ROTTEN TO THE CORE

UK, 1965, 89 minutes, Black and white.
Anton Rodgers, Charlotte Rampling, Eric Sykes, Ian Bannen, Thorley Walters, Dudley Sutton, Kenneth Griffiths, Peter Vaughan.
Directed by John Boulting.

A comedy made by the Boulting Brothers. They made social comment films in the forties like The Guinea Pig and moved into funny satirical comedies in the late fifties and sixties especially with Peter Sellers, I'm Alright Jack and Heavens Above. This film is in this tradition though it has lesser stars. However, it is quite an enjoyable story of British crime and mistakes. Eric Sykes and others do their expected comedy routines. Their scope broadened in the late sixties and seventies into thrillers as Twisted Nerve and comedies like There’s a Girl In My Soup. This film is a satire on robberies and is as effectively done as any British comedy.

1. The success of this style of British comedy? Black and white photography, crisp acting, comic episodes, social atmosphere and satire? British comic types?

2. The contribution of the character actors and their special styles and comic skills?

3. The attention to detail, the opening in prison and the ending, the robberies, the manoeuvre for the big robbery, the satirising of Vine etc.? Quality of the dialogue, farcical situations, humorous editing?

4. The military world and the parody and satire, especially in the character of Vine, his being ridiculed, blind obedience and ambition?

5. The satire in the world of the Private Eye, Eric Sykes as Hunt and his presence and style?

6. Duke and Sarah as would-be hero and heroine? As criminals, as persons? Duke's skill in leadership yet ultimately failing? Sarah as rich and getting her thrills by criminal association?

7. The personalities in the gang, the inept criminals, the springs and natural clinic as the hunt for the planning of the manoeuvre?

8. The importance of the dramatics of the robbery, the use of army and its style? The police? The humour of the second attempt and the use of Vine with the tank?


9. The quality of the comedy, the particularly British tone, the lyrics of the song and the tongue in cheek comment on the morality of young and old?