Moviecut—The Green Man

source: The Green Man

The Green Man

Dear other reviewers: Basil Brush was based on Terry Thomas, not the other way round; it's "top hole" not "top hoe"; and "chop toad" is toad-in-the-hole made with chops instead of sausages (you bake them in batter and this particularly English delicacy has not been seen for about 50 years). Anyway, back to the plot. Alistair Sim is hilarious as a bomb-maker, and George Cole is if anything even funnier as a vacuum cleaner salesman "it beats as it sweeps as it cleans as it disinfects". The interiors should get a credit: the olde oake of "Windyridge", unchanged since the Arts and Crafts fashions of 1910 versus the pseudo-Regency of "Appleby", which is not going to go with Reginald's modern art (school of Klee or perhaps Bernard Buffet). I love the moment when Cole sits down at the piano to "play" one of the pictures! And imagine trying to get up to any hanky panky in a Victorian hotel where the kitchen shuts at 10. Michael Ripper excels in a small role as a waiter.

Alastair Sim is Mr. Hawkins, a professional assassin working for middle eastern interests who want to stop the imminent visit by British politician Gregory Upshott(Raymond Huntley) from a visit to that area of the world. The place chosen for the "hit" is a coastal hostelry called "The Green Man" run by Arthur Borough ("Are You Being Served?"). Unfortunately for Hawkins, a bumbling vacuum-cleaner salesman (George Cole) and the fiancé of a BBC news-reader (Jill Adams) are on to the plot and hope either to warn Upshott of his impending assassination or find where the explosive is hidden. Good turns by all of the above. Terry-Thomas, in a brief appearance as a philanderer who thinks his wife has set private eyes to follow him, is also amusing as usual. "The Green Man" is one of the few movies you'll wish was longer.

A murder, a deliberate mix-up with house numbers, a vacuum-cleaner salesman and a young bride-to-be in a compromising position. Oh, and a pompous politician about to be blown up by an assassin with a bomb in a wireless. It gets even better when these people are played by George Cole, Jill Adams, Raymond Huntley and of course the great Alastair Sim. This is a farce in the true British sense, with lots of running about, hiding of bodies and misunderstandings. Add to the mix Terry-Thomas making the most of his modest role and the much underrated Colin Gordon playing a stiff BBC announcer on the edge of a nervous breakdown and we have the recipe for a wonderful Sunday afternoon film. Britain made this type of film with great aplomb in the 50's, perhaps because our National Character was so 'send-upable' at the time and we didn't mind laughing at ourselves. We don't make them now, which is why we go out and buy DVD's of 50-year-old comedies that have no equal. Superb.

Mr Sim is ideally cast as a seemingly mild but actually ruthless assassin. His perfect comic timing, expressive features and ability to switch on a sense of genuine menace are well used in this sprightly farce. George Cole is admirable as the well meaning young hero while Jill Adams is a radiantly beautiful and desirable heroine. As indisputably English as Wimbledon but much more fun!

Great Ealing farce in the Kind Hearts and Coronets murder-comedy stylee, revolving around Sim's hitman (specialising in slapstick bomb-hits) plotting the death of a prominent businessman, and George Cole's vacuum cleaner salesman, out to thwart the killer...Room for plenty of comedy shenanigans as the top cast blunder around leaving clues and confusing each other, building to a climax at the country inn of the title. Thoroughly enjoyable for fans of the genre, with just a little bit of Terry-Thomas thrown in near the end to add his unique suave zest to a very appealing mix. Expect the thrills to come from Sim's eyebrows and laid-back attitude, and Terry-Thomas' 'tache, rather than the plot.

A top cast starting with Alastir Sim, George Cole and Terry Thomas. Sim plays the pretty evil hitman, Harry Hawkins who is foiled in his quest to blow up a politician by vacuum cleaner salesman William Blake (George Cole). The plot twists and turns to such an extent that it's quite hard to follow, but brilliant all the same. Terry Thomas appears for only about 20 minutes, but adds a hint of magic to the whole film. As always Sim and Cole work together brilliantly on screen and it's just a funny, quite creepy, good film.

The Green Man is one of those movies that used to get a good deal of play on PBS stations but now seems to have disappeared. Too bad. It's a very funny example of wicked British black humor. The always excellent Alastair Sim plays an assassin attempting to blow up a fatuous politician who has found a hide-away for a tryst with his timid secretary. Raymond Huntley (perhaps best known as the family lawyer in "Upstairs, Downstairs") delivers the most hilarious soliloquy ever heard on the practices of English gastronomy in general and chopped toad as a delicacy in particular. Colin Gordon, familiar as one of the few actors to appear twice as Number Two in The Prisoner, does a send up of a rather precious poet who resembles T. S. Eliot. Wish this would appear on DVD.