On The Beat / Man Of The Moment (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Liked it
Story	Satisfactory
Characters / Performances	Satisfactory
Special Effects	Standard
How does it compare to similar films?	Satisfactory

Advantages:	Funny in parts
Disadvantages:	Not as funny in some parts

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Norman wisdom - On the Beat and Man of The Moment.
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On the Beat (1962)
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Norman is sick of being a parking attendant and dreams of following in his fathers footprints and become a police man. Unfortunately he fails the height test, not that that would be a problem today.
Dejected he starts going through his dad's old chest and guess what he finds? His fathers old police uniform, oh no.
He puts it on and goes for a stroll down the street, which as you can probably guess leads to huge mayhem, farcical whimsy and general madness.

Eventually after being caught impersonating a policeman some bright spark notices that he bears a striking resemblance to a nasty criminal that the police have been after for quite a while, Giulio Napolitani.
Now Norman must pose as this master criminal and gain information to break the gang and put them all behind bars.

Opinions:
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I enjoy Norman Wisdom films and thoroughly enjoyed this daft romp. The slapstick is on par with his other films but the gags are a bit thin on the ground. He was underestimated as a multi faceted actor and here he plays two characters very well.
The chase scene where hundreds of coppers are chasing him is superb.
No Mr Grimsdale on this outing.

RUNTIME: 106 min

Man of the Moment (1955)
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Norman is a minor civil servant, who through the usual mishap becomes a favourite of the rulers of a South Seas island that the British government have an interest in.
The rulers take a liking to Norman and will deal with no one else.
The havoc he causes at the UN is very funny, if only.
He takes the stance of whilst working for the British also trying to protect the islander rights from exploitation. Not really a funny topic but Norman tended to take the stand for the little guy against the big bully.
The film is not one of his best with few running gags, (a French chef in a hotel he's staying at). The slapstick is also thin on the ground and the whole film lack pace and to be honest it even lacks plot at times.
Disappointing to watch and it hurts me to say that.

RUNTIME: 80 min

All in all value for money? Perhaps not. They have cleverly put a so so film with a good film, naughty.

DVD Features:
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Main Language: English
Hearing Impaired: English
Audio Commentary by Sir Norman Wisdom
Format: Black & White
Number of discs: 1
Classification: U
TOTAL Runtime: 186 minutes
ASIN: B00008MJ22

Greg