"You Must Be Joking" is a very funny film. This British production has a different twist in its version of the 1963 Hollywood smash hit "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World." The different twist is a sort of scavenger hunt under the guise of a new initiative test being conducted for the British armed forces. It's the brainchild of Major Foskett, an Army psychiatrist. Men are volunteered from different military branches and groups, including one American from a U.S. Air Force station.
The film has a good plot in which most of the comedy is in situations and antics of the actors. The script has some humorous dialog and some slapstick, but nothing on the level of the 1963 film. Still, there's plenty of humor in the situations and the characters. And, it has a nice cast of several very good actors, including some known in America. I have no doubt that the Brits and others around the U.K. will find more cultural humor than those of us across the pond. I appreciate the line another reviewer noted about the battle cry of Sgt. Major McGregor (Lionel Jeffries).
Jeffries has one of the lead roles. Others are played by Michael Callan (Lt. Tim Morton), Denholm Elliott (Capt. Tabasco), Gabriella Licudi (Annabelle Nash), Lee Montague (SSgt. Mansfield), and Wilfrid Hyde-White (Gen. Lockwood). Among the good supporting cast are Bernard Cribbins, James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips, and Patricia Viterbo. But the funniest scenes are those with Terry-Thomas as Maj. Foskett. At one point, he comments that the test was like conducting a fox hunt, and in the next scene his jeep is in the midst of a fox hunt.
The five objects each man had to find and bring back, without any outside help, are a hood emblem from a Rolls Royce, a Lady Frances McDonaugh (rose), an electric hare from a greyhound racetrack, a plastic duck decorative tile, and a lock of hair from a pop singer. The sixth item they learn of later is the Lutine Bell from Lloyds of London.
Here are some of my favorite lines from the film.
Maj. Foskett, to the security guard at the Northdene U.S. Air Force station gate, "I am a major. You are a sergeant. Majors give orders. Sergeants obey them
." U. S. Air Force guard, "But I'm not even in your Army, sir." Maj Foskett, "That's not my fault."
Lt. Tim Morton, "Uh yes, sir, that's quite clear, uh, but what the heck do I have to do?" Col. Fraser, "Do your best."
Capt. Tabasco, "And remember, ask no questions and you'll hear no lies."
Sgt. Maj. McGregor, "Listen, you're not going to leave the car like that, are you? (Parked on the corner pedestrian crossing). Annabelle, "Oh, it doesn't mind."
Parkins, after Lt. Morton taps the desk bell repeatedly in the fictitious Tweedles men's club, "That is not a musical instrument, sir." Lt. Morton, "Well, it's there to be rung, isn't it?" Parkins, "To be rung, yes. But not to play tunes on."
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