I'm All Right Jack

I'm All Right Jack. 1959 Charter Film Productions, now owned by StudioCanal and distributed to DVD by Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Starring: Ian Carmichael, Peter Sellers, Richard Attenborough, Margaret Rutherford, Terry-Thomas, Dennis Price, Miles Malleson
Director: John and Roy Boulting
Amazon.com listing (discontinued).

The sequel to the Boulting Brothers's 1956 film Private's Progress was the movie that helped turn Peter Sellers into an international star. Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Richard Attenborough, Terry-Thomas and Miles Malleson all reprised their roles from the previous film (which I do not own as of now).

Stanley Windrush (Carmichael) has left the army, and he has also graduated from Oxford. Unlike his friends, Stanley actually wants to work, but he ends up displaying a real talent at failing miserably during interviews for assorted entry-level management positions. Stanley's uncle Bertram Tracepurcel (Price) and his army buddy Sidney De Vere Cox (Attenborough) arrange to have Stanley take a job at his uncle's munitions factory, knowing what an idiot he really is. Bertram and Sidney envision Stanley as the catalyst for a future plant-wide strike.

Fred Kite (Sellers) is a Communism admiring shop steward who takes Stanley under his wing, and even offers to let him live with him. Stanley readily agrees after meeting Fred's daughter Cynthia (Liz Fraser). Personnel manager Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas) has assigned a time and motion study expert to measure the efficiency of the workers. Everyone refuses, but Stanley is tricked into showing how much more quickly he can do his job than the more experienced employees. Kite calls for a company-wide strike upon hearing about this to protect the rates that his union workers are getting paid...which is exactly what Cox and Tracepurcel want. Cox owns a firm that can take over a large contract with a Middle Eastern nation, at an inflated cost.

But, things don't work out quite as planned for either side, as Cox's workers have also gone on strike in sympathy for Kite and his employees. Kite is accused of punishing Stanley for working hard, and in retaliation, asks him to leave his house. Stanley leaves, but so does Kite's wife and daughter. Eventually, all of England is brought to a standstill thanks to more industrial strikes. Tracepurcel has no choice but to send Hitchcock to negotiate with Stanley, and they reach an agreement, but since he's made both sides look bad, he is expected to resign.

Instead, Stanley goes on a nationally televised talk show and reveals the motivations of all involved, before inciting a riot by throwing Cox's bribe money to the studio audience. Unfortunately, only Stanley is punished, for causing a disturbance, and everyone else is exonerated.

This is a pretty funny film, and Peter Sellers is excellent as always, but there was something missing here. I suspect that I probably should have sought out and purchased Private's Progress, and watched that one before I'm All Right Jack, if only to get to know the recurring characters a little better. Still, I can easily say this is a recommended movie.