Wilfrid Lawson was an heroic drinker.Once when starring as the Duke of Buckingham with fellow boozehound Robert Newton in a production of" Richard the third" he stumbled all over the stage,finally tripping over his sword.As he struggled upright a voice from the audience assailed him "You're p*ssed!".He staggered to the footlights and screwed up his eyes,"if you think I'm p*ssed you should see the Duke of Clarence",he shouted,grinning manically.Now he was either almost permanently p*ssed during the making of "The wrong box",or he was the greatest actor I have ever seen.Mr Bryan Forbes assembled some lovely actors of both generations for his movie of greed and deceit amongst the Victorian upper middle classes.I can feel affinity with the Finsburys because my grandmother was the loser in a Tontine and had she not rather inconsiderately fallen under the wheels of a London Omnibus I might have been heir to a fortune.On the other hand I might have ended up the victim of a fiendish plot by disgruntled relatives................. Unfancied at the time of its release this movie has gained enormous piquancy as time has taken its inevitable toll of the stellar cast. Mr Forbes shows his customary affection for the British character with all its eccentricities and pulls off the difficult trick of directing with a firm hand whilst displaying a light touch.Mrs Forbes is a particular beneficiary here,glowingly sweet and innocent. Mr Lawson is the undoubted star of the show,but Mr Sellers and Mr Walters acquit themselves particularly well in support.Miss Courtneidge who graced Mr Forbes' earlier "The L - shaped room" is splendid as the Salvation Army lady. The whole movie glows in that particular "Geneveive" light and colour that epitomises a whole culture of British pictures when the making of them was very much a cottage industry. I will mention Mr Hancock principally because he is so poorly represented on film that any opportunity to see world - weary but defiant persona must be seized with alacrity. There is a self - effacing Englishness about the acting that will appeal to those who feel that "Deuce Bigelow" and "Dodgeball" are just a trifle de trop.
Review of The Wrong Box
