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The Green Man

Robert Day   •   UK  • ​  1956
80 mins  •   PG cert

Starring stalwarts of 1950s British film like Alastair Sim and Terry Thomas, this British farce echoes other black comedies of the era, such as The Lavender Hill Mob. As the Brits might say, ‘it is a bit of a larf’.
With: Alastair Sim (Harry Hawkins), George Cole (William Blake), Terry Thomas (Charles Boughtflower), Jill Adams (Ann Vincent), Raymond Huntley (Sir Gregory Upshott), Colin Gordon (Reginald Willoughby-Cruft), Avril Angers  (Marigold), Dora Bryan (Lily)
Director:  Robert Day and Basil Dearden (uncredited)
Producers:  Frank Launder, Sidney Gilliat
Screenplay: Based on their play Meet A Body, by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat​
Photography
: Gerald Gibbs​

REVIEWS
​
In the British film (and television) tradition of fictional tales about men behaving badly, this faintly ridiculous film develops a convoluted tale of a failed assassination, a weekend liaison in a seedy hotel, under-dressed pretty young women and romance. It is very much of its time but also belongs to a genre that you might call British Black Humour, producing classics such as Arsenic and Old Lace and Black Adder.  It features British film stars of the day, such as the stately Alastair Sim, gap-toothed Terry Thomas and George Cole (later to star in the TV series Minder). It is not quite Graham Greene-territory (the character names are a give-away) but it likely to have wide audience appeal.
 
--- Geoff Lealand (Hamilton Film Society)
 
A splendid black comedy, adapted by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat from their own play Meet a Body. Sim is up to his old tricks as a timid watchmaker who is a professional assassin in his spare time. All the right people get bumped off (headmasters, businessmen, and other assorted dictators), and the movie is quite vulgar enough to be funny. It is fascinating to compare Sim's hilarious schizophrenia with Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers. Inside every Englishman there lurks a ruthless criminal, impatient to steal scenes.
 
---Time Out (London)                                                                     


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Hamilton
Monday, 7 December, 8:00pm

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Film Societies of Aotearoa New Zealand

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New Zealand Federation of Film Societies  |  PO Box 9544, Te Aro, Wellington, NZ  
Phone: +64 4 385 0162  |  Fax: +64 4 801 7304  |  Email: [email protected]
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • SOCIETIES
    • AUCKLAND
    • HAMILTON
    • TAURANGA
    • NEW PLYMOUTH
    • WHANGANUI
    • PALMERSTON NORTH
    • CARTERTON
    • WELLINGTON
    • NELSON
    • CANTERBURY
    • TIMARU
    • OAMARU
    • QUEENSTOWN
    • DUNEDIN
    • WESTPORT
  • 2025 SEASON
    • SWEDISH CINEMA
    • KUROSAWA
    • PECKINPAH'S WEST
    • COMEDY CORNER
    • GHOST STORIES
    • NZ FILM
    • RETRO CLASSICS
    • FRENCH CONNECTIONS
    • GERMAN CINEMA
    • WORLD CINEMA