THE WRONG BOX
UK, 1966, 105 minutes, Colour.
John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine, James Villiers, Jeremy Lloyd, Wilfrid Lawson, Graham Stark, Dick Gregory, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Nicholas Parsons, Valentine Dyall, Leonard Rossiter,
Directed by Bryan Forbes.
The Wrong Box is a very entertaining comedy and spoof of Victorian England. It has a very strong cast with John Mills and Ralph Richardson starring as two elderly brothers who are caught up in a tontine, a raffle where the surviving member of the group actually inherits the wager. Various people put up the money – Masterman, played by John Mills, is homebound but is determined to win. Ralph Richardson is Joseph who does not care but lives with two greedy nephews played by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. Masterman lives with his grandson Michael who falls in love with a niece, Julia, Nanette Newman (Bryan Forbes’ wife).
The film was based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson, better known for Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Master of Ballantrae and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. However, this is a spoof of detective stories (with Tony Hancock as a particularly inept detective) and was written with his stepson, Lloyd Osborne (who was the first listener to the story of Treasure Island).
Bryan Forbes had begun work as a writer and actor (The Baby and the Battleship, The Angry Silence) before he moved into direction. In the 60s he made such interesting films as Séance on a Wet Afternoon and The Whisperers. He went on to more ambitious projects like The Madwoman of Chaillot as well as a lot of routine films in the 70s and into the 80s.
1. The impact of this comedy, parody, satire? The quality? Humour and laughs?
2. The production values and their contribution to the impact: colour, 19th century sets, costumes, the atmosphere of the 19th century world: the train, the square, the houses,, the wagon chase, the music?
3. How authentic was the 19th century atmosphere in look and in feel, to give an atmosphere of reality even though the plot and the characterisations were parody? How did this point the parody?
4. Comment on the presentation of 19th century atmosphere in Victorian manners and primness, language and reserve? The exterior good manners, dress, seemliness in comparison with the ugly side of a 19th century world: Dr. Pratt, greed, fraternal rivalry, hatred, the small direct sexuality, a preoccupation with imaginative violence and Julia’s talk about the strangler etc.? How ironically was the contrast between external primness and interior ugliness highlighted?
5. The significance of the title, the preparation for Victorian farce, identities? The use of cards to indicate facetiously what was happening?
6. Audience interest in the idea of the Tontin: the initial explanation and the humorous 19th century schoolmannerish style, the children watching, the child picking his nose etc.? The scribe and his calling for three cheers? The explanation of the Tontin. motivation, greed? The inevitability of appealing to the worst instincts of human nature? The Victorians seeming to take this for granted as a good thing?
7. The importance for entertainment value as well as satirical theme of the collage of deaths: the music, the crossing-out of the names, the succession of styles of death and the consecutive hits at English style, English values in exploration, warfare, hunting, duelling etc.? The cumulative effect of these deaths?
8. The build-up to introducing Masterman and Joseph? The contrast between the two? Masterman as the bad brother, his plots, vindictive in his pretence of dying, farcical attempts to kill his brother, his being involved in the mix-ups of his own death, funeral, being rescued by the Salvation Army group, his presence at the funeral in his nightgown? His motivation in helping Michael and Julia? Did he have any redeeming features? The contrast with Joseph and his incessant talk, that he was looked after badly by his nephews, smoking, the train incident and his feeling guilty for smoking when the crash came? The humorous examples of his incessant talking? The elderly couple hoping he would go, the man driving the wagon wishing him away? His visit to his brother and his being hurt by his brother's attitudes. the flowers at the bottom of the stairs? The irony of his being present at the funeral? Was he as bad as Masterman? The irony that the ending left no winner?
9. Michael and Julia as a 19th century hero and heroine? Their external charm, their lack of intelligence? Looking at her from afar, the visit, talking through the letterbox, the conversation about things? About Michael's work and the prim Victorian lack of reference to the body? The way that they spoke, the exhilaration in Julia’s dancing around the room? Their panting for each other's presence? The ironic satire on suggestiveness with his looking at her ankle and her looking at his arm? The build-up of this with close-ups and extreme close-ups? The slow motion pursuit? The kissing? The hooded satire and Victorian attitudes towards sexuality? Their reserve, their language, Julia bursting out with fears about the strangler and her description of her might-have-been death? her worry about the identities? The hero and heroine of a prim age?
10. The contrast with Maurice and John and their greed, John and his preoccupation with sex, Maurice and his eggs? Maurice with the brains and John not having then? Their pedantic looking after their Uncle? Their reaction to his death and Maurice’s outburst against him? Coping with his disappearance, burying him? The hypocrisy of Maurice's visit and his turning on his moods and charm at will? His plant? The Tontin manager and the greed? The desperate robbery with the fight at the end? Maurice's pathetic appeal to get the money for the orphans? Satire on Victorian villainy and hypocrisy?
11. The humour of Peacock, the ancient butler not being paid, being mistaken for Uncle? His humorous comments about rush and excitement? The humour of the butler?
12. The satire in the presentation of Dr Pratt? Peter Sellers' skill at comedy? The venal doctor? Absent minded, drink, the cats and his using them as blotters for death certificates? The pathetic nature of his character, blended with the comic touches?
13. Tony Hancook's presentation of the harassed detective, getting advice from his assistants, his presence at the end and the irony of the money for Michael?
14. How well was the film built up of comic episodes, the sense of timing for the comedy, satirical touches?
15. The striking comic lines and satire?
16. How well did the film handle the situation comedy?
17. The nature of comedy the foibles of human nature, laughing with them and at them? Was the ending appropriate or not? The build-up to the chase, the band playing and changing tunes, the cemetery, the real funeral, Mrs Hackett, the fighting and the money?
18. How accurate a picture of the foibles of the Victorian era via comedy?
