The star of The Square Peg was Norman Wisdom, whom I had never heard of before. Apparently he was a very well-known British comedian who worked primarily in TV after making a number of feature length films. Surprisingly, he had a big following in Communist ruled Albania, where the government saw him as a beloved underdog, always challenging the capitalist system.
Here Wisdom plays his usual character, Norman Pitkin, a roadmender for the St. Godric's Borough Council. His boss Mr. Grimsdale (Edward Chapman) is the Borough engineer, a devoted bureaucrat whom Pitkin swears allegiance to as I guess some sort of mentor. The duo is assigned to do some road repair work on an Army base during World War II. Pitkin is the comic foil out on the base and Grimsdale is more of the straight man inside the office. The comedy is supposed to revolve around the duo's machinations as they attempt to circumvent army regulations while on the job. Much of it turns out to be slapstick of a low order.
The break into the Second Act occurs when much to Pitkin's and Grimsdale's chagrin, they are drafted into the Army and are forced to follow rules which they despise. They end up getting on the wrong lorry (truck) and promptly find themselves parachuting out of a plane into France. There's a scene where the bumbling Pitkin holds on to Grimsdale's shoes after losing his own parachute. Not funny at all!
The second half of the film involves the hapless duo's capture by German soldiers. Pitkin is a dead ringer for the commanding Nazi officer and manages to save Grimsdale, a British female spy and members of the French resistance by impersonating the Nazi officer in a heavily guarded chateau. You could liken the whole scenario as a British variation on the American 60s TV series, Hogan's Heroes, where the Germans are depicted as bumbling idiots.
Pitkin is captured at the last minute right before helping the rest of the crew to escape. The only interesting or clever moment in the entire film is how he escapes the firing squad at the last second-it seems that he's able to fall through a hole covering (which Pitkin had covered with leaves earlier) and escapes through a tunnel that leads out of the walled compound.
Amazingly this juvenile claptrap saved Wisdom's film company, the Rank Organisation from bankruptcy. I didn't laugh once during this exercise in debauched historical revisionism and urge all inveterate filmgoers to avoid this one like the plague.
Here Wisdom plays his usual character, Norman Pitkin, a roadmender for the St. Godric's Borough Council. His boss Mr. Grimsdale (Edward Chapman) is the Borough engineer, a devoted bureaucrat whom Pitkin swears allegiance to as I guess some sort of mentor. The duo is assigned to do some road repair work on an Army base during World War II. Pitkin is the comic foil out on the base and Grimsdale is more of the straight man inside the office. The comedy is supposed to revolve around the duo's machinations as they attempt to circumvent army regulations while on the job. Much of it turns out to be slapstick of a low order.
The break into the Second Act occurs when much to Pitkin's and Grimsdale's chagrin, they are drafted into the Army and are forced to follow rules which they despise. They end up getting on the wrong lorry (truck) and promptly find themselves parachuting out of a plane into France. There's a scene where the bumbling Pitkin holds on to Grimsdale's shoes after losing his own parachute. Not funny at all!
The second half of the film involves the hapless duo's capture by German soldiers. Pitkin is a dead ringer for the commanding Nazi officer and manages to save Grimsdale, a British female spy and members of the French resistance by impersonating the Nazi officer in a heavily guarded chateau. You could liken the whole scenario as a British variation on the American 60s TV series, Hogan's Heroes, where the Germans are depicted as bumbling idiots.
Pitkin is captured at the last minute right before helping the rest of the crew to escape. The only interesting or clever moment in the entire film is how he escapes the firing squad at the last second-it seems that he's able to fall through a hole covering (which Pitkin had covered with leaves earlier) and escapes through a tunnel that leads out of the walled compound.
Amazingly this juvenile claptrap saved Wisdom's film company, the Rank Organisation from bankruptcy. I didn't laugh once during this exercise in debauched historical revisionism and urge all inveterate filmgoers to avoid this one like the plague.