The
lowdown: Based on a novel by Alan Hackney, 'Private's
Progress' is a British comedy set in World War II. It stars
Ian Carmichael as Stanley
Windrush and Richard Attenborough as Percy Cox. The film begins in 1942,
when the young
and rather naive Windrush
is forced to leave his quiet life as a university graduate after he is
conscripted into the army.
Windrush undertakes basic
training at Gravestone Barracks, where he meets Cox and the training facility's
drill sergeant,
Sutton (William Hartnell),
who seemed to specialise in playing such characters in the 1960s. Windrush
hopes to become
an officer, but it quickly
becomes apparent that he is not officer material. After failing to impress
the officer selection board,
Private Windrush is posted
to the 94th Holding & Dispersal Unit and is sent to army intelligence
for training as a Japanese
interpreter. Windrush is
subsequently contacted by his uncle, Bertram Tracepurcel (Dennis Price),
a brigadier in the War
Office, who recruits Windrush
for a top-secret mission known as "Hatrack".
Windrush is sent to a secret
army base where the soldiers are dressed in German uniforms and speak German.
They are
training for a mission in
which they will go into Nazi Germany to recover priceless artworks that
have been confiscated by
the Germans. Windrush is
to take part in the mission, despite not speak a word of German! The artworks
are successfully
liberated, although Windrush
inadvertently allows two Nazi officers to commit suicide while he is guarding
them. Windrush
and Cox are given the task
of driving a truck full of artworks across the border, but Windrush is
not aware that Tracepurcel
and Cox are involved in
a scam to keep some of the artworks and sell them after the war. The plan
comes unstuck when
Windrush puts a certain
painting in the truck; Tracepurcel is in possession of a copy of the painting
in question, and hopes
to sell it as the original.
Cox and Tracepurcel then fake their own deaths and disappear with the artworks,
and Windrush
leaves the army and returns
to civilian life at the university. However, Cox visits him to deliver
his share of the loot, but Sgt
Sutton turns up to arrest
Cox and charges him with selling captured enemy property that is the property
of the Crown, while
Windrush is found in possession
of a suitcase full of money.
Trivia:
'Private's Progress' features many other well-known actors of the
era, including Peter Jones, Christopher Lee, Terry
Thomas and John Le Mesurier.
It was produced and directed by the Boulting brothers, who also made Brighton
Rock, which
also starred Hartnell and
Attenborough. The Boultings' 1959 film, I'm Allright Jack, is a sequel
to 'Private's Progress', and has
Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price,
Richard Attenborough, Terry-Thomas in the roles they played in this film.
Video clips:
Sergeant Sutton
9.6mb
Windrush and Sutton
7.6mb
Army training 10.4mb |
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