Alastair Sim’s School for Laughter (Film Movement Classics)
Postwar British comedies form a genre unto themselves. Sometimes they’re called “Ealing comedies” after the London studio that shaped the early career of Alec Guiness, but they weren’t alone in the field. Only one of the four films collected on this Blu-ray set originated at Ealing. Linking them are the starring or supporting roles played by Scottish comedian Alastair Sim.
Although best remembered for his performance as Scrooge in the British film adaptation of A Christmas Carol (1951), Sim’s natural métier was comedy. He often played sly rogues not unlike the pontificating, money-grabbing founder of a self-improvement academy in School for Scoundrels (1960). The goal of his “College of Lifemanship” is transforming losers (men only need apply) into winners. He professes the “science of one-upmanship on your opponents” in a zero-sum society. It’s everyman against everyman, the war of all against all, and by mastering “Lifemanship,” his pupils (paying a hefty tuition!) gain the sharp edge needed for victory.
Sim wears his character’s pomposity and disingenuousness with a light ironic shrug as he guides the film’s hapless protagonist in getting back at crooked car salesmen and getting back the girl from a wealthy, pseudo-sophisticated twit.
The humor is smart, punchy and has aged well over time. “School for Laughter” also includes Hue and Cry (1947), Laughter in Paradise (1951) and The Belles of St. Trinians (1954).
