Touches You

best movie i've ever seen.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

"The Wrong Arm of the Law" is a British caper comedy. Or, more accurately, a comedy of many capers with some satire of the London underground and law enforcement. It has a top cast of English comedy actors of the day. Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier, Graham Stark, Bill Kerr, and Bernard Cribbins head the list. The film has a good plot - an Aussie gang of three men shakes down various gangs of crooks right after they pull heists in London. The foreigners wear police uniforms and pretend to be busting up the action, only to take off with the loot and leaving the actual thieves standing against a wall and then bewildered. The foreign gang finds out about these jobs through a female member, Valerie. She's a moll who somehow got to be the girlfriend of Pearly Gates (Peter Sellers). Gates has his own gang pulling jobs all around town, and he's also the head of the London underground syndicate. Gates is in the "rag" business - he owns an upscale women's dress shop and salon. He poses as a French purveyor of haute couture. This is the source of much of the laughs because Sellers is so good, believable and funny in this role. His legit front business has been making a killing, while six of his gang's heists in a row have been foiled by the fake police gang. The comedy comes mostly from Sellers and Lionel Jeffries, who plays the Scotland Yard Inspector Parker. He's in charge of the effort to stop the rash of recent robberies. Gates calls a meeting of all the underground gangs, and they decide to ask Scotland Yard to work with them to catch the IPO gang (Impersonating Police Officers). This is mostly a two-man show. It could have been much funnier with more comedy in the dialog. The script might have spread some funny or clever lines among more of the players. My seven stars may be pushing it some, but Jeffries and Sellers alone make the film worthwhile.Here's a favorite line from the film. Pearly Gates, "I made 168,000 knickers selling frocks last year - gowns, I mean." Inspector Parker, "Yeah. Well, if that isn't crooked, I'd like to know what is."

From memory this was pure '50s-style, knockabout London comedy. But seeing it afresh: OK, not quite as funny (very classy performances, though); unexpectedly good to look at, and really rather not-'50s. The direction's at times self-consciously modern, but, more tellingly - check out the costume design. Even plainclothed old bill were in knife-sharp Italian suits and shirts; skinny ties. For a film shot in '62 this was more than somewhat a swingin' number. A line had been crossed - we weren't post-war any more.

"The Wrong Arm of the Law" is a sort of comic British take on the famous German crime film, "M". In that Fritz Lang classic, the criminals and the police are both out to stop a murderer whose activities are making things difficult for both of them. However, where "M" was a serious crime thriller, "The Wrong Arm of the Law" is pure comedy. And what a comedy it is, with a clever script and a first-rate cast, headed up by the superlative Peter Sellers. Known for the astounding range of the characters he could play, in this film Sellers slips effortlessly between portraying effete French couturier Charles Jules and cockney crime-boss "Pearly" Gates. In fact, Sellars slips between the two characters so effortlessly that it is easy to take for granted just how brilliant an actor he actually was. Sellers is an absolute treat to watch, and his performance should be required viewing by all aspiring actors as a lesson in how it should be done.

This is an absolutely hilarious comic crook caper, very much in the style of THE LAVENDER HILL MOB, THE Italian JOB and CROOKS & CORONETS. It's one of those stories where the crooks are pleasant people, with the traditional "honor amongst thieves" motto, who only steal from the very rich, and never actually cause anyone physical harm.(Slight spoiler warning)Then a new mob arrives in London Town from Australia (yes, the Aussies are the real villains in this - sob, sob); and don't play fairly. This affects the status quo, so the General Council of Crims and the Police Force join forces to stop them.With great comic stars like Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins (of "Right Said Fred" novelty song fame), Lionel Jeffries, and John Le Mesurier (most memorable as Wilson of the old UK comic series DAD'S ARMY); as well as great Aussie stars Ed Devereaux and a quite young Bill Kerr (who's really seedy in this), I was totally hooked. As it made my top 100, you could say I'm very fond of this uproarious effort.