71% (1) There Was a Crooked Man 107 min, [Comedy] [Stuart Burge] [01 Jun 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 71%, External Reviews
Actors: Alfred Marks, Andrew Cruickshank, Norman Wisdom, Reginald Beckwith
Writer: James Bridie (play), Reuben Ship
External Links: IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: When a law-abiding demolition expert is duped by a gang of criminals into helping them he is caught and jailed. When he is released he goes straight and then notices a leading citizen in ...
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69% (1) The Early Bird 98 min, [Comedy] [Robert Asher] [24 Dec 1965]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, External Reviews
Actors: Edward Chapman, Jerry Desmonde, Norman Wisdom, Paddie O'Neil
Writer: Jack Davies (screenplay), Norman Wisdom (screenplay), Eddie Leslie (with), Henry Blyth (with)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: UK
Plot: Norman is the assistant helping to run a small, old fashioned dairy which is threatened by a larger, modern organisation. Norman does his best to save the dairy (and his horse) and the usual chaos ensues.
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69% (1) On the Beat 106 min, [Comedy] [Robert Asher] [01 Jan 1962]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 69%, External Reviews
Actors: David Lodge, Jennifer Jayne, Norman Wisdom, Raymond Huntley
Writer: Jack Davies (screenplay), Norman Wisdom (screenplay), Eddie Leslie (with)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English, Italian Country: UK
Plot: Norman wants to be a policeman like his father was, but he fails the height test (amongst others). One day he gets out his father's old uniform and "walks the beat". This leads to a level of chaos that only Norman could cause.
Rotten Tomatoes: One's enjoyment of On the Beat rests solely upon one's tolerance of British comedian Norman Wisdom, who can be described as a Jerry Lewis without the discipline. Wisdom plays a Scotland Yard parking attendant who seemingly can't draw breath without breaking something or knocking someone down. He wants to become a detective, but the Yard isn't quite ready for such a catastrophe. He proves his worth--and wreaks more havoc--by going undercover and trapping a gang of jewel thieves. The slapstick is serviceable in On the Beat; as for the "serious" moments, Wisdom's notion of pathos is to scream at the top of his lungs. You may want to join him. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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68% (1) Trouble in Store 85 min, Not Rated, [Comedy] [John Paddy Carstairs] [12 Jan 1955]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 68%, External Reviews
Actors: Jerry Desmonde, Megs Jenkins, Moira Lister, Norman Wisdom
Writer: John Paddy Carstairs (screenplay), Maurice Cowan (screenplay), Ted Willis (screenplay)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English, German Country: UK
Plot: Norman is working in the stock room of a large London department store, but he has ambition (doesn't he always !!), he wants to be a window dresser making up the public displays. Whilst trying to fulfill his ambition, he falls in love (doesn't he always !!), with one of the shopgirls. Together they discover a plot to rob the store and, somehow, manage to foil the robbers.
Rotten Tomatoes: Ebullient British music-hall comedian Norman Wisdom made his movie debut in Trouble in Store. The scene is a large department store, where the bumbling Norman (Wisdom) has somehow landed a clerical job. The rest of the film is a series of slapstick catastrophes, some hilarious, others less so. Along the way, Norman saves the store from falling into the clutches of gangsters -- and wins the heroine besides. Wisdom's perennial straight-man Jerry Desmonde has a meaty role, as do British film-faves Margaret Rutherford and Moira Lister. Evidently this film meant a great deal to Norman Wisdom, for in 1992 he titled his autobiography Trouble in Store. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
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66% (1) Follow a Star 93 min, [Comedy] [Robert Asher] [25 Dec 1959]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 66%, External Reviews
Actors: Hattie Jacques, Jerry Desmonde, June Laverick, Norman Wisdom
Writer: Jack Davies (original screenplay), Henry Blyth (original screenplay), Norman Wisdom (original screenplay)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Website Language: English Country: UK
Plot: Norman Truscott is a store worker who dreams of stardom. Vernon Carew is a singer who's star is fading. Vernon manages to get a recording of Norman singing and passes it off as himself.
Rotten Tomatoes: Combining music, comedy, and pathos, this tale of a gullible singer and the people around him is simple but effective. Norman Wisdom stars as Norman Truscott, someone with a good singing voice who wants to perform but lacks the confidence to get up on stage. His voice teacher (Hattie Jacques) and his girlfriend Judy (June Laverick) both know he can do it, but he actually cannot perform unless Judy is there next to him, playing the piano. Meanwhile, Norman manages to drive his psychiatrist crazy and generally wreaks havoc wherever he goes. When the unscrupulous singer Vernon Carew (Jerry Desmonde) takes unfair and wholly illegal advantage of Norman's singing, he inadvertently leads to the solution of at least a few of the man's problems.
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61% (1) The Night They Raided Minsky's 99 min, PG-13, [Comedy] [William Friedkin] [09 May 1969]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 61%, External Reviews
Actors: Britt Ekland, Forrest Tucker, Jason Robards, Norman Wisdom
Writer: Arnold Schulman (screenplay), Sidney Michaels (screenplay), Norman Lear (screenplay), Rowland Barber (book)
External Links: Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: USA
Plot: Rachel arrives in New York from her Amish community intent on becoming a dancer. Unfortunately Billy Minsky's Burlesque is hardly the place for her Dances From The Bible. But the show's comedian Raymond sees a way of wrong-footing the local do-gooders by announcing the new Paris sensation "Mme Fifi" and putting on Rachel's performance as the place is raided. All too complicated, the more so since her father is scouring the town for her and both Raymond and his straight-man Chick are falling for Rachel.
Rotten Tomatoes: Rachel (Britt Ekland) is an Amish girl who rejects her religious upbringing and travels to the big city. She meets Raymond Paine (Jason Robards) and Billy Minsky (Elliot Gould) who put her on stage. A sensual striptease emerges from what was supposed to be a religious dance, eventually causing the cops to bust the place. Soon her father comes after his daughter who by now is coveted by gangsters. Forrest Tucker plays gangster Trim Houlihan, the quick-tempered Irishman. The film accurately reflects the mood of the burlesque halls which had died out by the time the feature was released. Veteran comic Burt Lahr, one of the last true burlesque and vaudeville performers, makes his last film appearance as Professor Spats. British comedian Norman Wisdom steals the show in his role as Chick Williams. Rudy Valee, the top crooning heartthrob of the 1920s, narrates and sings a few songs. The surviving Minsky brother Morton acted as technical advisor for this song and dance filled slice of Americana. Burlesque had all but died out by the time the film was release, and this feature accurately recalls the bygone era that started before talking pictures and even radio were mainstream items.
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51% (1) What's Good for the Goose 105 min, R, [Comedy] [Menahem Golan] [01 Dec 1969]Ratings & Reviews: IMDb Reviews: 51%, External Reviews
Actors: Norman Wisdom, Sally Bazely, Sally Geeson, Sarah Atkinson
Writer: Menahem Golan (story), Menahem Golan (screenplay), Norman Wisdom (script), Christopher Gilmore (dialogue)
External Links: Wikipedia Rotten Tomatoes IMDb Language: English Country: UK
Plot: A middle aged banker picks up two young free minded women on his way to a banker's convention and falls head over heels for one of them.
Rotten Tomatoes: Timothy Bartlett (Norman Wisdom) is a middle-aged banker who is sent to a seaside resort for a banker's convention. He fears the meetings will be frightfully dull, but things change when two amorous hippie girls take Timothy for a sail on the sea of love. Timothy goes middle-aged crazy, making a spectacle of himself in hippie clothes as he tries to fit into the swinging scene. Nude dips in the ocean are followed and preceded by wild parties as he tries to recapture the days of his flaming youth. After he feels remorse and embarrassment over his behavior, he calls on his wife to join him at the convention to rekindle their love in this lowbrow comedy. The British rock group The Pretty Things provides the music.
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