are stranded on the island and rather than fight decide to call a truce and coexist.However an Italian woman is washed ashore and becomes a source of conflict between the two groups before they go their separate ways.This is a cproduction between Hammer and the film technicians union,then called ACT.It is fairly amusing with a nude shot,from behind,of an extremely well know actor.