Stanley Windrush has to interrupt his university education when he is called up towards the end of the war. He quickly proves himself not to be officer material, but befriends wily Private Percival Cox who knows exactly how all the scams work in the confused world of the British Army. And Stanley's brigadier War Office uncle seems to be up to something more than a bit shady too - and they are both soon working for him, behind the enemy lines.
Acting
Attenborough's fox-in-henhouse grin steals every scene.
Writing
Dialogue so dry it could start a fire.
Production
Military absurdity shot like a cozy crime caper.
Director
John Boulting
Ian Carmichael
Pte. Stanley Windrush
Richard Attenborough
Pvt. Percival Henry Cox
Terry-Thomas
Major Hitchcock
John Le Mesurier
Psychiatrist
William Hartnell
Sgt. Sutton
Dennis Price
Brig. Bertram Tracepurcel
Ian Bannen
Private Horrocks
Peter Jones
Arthur Egan
Christopher Lee
Major Schultz
Miles Malleson
Mr. Windrush Sr.
Jill Adams
Prudence Greenslade
Victor Maddern
Private George Blake
Kenneth Griffith
Private Dai Jones
George Coulouris
Padre
Marianne Stone
Miss Sugden
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Ian Carmichael and Terry-Thomas became lifelong friends after this, with Carmichael calling their chemistry 'pure greedy selfishness in harmony.'
This was part of a Boulting Brothers comedy cycle satirizing British institutions — their 'Private's Progress' to 'I'm All Right Jack' pipeline basically invented a genre of establishment-roasting that felt affectionate even when brutal.
GB
