Too much of everything

Good movie but grossly overrated

Absolutely brilliant

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS is a likeable enough British comedy of 1960 that very much acts as a showcase for the talents of the comedy actors involved. Ian Carmichael takes the lead role and plays his usual upper-class twit character and perfectly suited to it he is too. Alastair Sim has a smaller role but it's also one which has been crafted to his best talents. Best of the lot is the excellent Terry-Thomas playing the ultimate cad character as he's absolutely hilarious. The first half of the film sees Carmichael being put upon in a number of funny set-pieces while the second half follows his meted-out revenge. Dennis Price and Peter Jones bag the funniest moments as the unscrupulous car dealers while Janette Scott is the perfect object of affection.

Humour is funny. Some people laugh loudly at what others don't. This film is paired on a single disc with The Green Man, which for me is the funniest ever produced. Yet SFS sits marginally higher on the IMDb rating list. I don't get it. The substance and script of this offering is insufficient. There's not much of a story and no plot. Ineffective executive loser takes a ridiculous expensive course in how to be overbearing and becomes a winner. Its pace drags.The one-upmanship joke is a one-joke joke. Once you've heard it once or possibly twice, it ceases to be funny, and, in my view, doesn't amuse any more. Here, it goes on and on, interminably. Terry-Thomas is wasted. He can be hilarious, but only in special situations, and relatively small doses. The Hattie Jacques episode is entirely pointless. That tennis match grows frankly tedious, and is suffered twice. A sports scenario, predicated on actual skill, does not exactly lend itself to one-upmanship, which only has purpose in social settings. Ian and Alastair are OK, but in a restricted sort of way. I didn't actually laugh, and really only smiled if I was feeling generous. The Swiftmobile was impressive, but the sales spiel from Dennis and friend, larded with verbosity, went on far too long. Janette was easy on the eye. Insufficient compensation for the general emptiness.

Act One: The Sap. Act Two: The Zapped.That is the format of this British comedy about a milquetoast who gets his game together and takes charge of his life-personal and professionally, with the help of the titled school, located where, as you follow the pointing signs, take you across the railroad tracks and hidden far from society. It seems he has lost his girl, has been ripped off by an automobile sales company and beaten at tennis by the gap-tooth lothario who stole his girl. He finds revenge is not only sweet but funny as he turns his life around and makes the move to win back everything he has lost (including his dignity) back while teaching those who took advantage a lesson they'll never forget.Watching poor Ian Carmichael get swindled (whether buying the exotic car that resembles "Chity Chitty Bang Bang's" sick uncle or being humiliated at every turn by the droll Terry-Thomas) is hysterical, but seeing him reverse everything to his favor is sweet revenge for everyone who has ever gone through similar situations. When Carmichael gets his revenge (most innocently) on Thomas by turning him into a raging nervous Nancy by delaying their tennis date, Thomas's slow burn is delightful. Carmichael and Thomas play very well off of each other, and the dialog is downright hysterical. The use of British locations add tremendously to the credibility of the plot and make it so much more fun. Add to that the pleasure of Alistair Sim ("A Christmas Carol") as the schoolmaster who teaches Carmichael the art of getting even.

A classic, (and very, very funny) British comedy that seems to have slipped through the net, (despite having been picked up and remade last year with Billy Bob Thornton). Aficianados, of course, love the film with a passion and for good reason since it represents a high point in the careers of Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and director Robert Hamer, (sadly this was the last thing Hamer did).It's based on the Oneupmanship books of Stephen Potter, in themselves classics of British humour, and here Potter is played by the great and inimitable Alastair Sim, though Sim takes a back seat in this one. Surprisingly, the writers Hal E Chester and Paricia Moyes, who adapted Potter's books, have managed to pull together something of a coherent plot rather than just a series of sketches as initially nerdy Carmichael starts putting Sim's Dark Arts into practice as he goes head-to-head with the dastardly Thomas for the virtue of Janette Scott. Anyone who has ever wondered what the point of Terry-Thomas was need look no further than here. He's a comic fireball and he ignites every scene he's in. Seek this one out.