I like me some British comedies from all over the spectrum (Kind Hearts and Cornets, Ruling Class, Python stuff, Lady Killers, etc.) but this ungodly, slow-moving plot wrings profoundly meager humor from its social commentary. At a factory the layabout socialist workers are one powerful faction and management is another. Each tries to get the upper hand, as an eager and "horrors!" productive new worker upsets the delicate balance. That's not a bad premise, but the movie is a neverending chain of lost opportunities. In the end it goes all Frank Capra when the new worker finds his conscience during a live TV show.
It doesn't exactly move. At the 30 minute mark, the premise is still creakily coming together. After a very long first hour, I still hadn't even grinned once. Not only is Sellers not funny, but the script is humor free. If there are laughs in it, I'd need a team of British paleontologists to help me find them. I found this movie long and trying. 'The Mouse the Roared' is another promising comic concept executed horribly like this. If you had to watch one of the two, this is slightly more competent. A satire without a single laugh.
It doesn't exactly move. At the 30 minute mark, the premise is still creakily coming together. After a very long first hour, I still hadn't even grinned once. Not only is Sellers not funny, but the script is humor free. If there are laughs in it, I'd need a team of British paleontologists to help me find them. I found this movie long and trying. 'The Mouse the Roared' is another promising comic concept executed horribly like this. If you had to watch one of the two, this is slightly more competent. A satire without a single laugh.