Friday, April 13, 2007

School for Scoundrels (1960)

School for Scoundrels is a satirical British "how to" piece very much in the same vein as Hollywood's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Ian Carmichael plays a naive young loser, Henry Palfrey, who is anxious to get ahead in the world. He enrolls in a "school" that specializes in teaching one-upmanship -- the slogan is "How to win without actually cheating." Through fair means and foul, Henry learns how to come out top dog in any situation, with such experts as Stephen Potter (Alastair Sim) and Raymond Delauney (Terry-Thomas) as his guides. A perceptive series of comic blackouts exposing the essential hypocrisy in all walks of life, School for Scoundrels was based on the book by Stephen Potter. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This was remade into the US version School for Scoundrels (2006). And as the special features pointed out in the remake, the person stealing the heroes significant other and the instructor was two different people in the original while it was the same in the remake.

Lots of funny scenes to make this film a must see. I especially liked the part with Henry and the car salesmen in both scenes.
Rated: 4 (/5)

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