MAKE MINE MINK

UK, 1960, 97 minutes, Black and white.
Terry-Thomas?, Athene Seyler, Hattie Jacques, Billie Whitelaw, Raymond Huntley, Irene Handl, Sidney Tafler.
Directed by Robert Asher.

Make Mine Mink is one of those enjoyable zany comedies from Britain of the '50s and '60s. It is an opportunity for a wide-ranging cast to do their comic thing: Terry-Thomas? once again to be a Major with military-like precision, Athene Seyler to do her shrewd but doddery old lady, Hattie Jacques to do her overwhelming masculine spinster, Irene Handl to do an entertaining guest spot as a fashionable dress shop manager, Kenneth Williams to do his usual. There is also an enjoyable performance by Elisabeth Duxbury as the mouselike Miss Pinkerton. Contrasting with them are Billie Whitelaw and Jack Hedley as maid and policeman. Raymond Huntley looks in as a supercilious policeman. Noel Purcell has a moment as a stranded burglar. Sidney Tafler is a con-man with Joan Heal as his dominating wife and May Hallatt as his old mother. Mix this gallery together and there is a fair amount of humour - obvious verbal British jokes, a lot of visual humour with the robberies.

The film works humorously on the audience's delight in amoral moral behaviour. (A similar idea was used in the Australian feature Touch and Go with Wendy Hughes.)

1. Entertaining British comedy? British humour, verbal and visual?

2. Black and white photography, the editing and pace for the various robberies? jaunty musical score?

3. The title and its focus on the group, their robberies - and their devotion to charities?

4. The block of flats and the various guests: Dame Beatrice and her paying guests, her attitudes towards society, charity? Miss Pinkerton and her mouselike behaviour? Miss Parry and her militarist tic style? Major Rayne as the retired officer who longs for the war? Lily as the maid? A situation for comedy? The irony of Lily's acquiring the stole and giving ideas to the foursome? Their dissatisfaction with their lives, the desire for excitement? Major Payne returning the stole, with precision? The irony of Spanager and his mother and the return of the steal? Ideas for robberies? The planning sessions, each taking responsibility, Miss Pinkerton and her rehearsals and messing things up? The visit to Madame Spolinski's? The robbery of the furs? The disguises, the mistaken Identities, the thieves arguing their way out of difficult situations? Their being flushed with the success? Their fear of detection by Lily and Jim? Their getting rid of the furs? The visit of the police and their fears? Lily's discovery of the truth, their promises? The irony of Miss Parry losing her fur and Miss Pinkerton stealing it? The police visit about this - and their almost being unmasked? The decision to rob the gambling house? The plans, things going wrong, the police raid, the real police raid and the chase? Their decision to reform? Further appeals on charity? Their decision to rob the Crown Jewels?

5. Athene Seyler as the shrewd but dithering Dame Beatrice? Her command of the others? Lily and her background? Participation in the robberies? Her manner in the shop? Going to look for a fence - and discovering it was her nephew? The link with him? The gambling house and her winning- only to be thwarted by the raid?

6. Terry-Thomas's Major Payne, his manner and comic style, timing? The militaristic style? The return of the initial stole? The planning of the other robberies? The comedy when he went to look for the fence - only to find the cafe had changed hands to the Salvation Army? His worry, thinking of shooting himself, his being rescued by Miss Parry?

7. Miss Parry and Hattie Jacques' overbearing manly style? H6r disguises? Enjoyment of participating?

8. Miss Pinkerton and her fears, nervousness, drink? Her mixing up names? Mistakes? Taking Miss Parry's stole? Her final success in coming out of herself?

9. Lily and her past, working for the group, devotedness to Dame Bee? Attraction towards Jim, telling him the truth? Discovery of the truth about them and holding them to reform? Jim and his attentiveness, visits?

10. The police and their visit, the interrogation and the dithering, the irony that there was the mistaken identity of the fur?

11. The humour of the gallery: Madame Spolinski and her fashionable style, Her scatty assistant? Kenneth Williams' eye-rolling and speech mannerisms for the crooked Honourable Freddie? Raymond Huntley's supercilious style as the Inspector? The comedy with the Spanagers? With the burglar?

12. Visual and verbal humour? Playing with morality and immorality?