Orders Are Orders (1954)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

David Paltenghi

Writers:

Anthony Armstrong (play)
Ian Hay (play)

Release Date:

October 1954 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Movie company wants to shoot a science-fiction film using an Army barracks as location, and its soldiers as actors. Of course, the Commander doesn't like it a bit, and persuades the crew to use a nearby haunted house instead. |

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Group 3 | Based On Play

Cast

Brian Reece	...	Capt. Harper
Margot Grahame	...	Wanda Sinclair
Raymond Huntley	...	Col. Bellamy
Sid James	...	Ed Waggermeyer
Tony Hancock	...	Lt. Wilfred Cartroad
Peter Sellers	...	Pvt. Griffin
Clive Morton	...	Gen. Sir Cuthbert Grahame-Foxe
June Thorburn	...	Veronica Bellamy
Maureen Swanson	...	Joanne Delamere
Peter Martyn	...	Lt. Broke
Bill Fraser	...	Pvt. Slee
Edward Lexy	...	Capt. Ledger
Barry MacKay	...	R.S.M. Benson
Donald Pleasence	...	Cpl. Martin
Eric Sykes	...	Pvt. Waterhouse

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:L

Company:

Group 3

Trivia:

Eric Sykes' first feature.

Movie Connections:

Remake of Orders Is Orders (1933)

Odd and wonderful

It's hard to accept in our terminally wonderless times, but there really was an age when having Sid James, Tony Hancock and Peter Sellers in the same film was not only no big deal, they wouldn't even get top-billing. James is so manic that the cardigan-wearing pipesmoker of Bless This House seems like an entirely different person, Hancock's performance is subdued or understated depending on how you look at it and Sellers is so comfortable with himself and the camera that it's both odd and wonderful. Raymond Huntley looks older and stouter, but is still a deft hand at the pompous charm that would keep him effortlessly in work and great films. Orders are Orders may lack the elegance and surprise of prime Group 3, but there's lots to like and admire, and a bit to scratch your head at too.