376:. A Sir Michael Balcon production, with the late Robert Hamer sharing the script credit and a host of familiar character actors in the cast, it naturally arouses hopes of a renewal of the Ealing comedy tradition. But that vein has been worked out and this is the second recent British film to demonstrate that you cannot really rejuvenate an outworn formula simply by throwing in a bit of social comment and a few snide references to television. Like
406:. In the present film it is also peculiarly tasteless because it is unnecessary – the plot does not depend on the death of any of the victims. Don Chaffey's direction manages to be both flat and fussy – the business with the poisoned cigarettes being worked literally and figuratively to death – and there is an irritatingly jaunty score for "jazz organ" which makes one think wistfully of
243:
Kerris Bowles-Ottery is professor of science at the
University of Ockham. To advance his career, he poisons inconvenient colleagues with an untraceable substance he has discovered that induces hysteria and manic behaviour followed by death. His research assistant, Delia, blackmails him into a promise
244:
of marriage, but he remains attached to his wife, and poisons Delia. When the police arrive at his home to question him, he flees in his car but fatally crashes it as a result of smoking a poisoned cigarette that his wife has unknowingly brought from his laboratory.
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402:, whose mannerisms have been inherited by Leo McKern. But the echoes only remind one how much better these things were done twenty years ago. The idea of murder as a jolly jape was pretty dated even before
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said: "Interesting but finally irritating comedy of murders with a punnish rather than a donnish script and only moments of genuine sub-Ealing hilarity."
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called it "nonconformist but not especially sidesplitting" although having "a deftly casual air about it as well as the polish of professionalism".
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In the film, a university professor advances his career through habitually poisoning his colleagues at the university.
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539:"Bryanston Films : An Experiment in Cooperative Independent Production and Distribution"
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478:, British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 April 2021
546:Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television
501:(360): 74. 1 January 1964 – via ProQuest.
516:(7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 542.
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453:British Film Institute Collections Search
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998:Films set in universities and colleges
993:Films scored by John Barry (composer)
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1023:English-language black comedy films
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1003:Films shot at Shepperton Studios
340:as Detective Inspector Armstrong
16:1964 British film by Don Chaffey
1:
988:Films directed by Don Chaffey
983:Films based on British novels
958:British black-and-white films
537:Petrie, Duncan James (2017).
978:1960s English-language films
792:The Three Lives of Thomasina
476:"A Jolly Bad Fellow (1964)"
334:as Superintendent Rastleigh
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963:British black comedy films
848:Creatures the World Forgot
512:Halliwell, Leslie (1989).
398:, even the early films of
658:
494:The Monthly Film Bulletin
369:The Monthly Film Bulletin
28:
968:British Lion Films films
268:as Clarina Bowles-Ottery
973:British satirical films
948:1964 black comedy films
784:Jason and the Argonauts
752:Nearly a Nasty Accident
696:The Girl in the Picture
567:"Comedy at the Coronet"
1018:Films about poisonings
816:One Million Years B.C.
744:Lies My Father Told Me
712:A Question of Adultery
514:Halliwell's Film Guide
213:Don Among the Dead Men
207:They All Died Laughing
64:Don Among the Dead Men
1013:Films about educators
953:1960s satirical films
920:International Airport
256:as Prof Bowles-Ottery
736:Dentist in the Chair
489:"A Jolly Bad Fellow"
449:"A Jolly Bad Fellow"
386:is full of echoes –
379:Nothing But the Best
292:as Willie Pugh-Smith
216:) is a 1964 British
1008:1960s British films
896:The Magic of Lassie
419:In a 2017 study of
352:as Tom the publican
328:as Inspector Butts.
800:A Jolly Bad Fellow
650:Films directed by
610:A Jolly Bad Fellow
599:A Jolly Bad Fellow
588:A Jolly Bad Fellow
571:The New York Times
428:The New York Times
384:A Jolly Bad Fellow
374:A Jolly Bad Fellow
201:A Jolly Bad Fellow
143:British Lion Films
24:A Jolly Bad Fellow
930:
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704:The Flesh Is Weak
316:as Mrs Pugh-Smith
220:film directed by
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872:Ride a Wild Pony
840:Clinic Exclusive
824:The Viking Queen
808:The Crooked Road
768:Greyfriars Bobby
720:The Man Upstairs
680:Time Is My Enemy
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358:as Lady Davidson
302:Leonard Rossiter
210:; also known as
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760:A Matter of WHO
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262:as Delia Brooks
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904:C.H.O.M.P.S.
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304:as Dr Fisher
290:Mervyn Johns
278:Dennis Price
242:
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218:black comedy
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173:Running time
150:Release date
109:Peter Tanner
99:Gerald Gibbs
63:
52:Robert Hamer
18:
923:(1985) (TV)
915:(1980) (TV)
864:Persecution
652:Don Chaffey
408:Larry Adler
392:Kind Hearts
350:Wally Patch
296:Mark Dignam
274:as Dr Brass
260:Janet Munro
230:Janet Munro
222:Don Chaffey
77:Produced by
42:Don Chaffey
38:Directed by
943:1964 films
937:Categories
523:0586088946
435:References
344:John Sharp
310:as epicene
254:Leo McKern
226:Leo McKern
177:94 minutes
126:Production
119:John Barry
89:Leo McKern
67:1952 novel
672:Skid Kids
554:1465-3451
388:Genevieve
363:Reception
346:as Hodges
133:Pax Films
105:Edited by
604:AllMovie
458:20 April
190:Language
115:Music by
85:Starring
60:Based on
322:as Fred
193:English
182:Country
159: (
128:company
912:Casino
795:(1963)
667:(1953)
552:
548:: 12.
520:
542:(PDF)
593:IMDb
550:ISSN
518:ISBN
460:2024
248:Cast
239:Plot
228:and
161:1964
157:1964
613:at
602:at
591:at
410:."
69:by
939::
569:,
544:.
499:31
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491:.
468:^
451:.
394:,
390:,
382:,
232:.
643:e
636:t
629:v
556:.
526:.
462:.
163:)
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