BAFTA (British Academy Award) Winner of Best Picture and Best Actor (Peter Sellers)

Based on the characters created by novelist Alan Hackney, the sequel to "Private's Progress" (1956) comes bookended with scenes in a nudist colony, and satirizes multi-leveled strife between labor and management, with Peter Sellers sporting a Hitler moustache as union chief Fred Kite; Ian Carmichael as blithe spirit Stanely Windrush, who nearly ruins his boss' marriage and falls for his robust daughter (Liz Fraser, in her BAFTA-nominated role); and a collection of veteran character actors that inject each scene with the right amount of ridiculousness. John Boulting's direction also combines effective little potshots at the media, particularly the absurd jingles for the wares of the "Num Yum" and "Dotto" corporations.

Co-writer and director John Boulting enjoyed a lengthy career with twin brother Roy - himself a noted director - and both were responsible for many classic and influential films in diverse genres, though comedy ranked the highest. Along with superb crime thrillers ("Brighton Rock" and "Seven Days To Noon" remain their best), the Boulting Brothers made additional comedies with Peter Sellers, including "Carlton-Brown of the F.O.," "Heavens Above!," and "There's a Girl in My Soup."

Anchor Bay's transfer is fairly clean, showing off the film's crisp black and white cinematography, and excellent sets. A delicious highlight occurs early on, where poor Windrush visits a candy factory and is unable to deal with the constant flow of sweets, with large anthropomorphic industrial machines burping intestinal sounds across the punchy mono soundtrack. Ken Hare's score makes good use of the film's impertinent theme song (hollered by Al Saxon), and the film's dialogue - frequently peppered with sexual double entendres and half beat swearing - is well balanced in the final mix.

An informative Peter Sellers biography covers essential career highlights, and includes a filmography, and the film's trailer too (showing reasonable wear.) This Anchor Bay title is available alone or as part of The Peter Sellers collection, which includes "Carlton-Brown of the F.O.", "Heavens Above!", "Hoffman," "I'm All Right Jack," "The Smallest Show on Earth," and "Two-Way Stretch."

© 2003 Mark R. Hasan