Convict 99 (1938) - film review

Having been booted out of the school where he was headmaster, Dr Benjamin Twist goes for an interview for a job at another school.  By a quirk of fate, he goes to the wrong interview and ends up being appointed governor of a prison for hardened criminals.  Dr Twist’s arrival at the prison coincides with a full-scale riot in which one of the prisoners manages to escape.  Mistaken for the missing prisoner, Dr Twist is thrown into a cell, despite his protestations.  When the misunderstanding has been cleared up, Dr Twist wastes no time instituting a new regime in which the prison warders wait on the convicts as though they were guests at a hotel.  To pay for the prisoners’ little luxuries, Dr Twist starts up a company that trades in stock and shares.  All is well until the escaped prisoner shows up with his girlfriend and robs Dr Twist of his hard won gains...

In this classic British comedy, Will Hay reprises his most famous role, the shambolic schoolmaster last seen foiling an attempt to steal the Mona Lisa in Good Morning, Boys (1937).  Here, this unique comic genius is again partnered with Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt, the hapless stooges of Hay’s previous Oh, Mr. Porter! (1937) and Old Bones of the River (1938).  The cast list includes two other notable performers of this era, Basil Radford and Googie Withers, although neither is particularly well utilised in this film.  With its superior production values and unflagging, boisterous comedy, this is easily one of Will Hay’s best and funniest films. 

Convict 99 is a full-bloodied satire on the British prison system of the 1930s, lampooning the reforms which had been introduced to make life easier for convicted criminals (to the disapprobation of the public at large).  In the topsy-turvy world portrayed in this film, the crooks are so happy to be locked up that they become a force for good, breaking into a bank to replace stolen money to ensure their trust fund remains solvent.  The catalyst for this transformation is of course Will Hay’s morally ambiguous schoolteacher, an authoritarian anarchist who sows chaos and confusion wherever he goes but somehow manages to make the world a better place as a result.

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