There Was a Crooked Man (film)
| There Was a Crooked Man | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Stuart Burge |
| Screenplay by | Reuben Ship |
| Based on | The Golden Legend of Shults 1939 play by James Bridie[1] |
| Produced by | John Bryan Albert Fennell |
| Starring | Norman Wisdom Alfred Marks Andrew Cruickshank |
| Cinematography | Arthur Ibbetson |
| Edited by | Peter R. Hunt |
| Music by | Kenneth V. Jones |
Production company | Knightsbridge Films |
| Distributed by | United Artists Corporation |
Release date | 1960 |
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
There Was a Crooked Man is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Stuart Burge and starring Norman Wisdom, Alfred Marks, Andrew Cruickshank, Reginald Beckwith, and Susannah York.[2] It is based on the James Bridie play The Golden Legend of Schults, and was one of two films Wisdom made independently to extend his range, (the other being The Girl on the Boat); although according to the BFI Screenonline website, "the cinema public craved only the Gump".[3] The film was on general release in 1960 on the Rank circuit (supported by the documentary Jungle Hell) to less than spectacular business before being withdrawn, allegedly after American objections to Wisdom masquerading as an arrogant US general requisitioning British land for the US Air Force. The subject of US forces on British soil was deemed too sensitive even for comic treatment.
Premise[]
A naive explosives expert is tricked into working for a criminal gang. The title is taken from the poem "There Was a Crooked Man".
Cast[]
- Norman Wisdom as Davy Cooper
- Alfred Marks as Adolf Carter
- Andrew Cruickshank as McKillup
- Reginald Beckwith as Station Master
- Susannah York as Ellen
- Jean Clarke as Freda
- Timothy Bateson as Flash Dan
- Paul Whitsun-Jones as Restaurant Gentleman
- Fred Griffiths as Taxi Driver
- Ann Hefferman as Hospital Sister
- Rosalind Knight as Nurse
- Reed De Rouen as Dutchman
- Brian Oulton as Ashton
- Glyn Houston as Smoking Machinist
- Percy Herbert as Prison Warden
- Edna Petrie as Woman at Assembly Hall
- Jack May as Police Sergeant
- Ronald Fraser as General Cummins
- Ed Devereaux as American Colonel
- Sam Kydd as Foreman
- Redmond Phillips as Padre
Release and home media[]
The film was commercially unavailable for many years. It had one television screening on ITV, on Boxing Day 1965. Author and Wisdom biographer Richard Dacre wrote in the booklet notes that accompanied the DVD release that he, Wisdom, and Director Stuart Burge were present when the Barbican Centre Cinema, London, presented its next known public screening at a 'Wisdom Weekend', in 1998. Ten years later, 2008, it was shown in Darwen, Lancashire, where location shots had been filmed in 1960.[4] (However, the 'First Day at Work' scenes were filmed at the "Early's of Witney" blanket factory, in Witney, Oxfordshire.[citation needed])
The film was released on DVD on 8 May 2017.[5]
References[]
- ^ Goble, Alan (8 September 2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. ISBN 9783110951943.
- ^ "There Was a Crooked Man (1960) | BFI". Explore.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- ^ "BFI Screenonline: Wisdom, Norman (1915-2010) Biography". Screenonline.org.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
- ^ Pye, Catherine (20 January 2008). "'Lost' Norman Wisdom film to be shown again". Lancashire Telegraph. Retrieved 27 September 2014.
- ^ http://networkonair.com/shop/2610-there-was-a-crooked-man.html
External links[]
- There Was a Crooked Man at IMDb
- There Was a Crooked Man at AllMovie
- There Was a Crooked Man at the TCM Movie Database
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- English-language films
- 1960 films
- 1960s crime comedy films
- British films
- British crime comedy films
- British films based on plays
- Films shot at Pinewood Studios
- Films directed by Stuart Burge
- 1960 comedy films
- 1960s British comedy film stubs