LUCKY JIM
UK, 1958, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Ian Carmichael, Hugh Griffith, Terry- Thomas, Sharon Acker, Jean Anderson, Maureen Connell, Clive Morton, John Welsh, Reginald Beckwith, Kenneth Griffith.
Directed by John Boulting.
Lucky Jim is one of the Boulting Brothers' realistic satires of the late '50s (I'm All Right, Jack, Private's Progress). It is based on the famous novel by Kingsley Amis and satirises the status of university education, especially the new red brick universities of the '50s.
Once again, Ian Carmichael is presented as the English hero of the '50s - strong, weak, rebellious, self-seeking. There is good support from, an egotistical Terry Thomas as well as a bewildered Hugh Griffith as a professor. The film introduced Sharon Acker.
The film was popular in the '50s, it probably caught the atmosphere of the time. It has less impact in succeeding years but is a reminder of a style of British comedy of the period.
1. Interesting and entertaining? Comedy about intellectuals? About Britain in the '50S?
2. Black and white photography, the atmosphere of the new English universities? Musical score?
3. The title and its irony? Its focus on Dixon? His place in an emerging Britain? Intellectual Britain? The universities?
4. Ian Carmichael's portrait of Jim: responsible and irresponsible, his not going to meetings, his digs, his friends, his tutorials? His working for Welch, doing his research? The entanglement with Margaret Peel and his breaking it off? The plans for his giving the memorial speech? The comedy of his spending, the weekend at the Welches - as a servant, clashing with Bertrand, attracted towards Christine? The meal, the concert - and its mix-ups with the telephone call and the dog? His going out drinking and coming back noisily - with Margaret Peel, the statue with the bottle? Meeting Christine, attracted towards her? Her uncle throwing them together? The organisation of the ceremony and the fiasco with the pot-plants? The build-up to the speech and his stance as regards the speech? Its effect on him, his integrity, his future?
5. Hugh Griffith as Welch: at the university, busy, authoritarian, absent-minded, at home, his wife and her sternness, expectations, the music, the internal politics of the university? Using Jim? The build-up to the speech, his reaction to Jim's use of his material? The satire on university professors?
6. Bertrand and Terry-Thomas' style, his superiority, his talking psychologically, his novel, boring people, his relationship with Christine? With her uncle and his come-uppance?
7. Christine, with Bertrand, attracted towards Jim, dancing, coffee, the reaction to the speech? Future?
8. The personnel at the university: the authorities, their meetings and decisions, the ceremony and the satire with the group walking over the pot-plants the staging of the memorial speech, the fiasco?
9. Support from minor characters: Margaret Peel and her obsession about Jim? His roommate and drinking friend? The Welsh friend and his wheedling his way into authorities' attitudes?
10. Verbal humour, situational humour, farce, satire? The effectiveness of the satire in retrospect?
