0:00:16 > 0:00:18Charlie Chaplin -
0:00:18 > 0:00:24cinema's first truly international star. Born in London.
0:00:25 > 0:00:28Stan Laurel, born in Cumbria
0:00:28 > 0:00:31and one half of one of comedy's greatest double acts.
0:00:33 > 0:00:36Ever since the heyday of this glorious pair,
0:00:36 > 0:00:41British comedians have had fans rolling in the aisles with laughter.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43In this programme we're looking at some of the funniest
0:00:43 > 0:00:49home-grown film stars to make their mark on British cinema audiences.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55We start with a man who, armed with only a ukulele and a cheeky grin,
0:00:55 > 0:01:00became Britain's biggest box-office star of the 1930s and '40s.
0:01:00 > 0:01:03So here is the great George Formby,
0:01:03 > 0:01:06explaining how his movie career took off.
0:01:07 > 0:01:10People have said to me many, many a time,
0:01:10 > 0:01:12"How did you start in pictures?"
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Well, have you ever felt that
0:01:15 > 0:01:18if you got the chance, you could do a thing really well?
0:01:18 > 0:01:21Well, that's the way I felt about pictures.
0:01:21 > 0:01:23And many years ago
0:01:23 > 0:01:25I came down to London
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and I even wrote my own scripts, along with Beryl
0:01:27 > 0:01:32and a man called Arthur Mertz, and we went all around the studios.
0:01:32 > 0:01:34They'd never heard of George Formby,
0:01:34 > 0:01:36the didn't even WANT to hear about him.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39I went everywhere, but nobody wanted to know at all,
0:01:39 > 0:01:43so back up to the provinces I went, and we worked around for a long time
0:01:43 > 0:01:47and I was playing in a place called Warrington, and a man called
0:01:47 > 0:01:48John E Blakeley came round
0:01:48 > 0:01:51and he said, "I'd like to make pictures with you."
0:01:51 > 0:01:53I nearly grabbed his hand off.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56Anyway, he said, come up on Sunday and we'll talk it over.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00So we went up on the Sunday, and we talked it over and he said,
0:02:00 > 0:02:03"Yes, I'd like to make pictures, but I haven't got a story."
0:02:03 > 0:02:05I said, "I have."
0:02:05 > 0:02:07And we brought out this little story we had written,
0:02:07 > 0:02:11called "Boots! Boots!" So the whole thing was settled,
0:02:11 > 0:02:16we came to London and we went to the film studios. Studios(!)
0:02:16 > 0:02:19One room over a garage in Albany Street!
0:02:19 > 0:02:22And when we wanted to start making the picture,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26we had to press a button so that they stopped the engines down below.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Well, at the end of 14 days we'd finished the picture,
0:02:30 > 0:02:35and it cost the large sum of ?3,000. Then came the time to sell it.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Nobody wanted to buy it.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41At it did get a world premiere in a place called Burslem.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43LAUGHTER
0:02:43 > 0:02:45It did, you know, and I'll never forget because I went up there
0:02:45 > 0:02:49and, strange as it may seem, it packed them out.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51Oh, and it was a lousy picture.
0:02:51 > 0:02:52LAUGHTER
0:02:52 > 0:02:57Ooh, it was so dark in places you had to strike matches to see it.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59The courting couples liked it, though.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03But at that time Basil Dean was making a lot of very big pictures.
0:03:03 > 0:03:04He was going round the country
0:03:04 > 0:03:07trying to find what the different salesmen wanted.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10And they said, "We want George Formby pictures."
0:03:10 > 0:03:13He said, "Who's George Formby?" He said, "Look through that window."
0:03:13 > 0:03:16And he saw a queue wrapped right round the theatre,
0:03:16 > 0:03:18looking at "Boots! Boots!"
0:03:18 > 0:03:22So he got them to bring me down to Ealing Studios, I signed
0:03:22 > 0:03:27a seven-year contract, and that was the start of me making 22 films.
0:03:27 > 0:03:31And strange as it may seem, every one was a success.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37George Formby's film persona
0:03:37 > 0:03:41was the lovably, innocent cheeky chappie -
0:03:41 > 0:03:44territory also mined with great success
0:03:44 > 0:03:46by the wonderful Norman Wisdom.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51But tickling a different funny bone entirely were Britain's most
0:03:51 > 0:03:54critically successful films of the period -
0:03:54 > 0:03:56the Ealing Comedies.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Full of dark, satirical humour, they won awards,
0:04:00 > 0:04:04were hugely influential, and showcased some wonderful actors,
0:04:04 > 0:04:06including, of course,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09the incredibly versatile Alec Guinness.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13Perhaps the richest vein of your film career,
0:04:13 > 0:04:17although you might not agree, was the Ealing comedies.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Well, I was very lucky over that.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28Sir Michael Balcon sent me with Robert Hamer, with whom
0:04:28 > 0:04:30I became great friends, sent me the script
0:04:30 > 0:04:32of Kind Hearts And Coronets,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35just as I was going away on holiday, asking me
0:04:35 > 0:04:38if I would play four parts in it.
0:04:38 > 0:04:45And I read it on a beach in France, and I collapsed with laughter on the
0:04:45 > 0:04:49first page, and didn't even bother to get to the end of the script.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52I went straight back to the hotel, sent a telegram, saying,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54"Why four parts, why not eight?"
0:04:54 > 0:04:58The SPCK have provided us with a large number of copies
0:04:58 > 0:05:02of the good book, translated into Matabele.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05But as none of the natives can read even their own language...
0:05:05 > 0:05:08You speak Matabele yourself?
0:05:08 > 0:05:09Not as a native.
0:05:09 > 0:05:15It would be most interesting to hear a sample of the language.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18I'm afraid my Matabele is a little rusty.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Oh, come, my Lord.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27Daniel cast into the lions' den, for example.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33HE SPEAKS GIBBERISH
0:05:33 > 0:05:34..Daniel...
0:05:38 > 0:05:41This is a colloquial rendering, of course.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43Most interesting.
0:05:45 > 0:05:50Another Ealing Comedy - greatly underestimated, I think -
0:05:50 > 0:05:51was Man In The White Suit.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54Well, I thought that was a marvellous film.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57I thought Sandy Mackendrick did a wonderful job on that.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01I remember being very angry at a notice coming out
0:06:01 > 0:06:05saying it was an ignoble film, because the suit
0:06:05 > 0:06:09disintegrated at the end and people jeered and laughed.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13I thought they totally missed the point of the whole thing.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16That was...
0:06:17 > 0:06:20I thought it was very original and amusing to look at,
0:06:20 > 0:06:22and a kind of classic of its time.
0:06:22 > 0:06:26This was about a man who'd invented an indestructible...
0:06:26 > 0:06:30Material, yes, cloth that wouldn't ever wear out.
0:06:50 > 0:06:51THEY ALL LAUGH
0:06:54 > 0:06:57Look! It's coming to pieces!
0:06:59 > 0:07:00We're saved!
0:07:09 > 0:07:11Look! Look!
0:07:12 > 0:07:14Sir John, look! Sir John!
0:07:26 > 0:07:28LAUGHTER FADES INTO DISTANCE
0:07:30 > 0:07:33Look! Look! Look!
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Of course, the other Ealing Comedy that everybody remembers is
0:07:49 > 0:07:53The Ladykillers. How do you think that one stands out? 1955.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56I don't know, I haven't seen that film.
0:07:56 > 0:07:58That was Sandy Mackendrick again.
0:07:59 > 0:08:03I would have thought all right. I don't know!
0:08:03 > 0:08:05Let's have a look at a bit of it anyway.
0:08:07 > 0:08:13Mrs Wilberforce? Yes? I understand you have rooms to let.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15Oh, the rooms, yes. Won't you come in, please?
0:08:15 > 0:08:17Thank you. My name's Marcus.
0:08:17 > 0:08:21How do you do, Mr Marcus? Professor Marcus. How do you do, Professor?
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Yes, I have two, right up...
0:08:24 > 0:08:26Oh, yes, would you excuse me a moment
0:08:26 > 0:08:27while I put this away, please?
0:08:41 > 0:08:43SINISTER MUSIC PLAYS
0:08:43 > 0:08:46I'm afraid it's quite impossible to make it hang evenly,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50Professor Marcus. Because of the subsidence. Subsidence?
0:08:50 > 0:08:53From the bombing. None of the pictures will.
0:08:53 > 0:08:54You have no other lodgers?
0:08:54 > 0:08:58No, the other floors are no longer structurally sound.
0:08:58 > 0:09:00But the two rooms at the rear are quite all right.
0:09:00 > 0:09:03Then, you live here all alone? Yes.
0:09:03 > 0:09:04I think I should tell you,
0:09:04 > 0:09:08Professor, I am unable to provide breakfast or early morning tea.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12This is the sitting room, and the bedroom is just down here.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15These rooms do need an airing, don't they?
0:09:15 > 0:09:19I'm afraid there is no proper service, and the view is, well...
0:09:19 > 0:09:21TRAIN WHISTLES AND SCREECHES
0:09:23 > 0:09:24Most exhilarating.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33One year before The Ladykillers, British cinema audiences had
0:09:33 > 0:09:37been queuing in their hundreds to see a comedy film that was
0:09:37 > 0:09:43so successful it would spawn six sequels and a long-running TV series.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45It turned Dirk Bogarde,
0:09:45 > 0:09:49a relatively unknown actor with serious aspirations,
0:09:49 > 0:09:52into one of the biggest stars of the 1950s.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57You moved to a very successful series of films,
0:09:57 > 0:10:01which were the Doctor films.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05When you were working in what many people might consider
0:10:05 > 0:10:07unremarkable cinema,
0:10:07 > 0:10:11were you striving to do your best within those circumstances,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15or were you not all that conscious that it was unremarkable cinema?
0:10:15 > 0:10:19Look here, let's get one thing absolutely straight.
0:10:19 > 0:10:24All I've ever been in the cinema or in the theatre or in my books
0:10:24 > 0:10:25is an entertainer.
0:10:27 > 0:10:30Nothing more and nothing less. That's all I am.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35And anything I do, I do to the depths of my gut.
0:10:35 > 0:10:38I would never, as I said, cheat anyone.
0:10:38 > 0:10:40I never considered those films
0:10:40 > 0:10:42as crappy or stupid or whatever they were.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45They were there to pleasure people,
0:10:45 > 0:10:48they were there to pleasure people who came to see us.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51You don't betray that faith. You don't betray people who
0:10:51 > 0:10:56have staggered miles in a snowstorm to get to the movie to see you.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58You do everything you can.
0:10:58 > 0:11:03And people met and married in movies that I made.
0:11:03 > 0:11:05They dated.
0:11:05 > 0:11:11I have four generations of people that I am directly responsible to.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16I couldn't possibly say that I did anything more
0:11:16 > 0:11:23than do the best thing I COULD do to the highest point of my ability,
0:11:23 > 0:11:26and never once looked down on it. I never. I couldn't do.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30And I loved the cinema too much anyway, that was another thing.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32It was growing and growing and growing.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36When I found that a crew was working, and that was working,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39and how it worked, and this was working, the boom,
0:11:39 > 0:11:45all these wonderful things came in, and I was being taken in again,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49into a force, like I had been in the Army,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and producing something at the end of it.
0:11:52 > 0:11:54But I was very, very proud of those films.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56I mean, some of them were rubbish, I admit,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58but people like rubbish, you know.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01People don't want always to be educated, illuminating...
0:12:02 > 0:12:05DOG WHIMPERS
0:12:09 > 0:12:11Hurry along, there.
0:12:11 > 0:12:14Come on, hurry along. Hold tight, please.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16BELL RINGS
0:12:32 > 0:12:34TYRES SCREECH
0:12:34 > 0:12:36WOMAN SCREAMS
0:12:36 > 0:12:38But in the Doctor films I said, "Whatever I do
0:12:38 > 0:12:40"I've got to be a doctor,"
0:12:40 > 0:12:42because the one thing you must never do, coming back to it again -
0:12:42 > 0:12:44cut it out if you don't want it -
0:12:44 > 0:12:46don't cheat an audience, and I never did.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49And I was never funny in the Doctor films. They THINK I was funny.
0:12:51 > 0:12:56Audiences THINK I was funny, but the people around me were funny,
0:12:56 > 0:12:59but I was always real, so that when I had to deliver a baby
0:12:59 > 0:13:03or take out a tooth or whatever it was, you believed in it.
0:13:03 > 0:13:08It was the hard core of the movie... was Simon Sparrow.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Morning, Sister. Morning, Sir Lancelot. Everything ready?
0:13:12 > 0:13:13All ready, Sir. Splendid.
0:13:19 > 0:13:21Now, you just lie still, old fellow.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24I've just got to discuss your case with these young doctors here.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27Take his pyjamas off, Sister. You, examine his abdomen.
0:13:30 > 0:13:32Take that grubby fist away!
0:13:32 > 0:13:34The first rule of diagnosis, gentlemen -
0:13:34 > 0:13:37eyes first and most, hands next and least, and tongue not at all.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Look!
0:13:41 > 0:13:44Have you looked? Yes, sir. See anything? No, sir. Very good.
0:13:44 > 0:13:45Carry on.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Gently, man! Gently! You're not making bread.
0:13:48 > 0:13:50Don't forget, to be a successful surgeon, you need
0:13:50 > 0:13:53the eye of a hawk, the heart of a lion and the hands of a lady.
0:13:53 > 0:13:54You found it?
0:13:54 > 0:14:00Yes, sir. Well, what is it? A lump. Well? What do you make of it?
0:14:00 > 0:14:04Is it kidney? Is it spleen? Is it liver?
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Is it dangerous? Don't worry, my good man.
0:14:07 > 0:14:09You won't understand our medical talk... Um, you.
0:14:09 > 0:14:13What are we going to do about it? Erm...
0:14:13 > 0:14:16Cut it out, man, cut it out! Where shall we make the incision?
0:14:21 > 0:14:24Nothing like large enough. Keyhole surgery, damnable.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26Couldn't see anything. Like this.
0:14:26 > 0:14:30Now, don't worry, this is nothing whatever to do with you. Now, you.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34When we cut through the skin, what's the first substance we shall find?
0:14:34 > 0:14:36Subcutaneous fat, Sir. Quite right.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Then we come across the surgeon's worst enemy, which is what?
0:14:40 > 0:14:42Speak up, man!
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Blood, you numbskull!
0:14:44 > 0:14:46You cut a patient,
0:14:46 > 0:14:49he bleeds until the processes of nature form a clot and stop it.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53This interval is known scientifically as the bleeding time.
0:14:53 > 0:14:54You, what's the bleeding time?
0:14:54 > 0:14:56Ten past ten, Sir.
0:14:56 > 0:15:02A classic line! And James Robertson Justice proved to be so popular
0:15:02 > 0:15:06playing the demanding surgeon Sir Lancelot Spratt,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09he ended up appearing in all seven of the Doctor film series.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14Now, it has been said of you you're an actor who doesn't need to...
0:15:14 > 0:15:17play a part, because the parts you're cast for
0:15:17 > 0:15:20you very often resemble, um, physically
0:15:20 > 0:15:24and that in fact you play along with your own personality.
0:15:24 > 0:15:27Now, how much is that true? Well...
0:15:27 > 0:15:29I would like to suggest that...
0:15:29 > 0:15:32the answer is that if one behaves absolutely
0:15:32 > 0:15:36as one does in private life in front of the screen,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39it would come over...far too vague, in other words,
0:15:39 > 0:15:44there must be a conscious effort to UNDERPLAY a part.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47Even if you are more or less doing it as you would,
0:15:47 > 0:15:50er, do it yourself.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54It still must be brought down a bit, otherwise it would be a firing.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56So that you're really underplaying your own personality?
0:15:56 > 0:15:58I hope so.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01Even if a character like Sir Lancelot Pratt,
0:16:01 > 0:16:02the doctor of the doctor series...
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Sir Lancelot Spratt, if you don't mind. Spratt. Er...
0:16:06 > 0:16:12Well, yes, he was of course founded on somebody that I knew very well.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16Er, who was also a great ornithologist
0:16:16 > 0:16:18and a great surgeon
0:16:18 > 0:16:19and used to...
0:16:19 > 0:16:22he had a wonderful team
0:16:22 > 0:16:25in the operating theatre
0:16:25 > 0:16:27at the hospital...
0:16:27 > 0:16:30of which he was a very senior surgeon.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35And they were all quite used to him, but he had a nervous habit
0:16:35 > 0:16:38of using the most terrible language all the time he was operating.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Everybody was quite used to this, and knew that it meant nothing, it was just a nervous thing.
0:16:42 > 0:16:43And, er...
0:16:45 > 0:16:47I know a lot of people will remember him
0:16:47 > 0:16:49if I say, use the word 'snorker'.
0:16:49 > 0:16:53INTERVIEWER LAUGHS And I won't mention his real name,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56but that will bring back memories to a great number of people.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Of course, nurses, doctors, and matrons
0:17:04 > 0:17:06were also exploited to comic effect
0:17:06 > 0:17:10in Britain's most enduring comedy series....
0:17:10 > 0:17:12the Carry On films.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14With a popular cast
0:17:14 > 0:17:18delivering more than double the normal share of double entendres,
0:17:18 > 0:17:24their saucy postcard humour lasted for a total of 31 films.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27And in 1970,
0:17:27 > 0:17:31the BBC turned up on the set of number 19,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Carry On Up The Jungle.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37Well, our films really started, as you say, by accident.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41We had a script given to us of an army comedy
0:17:41 > 0:17:43which nobody else seemed to want
0:17:43 > 0:17:46and Peter Rogers and myself decided it would make a funny picture.
0:17:46 > 0:17:48So, we knocked it into shape
0:17:48 > 0:17:52and the distributors liked the picture, but didn't like the title,
0:17:52 > 0:17:55so they changed it, in confidence, to Carry On Sergeant.
0:17:57 > 0:17:58All right, turn around.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02Now, breathe deeply.
0:18:02 > 0:18:04In, out. HE EXHALES DEEPLY
0:18:06 > 0:18:08Say 99. Ninety...nine. HE COUGHS
0:18:08 > 0:18:09Overheat.
0:18:09 > 0:18:10Something's wrong, eh?
0:18:10 > 0:18:14Congratulations, you have a perfect heart and lungs. Wha...
0:18:14 > 0:18:17No, Doctor. My heart hangs by a thread.
0:18:17 > 0:18:19By a rope, my boy.
0:18:19 > 0:18:21Rope? What do you mean?
0:18:22 > 0:18:25He doesn't understand, my heart... Lie down.
0:18:25 > 0:18:26Ooh!
0:18:26 > 0:18:28HE STRAINS
0:18:28 > 0:18:29Good. How's that?
0:18:29 > 0:18:30HE STRAINS
0:18:30 > 0:18:32Remarkable. Stand up.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Uh... Stand still.
0:18:35 > 0:18:36HE GIGGLES Cough.
0:18:36 > 0:18:37HE COUGHS
0:18:37 > 0:18:40A-ha. A-ha. You see?
0:18:40 > 0:18:41Fantastic.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43What is? Stomach's a model.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45You've got a digestive system like an incinerator.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49I went and saw Carry On Camping in Blackpool one afternoon,
0:18:49 > 0:18:52I was up there for a summer season. I've never heard anything like it.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56First of all, you couldn't get into the cinema.
0:18:56 > 0:18:57You just couldn't.
0:18:57 > 0:19:01I just happened to know the manager and I went and stood at the back.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03I'd never heard such laughter.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Are you the owner of this site? Nah.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26Where is he? Gone for a P. Oh.
0:19:26 > 0:19:28Here he comes now.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32BIRDS TWEET
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Well, we've basically tried to make...broad,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42bawdy, if you like, even vulgar humour,
0:19:42 > 0:19:45which has a family appeal and which at the same time
0:19:45 > 0:19:48never actually takes the mickey out of the institution,
0:19:48 > 0:19:49but only the people in it.
0:19:49 > 0:19:53We don't want to make people frightened of hospitals, policeman and fireman.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56But we don't mind taking the fun out of the actual policeman themselves.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58The lovely thing, really, is that in the Carry Ons
0:19:58 > 0:20:00you get a chance to sort of...
0:20:00 > 0:20:05play all sorts of roles, you know, which is...great fun.
0:20:05 > 0:20:06I played a hell of a lot of different roles,
0:20:06 > 0:20:08but they're all me...
0:20:09 > 0:20:10with different hats on.
0:20:10 > 0:20:11SID LAUGHS
0:20:11 > 0:20:15These pictures are so successful. I'm a big hit in Japan.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18And they had to queue up in Los Angeles and...
0:20:18 > 0:20:19and in India, believe it or not.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22The lovely thing with the Carry Ons of course it's like
0:20:22 > 0:20:25coming back to school after the holidays, cos...
0:20:25 > 0:20:27you know the people that you're working with.
0:20:27 > 0:20:30And as you get to know them, of course,
0:20:30 > 0:20:32your timing becomes that much tighter...
0:20:34 > 0:20:37and there's just a very happy atmosphere.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40I always feel sorry for a newcomer because he feels strange,
0:20:40 > 0:20:43cos it is really like coming into somebody's family.
0:20:44 > 0:20:48But, er, we've never ever had any trouble with newcomers,
0:20:48 > 0:20:49really, cos we just belt 'em.
0:20:49 > 0:20:51You know, Thomas, our director,
0:20:51 > 0:20:54is as responsible as anybody for the success with the films,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56he's directed them all,
0:20:56 > 0:20:58he keeps us in order,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01quite rightly, we have to do what we're told
0:21:01 > 0:21:06and we discuss everything together as friends would
0:21:06 > 0:21:10and, um...he's got firm hand over the controls.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13The competition is murder. You have got to look after yourself.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15I just make a habit of playing against the others.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19And that... Because I'm not strictly a comic. I'm not a comic at all.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24These other blokes are comedians, I'm more of a sort of re-actor.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27So I let them do it and then I throw a couple of counterpunches.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29It's all I can do.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Our scriptwriter, Talbot Rothwell, has an enormous fund of gags.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I think he has a Victorian gag book at home.
0:21:35 > 0:21:37And, you know, basically,
0:21:37 > 0:21:41our pictures are of the same format, with the same people.
0:21:41 > 0:21:44Different locales and different incidents that happen
0:21:44 > 0:21:47but basically it is a formula which the public expect.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Word-play and period costume also featured heavily in the films
0:21:55 > 0:22:00of another comedy gang who entered the world of cinema in the 1970s.
0:22:00 > 0:22:04But where the Carry On films were dismissed by most critics,
0:22:04 > 0:22:08the Monty Python films received rave reviews -
0:22:08 > 0:22:12give or take the odd religious controversy.
0:22:12 > 0:22:18Their first foray into cinema was The Holy Grail starring Graham Chapman
0:22:18 > 0:22:22as King Arthur and co-directed by the Python's two Terrys -
0:22:22 > 0:22:24Gilliam and Jones.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28DRAMATIC MUSIC
0:22:39 > 0:22:41How do two people who have never directed
0:22:41 > 0:22:44a film before in their lives, direct a film?
0:22:44 > 0:22:46Well... HE LAUGHS
0:22:46 > 0:22:48We are learning as we do it. That's what's nice,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51we've been given a film to learn how to make films on.
0:22:51 > 0:22:52They're pretty good.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55They're pretty good. They're both very visually orientated.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Very aware of picture compositions.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02Ingmar Bergman is going to be really jealous of this one!
0:23:02 > 0:23:07There's a slight joke about us that we make about them, that the jokes
0:23:07 > 0:23:10tend to be a bit secondary to whether it looks good, you know.
0:23:10 > 0:23:12So we keep sort of...
0:23:12 > 0:23:14When they say, "more smoke", "more smoke"
0:23:14 > 0:23:16and this kind of thing, because we have hardly had
0:23:16 > 0:23:21a shot yet that we haven't had smoke or some such arty visual effect.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25We tend to ask them how many laughs there are in smoke, you know,
0:23:25 > 0:23:27just to keep them, as it were, thinking of that.
0:23:27 > 0:23:28But that's the only criticism.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Up with the cow, as high as you can to start with.
0:23:32 > 0:23:34You've got your questions ready.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37I know I've got my questions ready.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41Which of these questions would you most not like to answer?
0:23:41 > 0:23:43The first couple of days, we just sort of leapt into it,
0:23:43 > 0:23:44and immediately...
0:23:44 > 0:23:47First of all, we had chosen an impossible location,
0:23:47 > 0:23:48about a half mile up Glencoe.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51So everything have to be humped by Sherpas up the mountain.
0:23:51 > 0:23:53We got up there, the very first shot of the film,
0:23:53 > 0:23:56the big moment the camera turns, and it jammed!
0:23:56 > 0:23:58So we didn't have a sound camera.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01And all our great plans were suddenly up in the air.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03We panicked and we just had to try to get a film made.
0:24:03 > 0:24:08In this incredible location, no camera and no experience,
0:24:08 > 0:24:09that's the worst of it.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Where is the other Terry now? He's directing.
0:24:12 > 0:24:13He's directing the film.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16Charlie, you come to this mark there, to where he is.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19We do tag team directing.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22Can you give me a brief synopsis of the film,
0:24:22 > 0:24:24is that possible in the space of half an hour or so?
0:24:24 > 0:24:27Well, I don't think it is, really. I don't think it is.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30Try in 30 seconds. Right...
0:24:30 > 0:24:33It's about a search for the Holy Grail,
0:24:33 > 0:24:37which is a large sort of creature, a bit like a dodo.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40With a big beak.
0:24:40 > 0:24:42And people are trying to find this Grail.
0:24:48 > 0:24:49Do they?
0:24:50 > 0:24:53No. No. Isn't that rather a letdown? Don't you feel that the audience...?
0:24:53 > 0:24:56It's a big letdown. The whole film is a great anti-climax.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59John, apart from being interviewed by Film Night,
0:24:59 > 0:25:03what are the real horrors of film-making on location?
0:25:03 > 0:25:07Apart from the interviews, well, there is the sheer discomfort.
0:25:07 > 0:25:12The sheer... Am I too heavy? No. No, that's fine. No.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14Move up a little bit. That's better.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16How do you prevent boredom from creeping in?
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Well, I don't, really. Boredom creeps in daily.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24We sit in our rent-a-van and think what we could be doing
0:25:24 > 0:25:27if we weren't making films.
0:25:27 > 0:25:34DRAMATIC MUSIC
0:25:45 > 0:25:48INAUDIBLE
0:25:49 > 0:25:51HE BLOWS A RASPBERRY
0:25:53 > 0:25:57After the last of the Python films, John Cleese scored
0:25:57 > 0:26:03a huge international hit with his 1988 comedy A Fish Called Wanda.
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Also featuring Michael Palin.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Its director was the then 78-year-old Charles Crichton,
0:26:10 > 0:26:15who Cleese chose specifically because decades before he had directed
0:26:15 > 0:26:18Ealing Comedies The Man in the White Suit
0:26:18 > 0:26:20and The Titfield Thunderbolt.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23That's the tradition that I come from. The Ealing Comedies.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26Those are the ones I loved when I was a kid.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30And to make one in that vein, but with that slightly black edge,
0:26:30 > 0:26:33which I really personally prefer in comedy.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35I call it wickedness.
0:26:35 > 0:26:40It is... Please don't take it seriously, it's all pretend.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43But I love that real edge to the comedy.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47A Fish Called Wanda turned out to be Britain's
0:26:47 > 0:26:53biggest international comedy film for years until 1994, when the world fell
0:26:53 > 0:26:57head over heels in love with a floppy-haired posh boy
0:26:57 > 0:26:59and his amorous misadventures.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05I assumed we had completely fouled it up and certainly...
0:27:05 > 0:27:09I mean, I never watched any rushes until the last day
0:27:09 > 0:27:12when Mike Newell came up to me at lunchtime
0:27:12 > 0:27:15and said, "Come along." We are showing some rough assembly.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17"You've got nothing to lose now,
0:27:17 > 0:27:19"it's only one afternoon's work left."
0:27:19 > 0:27:22So I went along and I sat there with about 50, no,
0:27:22 > 0:27:26about 100 cast and crew watching this thing
0:27:26 > 0:27:28and there wasn't a laugh in it!
0:27:31 > 0:27:34You know, in the months that followed,
0:27:34 > 0:27:36I really thought I was going to have to emigrate.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Making a film is less than half of the process.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42It's the way that you distribute it that is going to make or break it.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45And I was very keen that the film open in America first.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49And I thought if it could come into the UK with some good
0:27:49 > 0:27:51views from the States, people would sit up and take note.
0:27:51 > 0:27:56When we all flew over to America to first screen the movie,
0:27:56 > 0:28:02we had absolutely zero expectation that we would get one laugh at all
0:28:02 > 0:28:04in the audience.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Good luck.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09They were very worried, on both sides of the Atlantic,
0:28:09 > 0:28:13that I was their top of the bill. Totally unknown, really.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15Hi, we've got 30 seconds to make this commercial
0:28:15 > 0:28:17for a new comedy called Four Weddings And A Funeral
0:28:17 > 0:28:19starring the absolutely fabulous Andie McDowell. Hi.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22We've only got 30 seconds as we spent absolutely every last penny
0:28:22 > 0:28:25on making the film as excellent and funny as possible.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27I think it is pretty funny, what do you think, Andie? Yes.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30So, this is the last 30 seconds of film we have in the camera.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32So I'll stop rabbiting on cos I'm just some git with stupid hair who
0:28:32 > 0:28:36you've never heard of and Andie's a fabulous goddess, every time she opens her mouth it's heaven,
0:28:36 > 0:28:39so I'll shut up - over to Andie to tell you everything
0:28:39 > 0:28:41you need to know about Four Weddings And A Funeral.
0:28:41 > 0:28:43It's a really funny film. I think. But don't take my word for it.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45Take Andie's. Well, it's like...
0:28:47 > 0:28:53Well, after Four Weddings, I was in despair
0:28:53 > 0:28:55and unemployed for a few months
0:28:55 > 0:28:58and suddenly then the film started to do incredibly well in America.
0:28:58 > 0:29:01There are British things which export particularly well
0:29:01 > 0:29:03and I think humour is one
0:29:03 > 0:29:07and I think what they call heritage is another.
0:29:07 > 0:29:11Not that this is a period film, but I think they like the flowers
0:29:11 > 0:29:13and the quintessential Englishness of it,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17that, for some reason, Americans seem to find that very droll.
0:29:17 > 0:29:19I've discovered that in my travels in America.
0:29:19 > 0:29:24You have only really got to say, "gosh" or "by jiminy" -
0:29:24 > 0:29:25to get a huge laugh.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28Oh, no. Another wedding invitation...
0:29:28 > 0:29:31'I've gone from being semi-failure actor to'
0:29:31 > 0:29:36lots and lots of jobs. To the point of absurdity, where now,
0:29:36 > 0:29:41even totally unsuitable scripts about 70-year-old Irish nuns.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43People say, Hugh Grant could play that.
0:29:43 > 0:29:47It's bloody frightening, because you just feel huge pressure.
0:29:47 > 0:29:49And I miss very much the old days
0:29:49 > 0:29:52when one was just doing a kind of a supporting part and if you
0:29:52 > 0:29:55were good it was a bonus and if you weren't, it didn't really matter.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Equally, if the film was a success that was a bonus,
0:29:58 > 0:30:01but if it wasn't, it was art, so it didn't matter.
0:30:03 > 0:30:07Four Weddings, Bridget Jones, the Full Monty...
0:30:07 > 0:30:11these are some of the biggest British hits of recent cinema history -
0:30:11 > 0:30:17but we're going back to the '60s for our final film funnyman.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21To some, Peter Sellers is the greatest comedian
0:30:21 > 0:30:23Britain has ever produced.
0:30:23 > 0:30:26He broke new ground in radio with The Goons,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29appeared with Alec Guinness in The Ladykillers
0:30:29 > 0:30:33and starred in comedy classics like Dr Strangelove
0:30:33 > 0:30:35and I'm All Right Jack -
0:30:35 > 0:30:38and then, of course, there were the hugely successful
0:30:38 > 0:30:43Pink Panther series - and possibly his greatest creation,
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Peter, where does the character of Clouseau come from?
0:30:49 > 0:30:52Is it observation, or are you digging about inside yourself
0:30:52 > 0:30:53to find aspects of him?
0:30:53 > 0:30:56No, um...it's difficult to say, Barry, now,
0:30:56 > 0:30:59because, you know, I've been doing it so long... Um...
0:31:01 > 0:31:03"Come from"...
0:31:03 > 0:31:07I think, you know, when I first did The Pink Panther in Rome, years ago,
0:31:07 > 0:31:10he was just a straightforward French detective.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14As a matter of fact, Peter Ustinov was playing the role at that time -
0:31:14 > 0:31:17and I was going to go into Topkapi with Jules Dassin.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20I successfully talked my way out that in an interview
0:31:20 > 0:31:23at the Dorchester, and Peter left the film
0:31:23 > 0:31:25because of some problems - we crossed over,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28he went into Topkapi as the taxi driver, and I went into this.
0:31:28 > 0:31:30And it worked out great for us both.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33But getting back to that, let's think, now -
0:31:33 > 0:31:37I don't know, we just decided to make him
0:31:37 > 0:31:40one of those very serious...
0:31:40 > 0:31:45I mean, the size of his moustache is to give him, in his own mind,
0:31:45 > 0:31:47some masculinity, you know?
0:31:47 > 0:31:51And very serious, but completely hopeless at his job -
0:31:51 > 0:31:55very serious detective, but completely bad at it -
0:31:55 > 0:31:56useless at it, you know?
0:31:56 > 0:31:58But he's kind of vaguely etched in, isn't he?
0:31:58 > 0:32:01We don't know very much about him, except that he's a detective
0:32:01 > 0:32:04and he lives with this Japanese whom he keeps fighting.
0:32:04 > 0:32:07Yes. But presumably you know more about him than that,
0:32:07 > 0:32:09in order to portray him.
0:32:09 > 0:32:12Well, I know that he goes to this lunatic, um...disguisologist,
0:32:12 > 0:32:15who sells him these terrible disguises.
0:32:15 > 0:32:19He's a very romantic man - he tries very hard with the women,
0:32:19 > 0:32:22but he obviously doesn't make it with them, er...too much.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25Although he probably will in the next one.
0:32:25 > 0:32:29Um... He's... He believes sincerely, as I was just saying,
0:32:29 > 0:32:32that he's probably one of the greatest
0:32:32 > 0:32:34living detectives in the world -
0:32:34 > 0:32:36and also, on top of it,
0:32:36 > 0:32:41the sad thing is that he knows deep down that he isn't.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44But he doesn't want anybody else to know, you know?
0:32:44 > 0:32:45I believe everything...
0:32:46 > 0:32:48..and I believe nothing.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51I suspect everyone...
0:32:51 > 0:32:53and I suspect no-one.
0:32:55 > 0:32:57I gather the facts...
0:32:57 > 0:32:59examine the clues...
0:32:59 > 0:33:01and before you know it...
0:33:01 > 0:33:02the case is solved. Hm!
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Oh, yes, there is much here that does not meet the eye.
0:33:07 > 0:33:09Mm, that is quite obvious.
0:33:09 > 0:33:10Oh...
0:33:12 > 0:33:14Ahem... What was that you said?
0:33:14 > 0:33:17Nothing, Monsieur. Hm, all right.
0:33:18 > 0:33:20You can go now.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22Yes, Monsieur.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25But do not try to leave.
0:33:25 > 0:33:28Everyone in this household is under suspicion.
0:33:28 > 0:33:29Yes, Monsieur.
0:33:31 > 0:33:34The humour in the Pink Panther films
0:33:34 > 0:33:37is rather similar, isn't it, to The Goon Show's zany humour?
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Well, it... I think all humour has something in common, but...
0:33:41 > 0:33:42MAN SPEAKS IN FRENCH
0:33:42 > 0:33:45HE MIMICS FRENCH
0:33:49 > 0:33:51I see what you mean!
0:33:51 > 0:33:53HE IMITATES ECCLES
0:33:53 > 0:33:57HE SINGS "Camptown Races" AS ECCLES
0:33:57 > 0:34:00So, how similar is the brand of zany comedy in The Pink Panther?
0:34:00 > 0:34:03Er...well, it's pretty wild, you know?
0:34:03 > 0:34:05We're doing some mad things in this,
0:34:05 > 0:34:07we're telling taxi drivers to follow that car,
0:34:07 > 0:34:08and they get out and run after -
0:34:08 > 0:34:12things like that, and all kind of other mad things.
0:34:12 > 0:34:18Um, I don't think it has a direct affinity with Goon humour, no, um...
0:34:18 > 0:34:20but it's pretty wild.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25That Clouseau is timeless, because he represents
0:34:25 > 0:34:30something in all of us that doesn't change, essentially.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32Certain customs may change,
0:34:32 > 0:34:37but the essential man doesn't change - Clouseau doesn't.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42The fallible, bumbling screw-up, if you will, he...
0:34:45 > 0:34:47..he's essential in all of us,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51and he provides us with the ability to laugh at ourselves.
0:34:51 > 0:34:54Right, here we go. Right, action, Peter.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56Talking about Blake Edwards and yourselves,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58you seem to have some sort of rapport.
0:34:58 > 0:35:00What is it that exists between you?
0:35:00 > 0:35:02We're rather like Laurel and Hardy that way.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06We seem to...well, we know, you know,
0:35:06 > 0:35:08his sense of humour is very much like mine,
0:35:08 > 0:35:11he finds the same sort of things as I do funny.
0:35:11 > 0:35:15Little dogs and cats and birds... HE SQUAWKS
0:35:15 > 0:35:17..and things like that, you know?
0:35:17 > 0:35:20Animals from the rear, all kinds of things like that,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23situations - he spots them very quickly.
0:35:23 > 0:35:26We both see the funny - and he's also a great giggler,
0:35:26 > 0:35:27it's great working with him.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29What do you think this special rapport is,
0:35:29 > 0:35:31that you and Peter Sellers seem to have?
0:35:31 > 0:35:33We're both crazy. HE CHUCKLES
0:35:36 > 0:35:38Peter Sellers' influence is still clear today,
0:35:38 > 0:35:42with stars like Steve Coogan and Sacha Baron Cohen
0:35:42 > 0:35:45describing him as a major influence -
0:35:45 > 0:35:47and as for Sellers himself -
0:35:47 > 0:35:53well, one of his biggest influences was the man we started off with -
0:35:53 > 0:35:55George Formby,
0:35:55 > 0:35:59proving that good comedy is handed down through the generations.
0:35:59 > 0:36:03AS GEORGE FORMBY: Heh, heh - turned out nice again, hasn't it?
0:36:03 > 0:36:04One, two, three...heh-four!
0:36:04 > 0:36:08MUSIC: When I'm Cleaning Windows by George Formby
0:36:13 > 0:36:17# Now I go cleanin' windows to earn an honest bob
0:36:17 > 0:36:21# For a nosy parker it's an interestin' job
0:36:21 > 0:36:24# Now it's a job that just suits me
0:36:24 > 0:36:27# A window cleaner you would be
0:36:27 > 0:36:29# If you could see what I can see
0:36:29 > 0:36:31# When I'm cleanin' windows
0:36:31 > 0:36:34# Honeymooning couples too
0:36:34 > 0:36:36# You should see them bill 'n' coo
0:36:36 > 0:36:38# You'd be surprised the things they do
0:36:38 > 0:36:40# When I'm cleanin' windows
0:36:40 > 0:36:43# In my profession I'll work hard
0:36:43 > 0:36:45# But I'll never stop... #
0:36:45 > 0:36:48BOTH: # I'll climb this blinkin' ladder
0:36:48 > 0:36:50# Till I get right to the top
0:36:50 > 0:36:53# The blushin' bride she looks divine
0:36:53 > 0:36:55# The bridegroom, he is doin' fine
0:36:55 > 0:36:57# I'd rather have his job than mine
0:36:57 > 0:36:59# When I'm cleanin' windows. #
0:37:16 > 0:37:18227 Lears and I cannot remember the first line.
0:37:18 > 0:37:20Will he be ready on time?
0:37:20 > 0:37:22Will he be well enough? Yes.