Dry Rot (1956) User Reviews

Farce Lost In Chaos

[boblipton · 4/10 · 4 August 2019]

Three not-too-bright bookies -- Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix and Sidney James -- decide to fix a race. They get a terrible horse and set it up to be a long shot, to bring in the punters, and lose. While waiting for the race, they set up in a house run by Michael Sheply and Joan Haythorne. The house is falling apart with dry rot, and supplied with many secret passages, as well as young lovers, a maid-of-all-work played by Joan Sims, and French farceur Christian Duvaleix, with frequent visits by policewoman Peggy Mount.

Director Maurice Elvey is completely out of his depth. I regret to say this, because I am fond of a lot of his work, but there are too many experts in farce pulling in all sorts of directions -- not to mention the horse, who pops up at the most inconvenient moment. For farce to work well, it has to run like clockwork, with a plot that seems to run out of control, until the finale, when everything comes together. That doesn't happen here. Instead, there are dangling plots -- we abandon the young lovers at the racetrack -- for a chaotic chase by the police of the three bookies atop a ladder on a firewagon driven by Duvaleix. The story falls apart in the need for yet one more laugh. It's a pity for such a talented cast and crew.

Should have been funnier

[wilvram · 5/10 · 28 July 2018]

Another attempt to translate a popular stage farce to the screen runs into a familiar problem. Getting the long central section in the boarding house to work, particularly the business with the horse behind the sliding panel, would require much more adroit direction and editing. The comedy in this part is not allowed to flow, dissipating amusing performances from veterans Joan Haythorne and Michael Shepley. Brian Rix is not seen at his best and his one-note, relentlessly gormless character soon becomes tiresome, though Sid James can't fail to raise a few chuckles. But it's quite a likeable British comedy of its day and the final slapstick chase sequence with Peggy Mount at her most terrifying ends the proceedings with a bang.

Anno Domini has given me a Humour Bypass

[howardmorley · 5/10 · 21 February 2011]

My sense of humour must have changed quite a radically since I was 9 years old when I first saw this farce on stage at the Whitehall theater with my late parents with (if I can remember back 56 years ago), Leo Franklin in the part of Sid James.Yes, Brian Rix was in the cast and yes he lost his trousers in good old farce style.In fact I cannot think of Brian Rix in another dramatic role when il ne perdu pas ses pantalons!So After 55 years I bought this film out of curiosity to find out whether I would find any humour still existing in 2011.The answer was only mild echoes from my youth.We had very primitive humour before they were sharpened on Monty Python, Blackadder, satire and modern fearless stand up comedy from the likes of Ben Elton, Bernard Manning et all.

What I did find of interest was seeing Lee Paterson whose most famous role was as Group Capt.Turner, the Canadian fighter pilot from the film "Reach for the Sky" (1956) starring Kenneth More and Heather Sears as "Susan" in "Room at the Top" starring Lawrence Harvey.Sid was Sid James and Ronald Shiner played his usual ignorant cockney role.

Obviously the film has outside location scenes not possible in a theatre production especially shots of Sandown Park racecourse.Had I written this review when I was 9, I would have scored it 8/10 but now alas, I rated it only 5/10 as the humour seemed very primitive to my aging eyes.

Dated and tedious film

[geoffm60295 · 3/10 · 27 November 2022]

The storyline revolves around a highly dubious betting scam in horse racing. Enter, Ronald Shiner, playing a bookie, who I was never keen on, because in this film, like so many of his film roles, he is constantly shouting and grinning. His presence on the screen simply grates - and as for Brian Rix, here is once again playing the gormless 'village idiot' character, which is enough to send audiences running to the exit door, long before the film has finished. 'Dry Rot' was a 'popular' farce that ran for many years at the Whitehall Theatre in London, however, it's transfer to the big screen, failed miserably as the dialogue was excruciatingly bad and the slapstick antics were simply cringeworthy. Sid James gives some mild relief in his usual role as a 'dodgy' spiv type character, but even his comedic acting skills can't save this film from being a total dud. 'Dry Rot,' even when it was released in 1961, looked dated, and sadly with the passage of time, it can only be considered a tedious museum piece.

Farcical fun.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 26 July 2018]

Dry Rot has its funny moments, but the trouble is it just seemed to go on forever, perhaps the gags got a little laboured towards the end of the film, but it still contains a few laughs. Only in it for a small part, but Peggy Mount makes a hilarious Policewoman, in the commanding, domineering battleaxe manner that served her so well. The principle leads are ok, Sid's perhaps the best of the trio, for my money he had more charisma and a better eye for comedy then the other two. Joan Sims is so likeable as hapless housekeeper Beth, but I suppose there were only so many trays she could drop. The script is really good, plenty of slapstick, feels like a grounding for the earliest Carry on films.

It's not a film I'd rush to watch again soon, but I liked it. Cheered me up, 7/10

"Henry, if you must shout, do it quietly!"

[khunkrumark · 5/10 · 1 March 2018]

The biggest problem with this movie is the run time. It's almost two hours long and the 'Three Stooges' impersonations get tiresome after the halfway mark.

But what lifts this up is the rather excellent script. The screenplay has plenty of laugh-out-loud moments but it's unfortunately buried beneath the overplayed performance of the farcical slapstick scenes.

The casting of the characters also lifts this fim... especially Sid James who is a joy to watch on film regardless of what he does or who he is... and here, he is 'Flash Harry!'

Despite a long career, Ronald Shiner is too old to play his part here... and Brian Rix was just starting out on his journey to stardom. However, the satellite characters keep this flick moving along. Brilliant Michael Shepley and Joan Haythorne as Colonel Wagstaff and his detached wife, Joan Sims as Beth the cleaner and there are others.

But like I say, it's just too long and even a 9-year-old boy eventually has to say that enough is enough when it comes to the relentless parade of theatrical slapstick.

brit heist film

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 17 August 2020]

A shady, british gang tries to fix a horse race, among other crooked activities. Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix, Sidney James star as Alf, Fred, and Flash, who run the Honest Alf bookmaker. But they are anything but honest! and Danby (Lee Patterson) gets mixed up with them. some slapstick comedy, three stooges... british-style. it all gets silly, but it's light, fluffy fun, not to be taken at all seriously. running gag about the broken stairs. which never seem to get fixed. and Peggy Mount steals the show as the loud, annoying Sergeant Fire. some clever wordplay with french. and it's even funnier if you actually speak french. directed by Maurice Elvey. apparently he was a bigshot in the early, silent days of British film-making. and made the very first talking film at the studio. (Gaumont British Films was active 1898-1938) Dry Rot was one of Elvey's last films. it was fun to watch. shown on FilmRise channel.

Was Brian Rix ever funny

[malcolmgsw · 4/10 · 7 March 2018]

I never intentionally went to see a Brian Fix film in the cinema,however I did go to see Ronnie Shiners films.For some reason I found him funny.In this film neither is funny.Did James played a bookie,now there's typecasting.Lee Paterson played a romantic lead and Michael Shelley played the sort of part he had played for all his career.Not so much dry as dull rot.

Great cast in a solid British farce

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 23 May 2017]

DRY ROT is a likable enough British comedy of the 1950s, serving as a vehicle for several familiar faces who get a chance to team up. The story is nothing special, about a group of the usual ne'er-do-well characters attempting to get rich quick by fixing a horse race, and it follows the usual comedy of errors farce format so beloved of this era. Cast-wise, the likes of old-timer Ronald Shiner, the youthful Brian Rix, and the reliable Sid James (was he really in EVERY British comedy of the era?) shine, and Michael Shepley, an old character actor of the 1930s, steals all his scenes as a bumbling, doddery old type. Joan Sims shows up, right on the cusp of her CARRY ON stardom, and Miles Malleson has his usual funny cameo. Special mention to Peggy Mount, very funny in her minor role as a policewoman.

Just being irritating on its own is not funny

[zzapper-2 · 3/10 · 29 November 2019]

Shout your lines, misunderstand everything that is said to you. Lots of cameo appearances of stock British Actors. I guess a lot of this would work better live in a theatre , Dry Rot was a long running London theatre production. But on the big screen it all seems laboured , jokes telegraphed in advance.

A brilliant exposition of the lost art of the farce...............

[ianlouisiana · 8/10 · 27 July 2008]

Farce has been defined as "Comedy at 100 m.p.h." and "Dry Rot" is all that and more.Throughout the 1950s and 60s the "Whitehall Theatre" in London was famous for staging a series of farces that ran for years to packed houses.Theatre of this kind depends on split - second timing,agility and spatial awareness as well as interaction with the audience and the willingness to go happily O.T.T. every night and matinees on Wednesday and Saturday for coachloads of O.A.P.s from Birmingham or Worthing.The great Brian Rix,perhaps our finest farceur,was interviewed in the long - defunct "Scene" magazine back in 1963 under the headline"Twenty Years without trousers" and spoke knowledgeably and affectionately about the long history and traditions of the genre.Forty five years later productions - both amateur and professional - of "Dry Rot" still proliferate.It was recently voted into the list of the Top 100 plays of all time. The 1956 movie of the 1954 play is very much a throwback to the 1930s in its tone and content.Dodgy bookmakers,Country houses,maids,comedy police,secret passages - there is an almost Enid Blyton - like innocence to it all. Within a few years the introduction of Betting Shops was to signal the end of the wide boy individual bookmaker with an eye for the main chance who would take your money with a nod and a grin and replace him with the corporate bookmaker with an eye for the main chance who would take your money with a cold - eyed remorselessness. You won't find a Betting Shop in the High Street called "Flash Harry's". Mr R.Shiner,Mr Rix and Mr S.James together with the always formidable Miss P.Mount are the principle actors here.They give every appearance of enjoying themselves hugely - one of the prerequisites of a good farce is that the cast should transmit the fun and excitement of performance to the audience.It is no place for introspection or post - modern irony. Doors must be slammed,trousers must be dropped,lines must be shouted. Maurice Elvey sensibly leaves well enough alone from the director's chair.Writer John Chapman plays a small part and I suspect had some degree of influence over how his fellow thespians interpreted his work. Miss Shirley Anne Field makes an uncredited appearance three years before her big chance in "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning",her subsequent career a study in frustration for the many like me who saw her as a rare talent. The plot,such as it is,about "ringing" a racehorse to bring about a betting coup is pretty much incidental,merely a device on which to hang the joyously silly gags and pratfalls.Back in 1956 I paid my 1/9 to watch Ronnie,Sid,Brian and Peggy do their schtick.Getting Shirley Anne Field thrown in was an unexpected bonus.

Dry Rot review

[JoeytheBrit · 5/10 · 11 May 2020]

Laboured farce in which three hapless bookies attempt to fix a race in order to make a financial killing. Sid James is as dependable as always, but Ronald Shiner comes across as a second-string Stanley Holloway and Brian Rex is simply annoying (although he does manage to keep his trousers on most of the time). Joan Sims at least manages to wring a few laughs from the thin material as a none-too-bright housemaid.

Lots of genuine laughs, but far too frenetic to be fun.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 10 March 2022]

As funny as this trio is, they really needed to be directed that less is more. Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix and Sidney James are all over the place in this racing track comedy where the three should have been on a horse and exhausted before they started filming this. The plot is so over the place that it seems like a race track has greyhounds and classic automobiles on it in addition to the horses. For some reason, the end up taking residence in a house with lots of secret panels, decaying walls (hense the titke) and other wackos popping in and out. As doors slam, pants fall down, panels open and genuine chaos takes over until the action moves back to the race track.

Some visuals work really well in keeping the audience entertained, excuse me but others take away from what little bit of a place there is. This reminds me of the old British forces that would lead a playwright to create "Noises Off", indeed, there are far too many noises here. The funniest did for me was the portly female police officer (Peggy Mount) being stunned by a gunshot and jumping into the arms of one of the men. Fortunately she pops in and out of the story, always deadly serious, and that makes her performance all the funnier. The horse race finale, which ends up on public streets, is funny, but just more evidence as to why farce is funny in smallwr doses. This is so non-stop buffoonery that after a while, it's headache inducing.