And the Same to You

1960 British film by George Pollock

February 1960 (1960-02)

Running time

70 minutesCountryUnited KingdomLanguageEnglish

And the Same to You is a 1960 British boxing-themed comedy film directed by George Pollock and starring Brian Rix and William Hartnell.^[1] It was written by John Paddy Carstairs, John Junkin and Terry Nation based on the stage farce The Chigwell Chicken by A.P. Dearsley.

Premise

Stuck with the nickname "Dreadnought", Dickie Marchant feels he has no choice but to pursue a career as a boxer. However, to mollify his uncle, Marchant pretends to be the soul of religiosity, while his tough-talking manager, Walter "Wally" Burton, poses as a man of the cloth.

Cast

Brian Rix as Dickie "Dreadnought" Marchant
William Hartnell as Walter "Wally" Burton
Leo Franklyn as Rev. Sydney Mullett
Tommy Cooper as Horace Hawkins
Vera Day as Cynthia Tripp
Sid James as Sammy Gatt
Miles Malleson as Bishop
Arthur Mullard as Tubby
Renée Houston as Mildred Pomphret
Dick Bentley as George Nibbs
John Robinson as Archdeacon Humphrey Pomphret
Terry Scott as Police Constable
Shirley Anne Field as Iris Collins
Ronald Adam as Trout
Tony Wright as Percy "Perce" Gibbons
Larry Taylor as Chappy Tuck
Rupert Evans as Butch
Tommy Duggan as Mike
George Leech as Jake
Lindsay Hooper as Bert Bender
Jean Clark as manicurist
Jennifer Phipps as secretary
Jack Taylor as M.C.
Micky Wood as referee
Bob Simmons as Perce's opponent

Reception

Box office

The film and Inn for Trouble were voted by Kine Weekly as the best British box office double bill for the year 1960.^[2]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The nearer the action gets to stage farce, with its disguises, mistaken identities, outraged clergymen and rapid exits and entrances, the better it hangs together and the more amusing it becomes. The humour early on is obvious and silly, but the long climax is well-constructed and put across with a speed and verve often denied to more original comedy scripts. If the film is not quite as funny as it might be, perhaps that is because not all the players enter into the slightly pre-war spirit of the piece as wholeheartedly as Leo Franklyn and William Hartnell, or give as much to small parts as Sidney James and Tommy Cooper."^[3]

Kine Weekly wrote: "The picture has a poke at the cloth and the fight racket, but its sallies are never malicious. Vera Day is a perky Cynthia, William Hartnell definitely has his moments as Wally, and Brian Rix seldom misses a trick as battling parson-to-be Dickie. Tommy Cooper, Leo Franklyn, Dick Bentley and guest artist Sidney James also seize whatever opportunities come their way. The settings are quite good, but the director sometimes takes too long breaking from clinches."^[4]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Uninventive and unfunny comedy."^[5]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Any film boasting Sid James, Tommy Cooper and Brian Rix in the cast has to be worth a look, but there are few laughs to be had in this screen version of a popular stage farce. Rix stars as a singularly hopeless boxer who has to keep his career hidden from his disapproving archdeacon uncle. John Paddy Carstairs co-wrote the script with John Junkin, but every punch is pulled."^[6]

References

^ "And the Same to You". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
^ Billings, Josh (15 December 1960). "It's Britain 1, 2, 3 again in the 1960 box office stakes". Kine Weekly. p. 8.
^ "And the Same to You". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 27 (312): 49. 1 January 1960 – via ProQuest.
^ "And the Same to You". Kine Weekly. 514 (2735): 28. 3 March 1960 – via ProQuest.
^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 37. ISBN 0586088946.
^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 38. ISBN 9780992936440.