Thanks to the excellent UK TV station Talking Pictures TV, some of us are now getting the option to re-evaluate the formerly 'lost' Hammer Films comedy THE UGLY DUCKLING, which was broadcast for the first time in October 2018. It's the first of three Hammer adaptations of the Robert Louis Stevenson novella DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE, and the only one that's an out-and-out comedy. A simpering Bernard Bresslaw - who still has the annoying character he had in I ONLY ARSKED! - plays the mild-mannered and clumsy protagonist, who takes a magic potion and turns into the slick spiv Teddy Hyde. He becomes involved in a low-level crime plot and has to be rescued by some crucial allies including his brother, as played by Jon Pertwee. This is very much a typical British comedy of the era, lighthearted and dated when it comes to the humour, but nonetheless providing a fun snapshot of British cinema in the late 1950s. The production values are strong and the supporting cast impressive, with Michael Ripper, Harold Goodwin, David Lodge, Richard Wattis and Reginald Beckwith all enjoyable in their own way.
Review of The Ugly Duckling
