SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS [1960 / 2015] [Blu-ray]
The Art of One-Upmanship! British Screen Comedy Classic! Digitally Restored!
Enrol at the wacky “College of Lifemanship” where a senior host of great British comedians teach a completely uproarious course on how to come out tops in any social situation. Study with ALASTAIR SIM and learn his valuable hints on the art of comic one-upmanship.
Follow his expert advice to victimised IAN CARMICHAEL about romance and you’ll be a top class pupil fully equipped to cope with life’s hilarious humiliations without really cheating.
FILM FACT: Mr. Stephen Potter's original “Gamesmanship” had been a popular series of books in the 1950s, but were not written in a narrative form, so the device was adopted that Potter (Alastair Sim) had set up a "College of Lifemanship" in Yeovil to educate those seeking to apply his methods for success. Some interest had previously been shown by Cary Grant with director Carl Foreman in a filmed version of Stephen Potter's books, but this failed when no way could be found of translating the dry humour for an American audience. The film's title is a reference to Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1777 comic play, “The School for Scandal.” Although the film only credits its producer, Hal E. Chester, and Patricia Moyes for the screenplay, it was co-written by Peter Ustinov and Frank Tarloff. Its director, Robert Hamer, was sacked during filming due to his return to drinking and the enterprise was completed by Hal E. Chester and an (uncredited) Cyril Frankel. Robert Hamer would never work in film again, and died in 1963.
Cast: Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Alastair Sim, Janette Scott, Dennis Price, Peter Jones, Edward Chapman, John Le Mesurier, Irene Handl, Kynaston Reeves, Hattie Jacques, Hugh Paddick, Barbara Roscoe, Gerald Campion, Monte Landis, Jeremy Lloyd, Charles Lamb, Anita Sharp-Bolster, Jack Armstrong (uncredited), Mabel Etherington (uncredited), Vilma Ann Leslie (uncredited), Geremy Phillips (uncredited) and Joseph Tregonino (uncredited)
Directors: Cyril Frankel (uncredited), Hal E. Chester (uncredited) and Robert Hamer
Producers: Douglas Rankin and Hal E. Chester
Screenplay: Frank Tarloff (uncredited), Hal E. Chester (screenplay), Patricia Moyes (screenplay) Sir Peter Ustinov, CBE, FRSA (uncredited) and Stephen Potter (novels)
Composer: John Addison
Cinematography: Erwin Hillier (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1
Audio: English: 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English SDH
Running Time: 94 minutes
Region: Region B/2
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Associated British Picture Corporation / STUDIOCANAL
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS or HOW TO WIN WITHOUT ACTUALLY CHEATING’ [1960] with its full official title, finds Henry Palfrey [Ian Carmichael] is a total failure in sport and love, and the easy victim of conmen and employees alike. So he enrols at the "School of Lifemanship" in Yeovil, run by Mr. S. Potter [Alastair Sim]. Late for his appointment, he overhears Mr. S. Potter explaining the principles of "School of Lifemanship" to the new intake motto:
“Well, gentlemen, lifemanship is the science of being one up on your opponents at all times. It is the art of making him feel that somewhere, somehow he has become less than you and less desirable, less worthy and less blessed.”
Henry Palfrey is given an object lesson in this when he has his interview with Mr. S. Potter, who proceeds to win a name-calling game. When Henry Palfrey explains that he is a failure, Potter surmises that a woman is involved. In flashback, Palfrey recounts how he first met April Smith [Janette Scott], knocking parcels from her hands when he rushes to catch a bus. Henry Palfrey manages to arrange a dinner date with her.
When Henry Palfrey shows up at work, his loafing employees are unconcerned, despite his being the head of the family firm. They pay much more respect to his senior clerk, Gloatbridge [Edward Chapman]. In private, Gloatbridge is patronising toward his erstwhile boss, making the business decisions. Henry Palfrey asks him to make a dinner reservation, and has to fend off Gloatbridge's unwanted restaurant suggestion.
That night at the restaurant, the Head Waiter [John Le Mesurier] cannot find Henry Palfrey's booking at first; but finally locates it under a slightly different name, but still refuses to seat them, as they are late. When Raymond Delauney [Terry-Thomas], a casual acquaintance of Henry Palfrey's, arrives and sees April Smith, and he invites them to his table, where he proceeds to try to seduce April Smith and cast Henry Palfrey in a bad light at every opportunity.
As Raymond Delauney has a fancy sports car, Henry Palfrey tries to counter by purchasing an automobile of his own. However, two salesmen Dunstan [Dennis Price] and Dudley [Peter Jones] sell him a ramshackle 1924 "Swiftmobile." To further his humiliation of his rival, Raymond Delauney suggests a "friendly" tennis match and wins easily. The film then returns to the school. Over the next several weeks, Henry Palfrey proves to be an apt pupil in learning various ploys to gain the upper hand. The next phase of his education involves a field test of his new skills; evaluated by Mr. S. Potter. Henry Palfrey convinces the car salesmen that his car, after some tune-up, is now a valuable and sought-after vehicle and so the gullible salesmen trade him a sports car and £100 for his “Swiftmobile,” and you get to view a joyous comeuppance towards the two salesmen and it will make you laugh out loud what you witness.
This is a very fine and hilarious classic British comedy film populated by very typical British characters of the 1960s period. It also includes some traditional British symbols: tennis courts, dodgy unscrupulous car dealers and the elitism of restaurants. It utilises these traditions to create an environment hostile to Henry Palfrey in the first half of the film but one that he can manipulate in the second part of the film to great aplomb. As a comedy, it totally works, and fortunately for Henry Palfrey's character we see him evolve so very much too now become not only strong by the end of the film, but also able to step back and look at what he has actually learned and achieved.
With small cameo appearances from comedy legends such as Hattie Jacques, Hugh Paddick and John Le Mesurier, this film surpassed all of my expectations and proved very enjoyable experience in having a laugh a minute romp. I thought the preamble before Henry Palfrey's initiation into "School of Lifemanship" was a great build up and was totally necessary to set everything up for eventual coup de grâce. Special mention must go to the used car salesmen played by Dennis Price and Peter Jones who are a total delight to watch, both when they're swindling and when they're the ones being swindled. Perfect balance of set ups and pay offs make ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ a very good and brilliant funny British comedy.
Blu-ray Image Quality – Here once again STUDIOCANAL has done it again and produced another brilliant Black-and-White 1080p image presentation for the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ and is helped a great by the 1.66:1 aspect ratio, which again is really excellent, especially with the full of deeply monochrome blacks which stand up remarkable well, making this a real visual treat and is also helped by Erwin Hillier (Director of Photography) and his breath-taking professional cinematography. Generally I would say, depth and clarity are very pleasing. The majority of the close-ups, in particular, look very good. During the outdoor footage, shadow definition is also very convincing. Contrast levels are very stable. A slight light grain is present throughout the entire film that is not inherently flawed. There are no visible traces of problematic sharpening corrections or serious transition stability issues to report. To sum it all up, STUDIOCANAL have done a stunning restoration of ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ that will please fans of the film and especially seeing the brilliant talents of British comedy actors in the guise of Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Alastair Sim to name but a few in another stunning Classic British Comedy. Please Note: Playback Region B/2: This will not play on most Blu-ray players sold in North America, Central America, South America, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Learn more about Blu-ray region specifications.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – STUDIOCANAL has again only presented us with one 2.0 LPCM Stereo Audio experience for the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS.’ The sound once again is very crisp and clear, plus there are no sudden drop outs in the dynamic activity of the film and predictably, the dynamic sounds are very good. As always all the usual clicks, pops, crackle, and background hiss you had with these old films, especially with the inferior DVD release, have been totally removed and the dialogue is stable and exceptionally easy to follow. So well done STUDIOCANAL for doing a really professional job once again.
Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: Interview with Guardian Film Critic Peter Bradshaw [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [14:11] Here we find Peter Bradshaw in a private screening room, where says that the reason the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ makes for such a wonderful comedy film, because first of all it has a wonderful villain in the form of the character that Terry-Thomas plays in his greatest role, and at the same time it has the sympathetic nice guy figure played by Ian Carmichael and it also has something to do with the instructional aspect of the film, of the mocking and the very tongue in cheek humour, in showing you can string various skills and techniques and at the same time dominate any social situation. Peter also feels that the film is very seductive and very amusing, particularly being British and even for an English audience, because the comedy here is all about “CLASS,” especially being a member of the aspirational middle classes and you want to enter the establishment as your birth right that you have been working towards in feeling you have the right in being a member of the middle class, but you find that you find yourself hitting a glass ceiling, because the upper class is putting you down all the time and you are trying to find a way of pushing yourself up the ladder of success and maybe, just maybe, the skills being taught at the “College of Lifemanship” in the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ will give you a way up the ladder of success. Of course at the time the film was made, the class system was in a flux, and a new class was emerging, and the Ian Carmichael character, who is striving to better himself into an aspirational middle class chap, and this film sets out to make the person into a level playing field, for this new type of class warfare, and the film is saying, you may not be as posh as these people, but if you are cunning enough, and you learn the little tricks of the trade, you maybe be able to do a one man One-Upmanship on somebody else or even be more elite than the other person, so to master a social situation, and who knows, and get yourself on the wrung of the career ladder, but you have to play the game of course, and the rules of the game are politeness, and elegant self-deprecation and this is what class war is all about and Peter thinks his favourite scene in the film is what happens in the restaurant with the three actors at the table, and luckily they do not duplicate this scene later on in the film where Terry-Thomas gets his comeuppance, but of course it does happen twice in the film with the tennis court scenes. Peter also reckons Terry-Thomas was a comic genius at his comedy dexterity and when he was in terrible financial difficulties, people rallied around him and that is why people had a total affection towards this very funny English actor. Peter also feels that Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price and Alistair Sim worked to well together and always made scenes in a film a total joy to watch, and Peter would rather watch these three actors that the “Carry On” team of actors. One other actor in the film Peter felt stood out was Janette Scott, who was the daughter of actress Thora Hurd, and felt Janette shone in the film and was a really beautiful English rose, and was also very intelligent in the film, as well as very refreshing in the film. Peter also informs us that the original director Robert Hamer, but half way through filming, was replaced by director Cyril Frankel (uncredited), because Robert Hamer was a serious alcoholic and suffered from terrible bouts of medical problems and it got so bad, that in the end had to be relieved of his directing of the film, because he became a tragic embarrassment, and sadly over a short space of time faded into obscurity, which was a very sad situation and at the same time, the other problem of its time is that he was a closet gay man. Peter feels the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ still resonates today in the 21st century, because each of the scenes in the film is beautifully written, beautifully disposed and not a scene is wasted in the film, and it is very tightly put together and it has the fascination of the instruction of life itself and even if it is just a joke on society and if you view the film again, you will undoubtedly learn a great deal on life itself. Peter also recommends people seek out this film. If they want to watch great comic acting, beautifully directed scenes, and a very elegant and also a beautiful satirical comment on the class war and equally as well the continuing class war of Great Britain. So all in all, this special feature with the Guardian Film Critic Peter Bradshaw is well worth a view.
Special Feature: Interview with Chris Potter [Stephen Meredith Potter's Grandson] [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [12:14] Here we have Chris Potter, who is the Author of “Gamesmanship, Lifemanship and One-Upmanship” book, sitting in the same private screening room that Peter Bradshaw was interviewed in. We are informed that Stephen Meredith Potter (1 February 1900 – 2 December 1969) was a great enthusiastic sportsman and would endeavour as much as possible to indulge in every conceivable sport available. Stephen Meredith Potter first wrote for BBC radio in 1936. Finding that his academic career, although promising, was insufficiently well paid to support his family, he resigned from Birkbeck College in 1937 and the following year joined the BBC as a writer-producer in its features department, originally concentrating on literary features and documentaries, and seeing life before him, was able his famous books, that included “The Theory and Practice of Gamesmanship: Or the Art of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating,” and was illustrated by Frank Wilson, and was published in 1947, and sold prodigiously. In 1943 Stephen Meredith Potter collaborated with Joyce Grenfell on a gently satirical comedy feature "How to Talk to Children," and was very well received and they made twenty-eight more "How to ..." radio programmes, including "How to Woo" and "How to Give a Party," and 1946 "How to Listen" was the first broadcast heard on the newly created Third Programme, which later on was re-named BBC Radio 3 in 1967. When we view the first disastrous tennis match between Ian Carmichael and Terry-Thomas, well this was based on a real life tennis match with Stephen Meredith Potter, who was outclassed and outplayed by two very athletic young men and of course was eventually added to the screenplay as it added great providence to the film. When the film was being set up, Cary Grant was very interested to appear in the film, as he loved the books of Stephen Meredith Potter, and equally interested was Rex Harrison, as he to thoroughly enjoyed the books, and especially there was a rumour the film would be filmed in America, but the American Executives who were funding the film, turned the project down, as they felt it was too English and the American public would not understand the sophisticate tongue in cheek humour and of course the rest is now history. We find out that Sir Peter Ustinov, CBE, FRSA (uncredited) was one who collaborated on the screenplay. We also find out that Sir Peter Ustinov, CBE, FRSA., between 1952 and 1955, he starred with Peter Jones in the BBC radio comedy “In All Directions” and the series featured Sir Peter Ustinov and Peter Jones as themselves in a London car journey perpetually searching for Copthorne Avenue. The comedy derived from the characters they met, whom they often also portrayed. The show was unusual for the time, as it was improvised rather than scripted, and of course this scenario was sort of incorporate for the several comic scenes of the two car salesmen, especially their comeuppance. Stephen Meredith Potter wrote other types of books and one in particular was the biography entitled “D.H. Lawrence: A First Study” [1930], and consequently Stephen Meredith Potter was made to appear as a prime witness for the infamous trial of the “Lady Chatterley Lover” novel in 1960 and of course the outcome of the trial had huge consequences on the whole of Great Britain. Throughout his career, Stephen Meredith Potter and the many books he produced, he introduced three words that are now in general use today, and they were “Gamesmanship,” “A ploy” and “One-Upmanship,” and of course people today have now forgotten where these words originated from, because sadly Stephen Meredith Potter has sadly faded away into obscurity. But all in all this was another fascinating look at the author Stephen Meredith Potter and we hear lots more fascinating facts about this author that I could not include in the special feature and is well worth a view.
Special Feature: Interview with Graham McCann [Terry-Thomas Biographer] [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [11:29] Here once again we find Graham McCann in the same private screening room and we also find out Graham McCann is the author of “Bounder: The Biography of Terry-Thomas.” We also find out that Terry-Thomas [aka Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens] (10 July 1911 – 8 January 1990) was born in a very lower middle class family in Finchley, North London, and Terry-Thomas felt like a fish out of water and wanted to be very “posh” and especially very upper middle class, and even at a very young age he would put on a posh voice and get dressed up in smart clothes to make himself stand out, so to give the impression he was from a very privilege family. Although his father gave him a job in Smithfield Market in London, Terry-Thomas was having none of this, so changed his direction in his career, after becoming fascinated by the stage, and regularly attended the Golders Green Hippodrome to see the latest shows. It was there that he developed an interest in fashion, and adopted the debonair dress-sense of his hero Douglas Fairbanks. Terry-Thomas made his professional stage début on 11 April 1930 at a social evening organised by the Union of Electric Railwayman's Dining Club in South Kensington and was billed as Thomas (Thos) Stevens, but only appeared as a minor turn and his performance brought heckles from the drunken audience, but earned him a commission of 30 shillings. Then eventually changed direction again and got some small parts in films. Then after the Second World War he continued with his solo variety act, while also acting as the head of the cabaret section of ENSA at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. On 26 October 1949 Terry-Thomas wrote and starred in a new series on the BBC Television Service, “How Do You View?” and noted for being the first comedy series on British television. The programme was based around an on-screen persona of Terry-Thomas as "a glamorous, mischievous and discreetly cash-strapped man-about-town", introducing a series of sketches in which he appeared alongside Peter Butterworth as his chauffeur; Janet Brown (Peter Butterworth's real-life wife); Avril Angers; H.C. Walton as the family retainer, Moulting; and Diana Dors. Later on Terry-Thomas appeared in his first major film roles: Charles Boughtflower in ‘The Green Man,’ and Major Hitchcock, "a charlatan military officer on the take", in ‘Private's Progress,’ directed by the Boulting brothers. One of his lines, delivered in his clipped upper class voice, was "You're an absolute shower," which became a catchphrase for him. The Boulting brothers were so impressed with Terry-Thomas's performance that they signed him up to a five-film deal. Terry-Thomas's final film with the Boulting brothers was ‘I'm All Right Jack,’ but other films followed like ‘The Naked Truth,’ ‘Tom Thumb,’ ‘Carlton-Browne of the F.O.,’ ‘The Green man’ and ‘Too Many Crooks.’ When Terry-Thomas was invited to America to make some films, the Executives wanted him to enhance his very British posh accent, but eventually Terry-Thomas get really fed up with working in America, as assortment of directors and especially actors did not want to act likes a team, like he experienced in filming in Great Britain film industry and every time he got thoroughly frustrated he would go off and play table tennis or go swimming, instead of building up with frustration and letting people know how angry he was. But to sum up, Graham McCann felt that the pinnacle of this British comedy genius was his appearance in the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ and when Terry-Thomas viewed the finished film, he was really proud of his performance in the film and also felt he had nailed that character 100%, but on top of all that Terry-Thomas really enjoyed working with Ian Carmichael and Alastair Sim, as he felt great chemistry when working all three actors were working in certain scenes in the film, because Terry-Thomas felt the two other actors produced great chemistry, because each actor was very professional in their working ethics. Because Terry-Thomas was so pleased in the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS,’ that he was able to get a copy from the negative of the scene with the three actors sitting at the table in the restaurant, and eventually got it printed on a postcard, and would send them out to friends and fans, and printed on the bottom right hand corner of the postcard, were the words, “Why be difficult, when with a little more effort, you can be bloody impossible.” With this third and final special feature interviews, it has again been really interesting, fascinating and well worth viewing, as Graham McCann certainly knows a great deal of insight into this very British comic genius that is the said Terry-Thomas.
Special Feature: Stills Gallery [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] Here we get to view a great selection of lovely 26 promotional Black-and-White images of the cast and crew involved with the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ and you also get to view rare behind-the-scene images inside and out of the film studio, as well as on location images. To do advance viewing of all the images, you have to use the right arrow button on your remote control and to go back to the menu; you have to click on the “X” below the images.
Theatrical Trailer [1960] [1080p] [1.66:1] [2:35] This is the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS.’ It also includes the British Board of Film Censors “U” Certificate at the start of the trailer.
Finally, ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ [1960] is a totally uproarious splendid British comedy and a glorious opportunity to see some of Britain’s finest comic talents at the top of their game. ‘SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS’ has many things going for it, not the least of these being the presence of three of the greatest of all British comic actors in the three central roles. Ian Carmichael was always good at playing nice guys who are rather put-upon but he also had the ability to give his performances a bit of an edge when needed and he is thus equally adept at playing the hapless losers of the first half of the film and the smooth winner who graduates with a degree in one one-upmanship. Terry-Thomas is as usual a superb cad. Alistair Sim has great fun as the cynical Potter. And all three are in superlative form, so good that it would be impossible to choose favourites. As a bonus we get equally delightful performances by Dennis Price and Peter Jones, formidable comic talents themselves, as two oily used car salesmen. The hilarious tongue in cheek script takes full advantage of the opportunities for cynical comedy, but overall it is a very funny classic comedy British film. Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
