User Reviews

The first half of this film is very funny.Stanley Baxter is the real star.He said in a recent interview that his film career came to an end because the company to whom he was contracted went bust.As usual he pops up in a variety of disguises.The best part is the aversion therapy treatment to stop Leslie Phillips going back to his old ways.Alas the film runs out of steam in the last half.Stealing the money from the department store then putting it back is typical of the farciCal devices used to end films ,utilised by many British comedies of the period.Julie Christie is clearly on her way up the ladder and Leslie Phillips would outlive most of his contemporaries and have a long and distinguished career.

CROOKS ANONYMOUS is a British comedy of 1962 that manages to waste the talents of a wide-ranging comic cast, many of whom are familiar from classics of the day. This one stars an amusing Leslie Phillips as a man addicted to theft; he joins the titular organisation in order to rid himself of his habit, but things don't go quite according to plan. This is a film whose original storyline is much better than the script, which is devoid of laughs and intelligence. Sure, it's fun watching a debuting Julie Christie and the likes of Norman Rossington, James Robertson Justice, Wilfrid Hyde-White and Michael Medwin doing their best, but the truth is that they're having more fun than the viewer is.

'Crooks Anonymous' was the second of three British comedy films written by Jack Davies, directed by Ken Annakin, and starring Leslie Phillips, Stanley Baxter, and James Robertson Justice. The first was 'Very Important Person' ( 1961 ) and 'The Fast Lady' ( 1963 ) the last. The latter trio also appeared in 'Father Came Too' ( 1964 ), directed by Peter Graham Scott. Robertson Justice was the lead in 'Person', but here Phillips has that honour ( in fact the performer best remembered as 'Sir Lancelot Spratt' of the 'Doctor In The House' films has a tiny role as the bombastic owner of a department store ).

Phillips is ex-army officer turned thief 'Dandy Forsdyke'. If it is not nailed down he will take it. He wants more than anything to wed his girlfriend, nightclub singer Babette ( Julie Christie ) but she insists he renounce his lifestyle. He enrols as a member of 'Crooks Anonymous' - a secret organisation similar to 'Alcoholics Anonymous' only instead of curing people of drinking they turn them away from crime. Forsdyke is set tests, usually involving Stanley Baxter ( as the creepy 'Widdowes' ) in various disguises, including a clergyman and an Edith Evans-style Duchess. Just as Forsdyke looks cured, the ultimate temptation comes his way - working as 'Santa Claus' in a department store, he finds he has easy access to its safe and all the takings within. He calls on C.A. for help. But will he get it?

'Crooks' is a nice little comedy, not quite as good as 'Person' or 'Fast' but amusing all the same, almost satirical in tone at times. Phillips is as ever wonderful ( in one of my favourite scenes Forsdyke is in a room full of safes which discharge nasty punishments - such as electric shocks - whenever he opens them ), playing the cad he is known and loved for to the hilt. In the opening scene, he goes into a jewellers and steals a diamond ring, looking very much like 'John Steed' of 'The Avengers' with his bowler hat and umbrella. Coincidentally, the jeweller is a clean-shaved Patrick Newell a.k.a. 'Mother' in the Linda Thorson shows. The idea of an organisation for criminals is a remarkably 'Avengers'-ish one. One of the producers - Julian Wintle - took over production of the hit spy show after it graduated from video-tape to film. It is fair to assume Julie Christie ( future Oscar winner ) does not put this very high on her curriculum vitae, but she acquits herself well. It could not have been easy trying to stand out in a film starring the likes of Phillips and Baxter. Speaking of Stanley, most of his other pictures cast him as one character, but as the creepy 'Widdowes' he gets to do a Peter Sellers and dress up quite a bit. Also around are Wilfrid Hyde-White ( as the head of C.A. ), Harry Fowler, Cardew Robinson, a young Dennis Waterman, Dandy Nichols, Robertson Hare, and Dick Emery.

Ken Annakin seemed fond of comedies with large casts - he was also responsible for 'Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines' ( 1965 ) and its sequel 'Monte Carlo Or Bust' ( 1968 ).