If you feel a bit done in by the patronizing ploys of others, it's possible there's more than just "hard cheese" at work. "School For Scoundrels" is a comedy of manners in which applicants at the title school learn to shed some manners in order to get ahead – and stay there.
"He who is not one-up is one-down," explains the school's headmaster, Mr. Potter (Alistair Sims), who finds in Ian Carmichael's Henry Palfrey an apt pupil. "Lifemanship is the science of being one up on your opponents at all times. It is the art of making him feel that somewhere, somehow he has become less than you – less desirable, less worthy – less blessed."
Palfrey, a well-meaning but inept executive, has met the beautiful April (Janette Scott). No sooner has he taken her on a date than he finds the budding relationship horned in upon by a charming cad named Delauney (Terry-Thomas), who sweeps her away with his command of a French menu and a two-seater coupe in which three's a crowd. Can Potter's school teach him a lesson in "lifemanship" and help him exact revenge?
Less a movie in a story sense, "School For Scoundrels" is a concept film in which the concept involves using ploys to keep one from getting buried by others - by burying them first. We watch Carmichael's character as he cleverly takes the lessons learned from Potter to use in his life struggle, eventually settling in on a return match against Delauney at the tennis club where he previously suffered his most piercing defeat.
Like ianlouisiana points out in an April 2009 review here, this is the sort of film Monty Python could have done a decade later, but with a heavier tread. One thing I enjoyed thinking as I rewatched this was the notion of a Python remake with Eric Idle in the Palfrey role, John Cleese as Delauney, and Michael Palin as Potter. The comedy might have been sharper and the laughs harder. But the principals in this film do work just fine.
Carmichael stretches a bit from his amiable persona to good effect, while Terry-Thomas steals every scene he's in as his character steals April. Sim had a wonderfully mordant tone, smoking his stogie and rolling his eyes as he makes Palfrey sign a check for 250 pounds, which he pontifically declares "part of the treatment."
Who was directing this movie, anyway? The credits say Robert Hamer, but he was said to have been fired for his alcoholism. I missed the gentle, twisted vibe he gave to his classic "Kind Hearts And Coronets." The tone here is a trifle disengaged, and leans heavily on the source works, a trio of comic "how-to" manuals authored by Stephen Potter. We don't see much in the way of Palfrey's transformation, just Carmichael's smirk and a wicked gleam in his eye once his one-upping bears fruit.
I found this very enjoyable, once it got past Palfrey's early miseries, and I think you will, too. However much Palfrey's tricks or ploys (the distinction may be subtle, but important to Mr. Potter) suggest social commentary in the direction of a capitalist society, the real pleasure of the film is watching him get what he's after, even if this treatment does work out in a rather pat way. Weighing in at just over 90 minutes, there's little time for soul-gazing here.
The end is the best part, again pat in a way, but giving some amusing shading to the moral questions under review. Potter finds himself in the presence of a student whose abilities at lifemanship astound even him, and the way he lets the audience in on his unease is quite funny.
Terry-Thomas fans will enjoy this especially for the way it gives T-T so much to work with, proving him a fine comic actor in his many spotlight moments. Charm may be a cheap commodity in our world, but "School For Scoundrels" shows where it has its uses.
"He who is not one-up is one-down," explains the school's headmaster, Mr. Potter (Alistair Sims), who finds in Ian Carmichael's Henry Palfrey an apt pupil. "Lifemanship is the science of being one up on your opponents at all times. It is the art of making him feel that somewhere, somehow he has become less than you – less desirable, less worthy – less blessed."
Palfrey, a well-meaning but inept executive, has met the beautiful April (Janette Scott). No sooner has he taken her on a date than he finds the budding relationship horned in upon by a charming cad named Delauney (Terry-Thomas), who sweeps her away with his command of a French menu and a two-seater coupe in which three's a crowd. Can Potter's school teach him a lesson in "lifemanship" and help him exact revenge?
Less a movie in a story sense, "School For Scoundrels" is a concept film in which the concept involves using ploys to keep one from getting buried by others - by burying them first. We watch Carmichael's character as he cleverly takes the lessons learned from Potter to use in his life struggle, eventually settling in on a return match against Delauney at the tennis club where he previously suffered his most piercing defeat.
Like ianlouisiana points out in an April 2009 review here, this is the sort of film Monty Python could have done a decade later, but with a heavier tread. One thing I enjoyed thinking as I rewatched this was the notion of a Python remake with Eric Idle in the Palfrey role, John Cleese as Delauney, and Michael Palin as Potter. The comedy might have been sharper and the laughs harder. But the principals in this film do work just fine.
Carmichael stretches a bit from his amiable persona to good effect, while Terry-Thomas steals every scene he's in as his character steals April. Sim had a wonderfully mordant tone, smoking his stogie and rolling his eyes as he makes Palfrey sign a check for 250 pounds, which he pontifically declares "part of the treatment."
Who was directing this movie, anyway? The credits say Robert Hamer, but he was said to have been fired for his alcoholism. I missed the gentle, twisted vibe he gave to his classic "Kind Hearts And Coronets." The tone here is a trifle disengaged, and leans heavily on the source works, a trio of comic "how-to" manuals authored by Stephen Potter. We don't see much in the way of Palfrey's transformation, just Carmichael's smirk and a wicked gleam in his eye once his one-upping bears fruit.
I found this very enjoyable, once it got past Palfrey's early miseries, and I think you will, too. However much Palfrey's tricks or ploys (the distinction may be subtle, but important to Mr. Potter) suggest social commentary in the direction of a capitalist society, the real pleasure of the film is watching him get what he's after, even if this treatment does work out in a rather pat way. Weighing in at just over 90 minutes, there's little time for soul-gazing here.
The end is the best part, again pat in a way, but giving some amusing shading to the moral questions under review. Potter finds himself in the presence of a student whose abilities at lifemanship astound even him, and the way he lets the audience in on his unease is quite funny.
Terry-Thomas fans will enjoy this especially for the way it gives T-T so much to work with, proving him a fine comic actor in his many spotlight moments. Charm may be a cheap commodity in our world, but "School For Scoundrels" shows where it has its uses.