Laughter in Paradise (1951)

Laughter in Paradise is a British film comedy first released in 1951, directed by Mario Zampi.  The film stars Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, Guy Middleton, George Cole and Hugh Griffith.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


When Henry Russell, a renowned practical joker, dies, he leaves his entire estate to his four surviving relatives.  They will each inherit £50,000, providing they fulfil the terms specified in the dead man’s will.  Deniston Russell, a respectable man who makes a living by writing penny dreadfuls, is required to commit a crime and spend a month in jail.  The snobbish spinster Agnes Russell must work as a housemaid.  Simon Russell, a womanising playboy, is given the onerous task of marrying the first single woman he meets.  And timid bank clerk Herbert Russell must hold up the bank he works with a water pistol.  Eager to get their hands on their inheritance, the four relatives hastily set about the tasks they have been assigned, unaware that Uncle Henry will have the last laugh...

This delightful Ealing-style comedy brings together some of the best-loved British actors of the day and is a classic of its kind.  Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and George Cole, all mainstays of British film comedy in the 1950s, turn in some fine comedic performances; they would be reunited a few years later for one of their biggest successes, The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954), and its first sequel.  Fay Compton was more noted for her stage work than her film work and here she gives a fine character performance, bringing a touching poignancy that nicely counterbalances the humour supplied by Sim and his fellow mirth makers.  John Laurie plays a cantankerous old Scotsman which is clearly a forerunner of the character he would portray in the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army.  And if you pay particular attention you may spot Audrey Hepburn making her (fleeting) screen debut.

Laughter in Paradise was scripted by Michael Pertwee, brother of the well-known actor Jon, and directed by Mario Zampi, an Italian who appeared to have a keener appreciation of Britishness than most home-grown British directors of the time.  With his compatriot Filippo Del Giudice, Zampi had founded Two Cities Films, the company that made such quintessentially British films as In Which We Serve (1942) and Laurence Olivier’s Henry V (1944).   Zampi also directed two other notable British comedies, The Naked Truth (1957) and Too Many Crooks (1959).

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