“WHAT’S HE DOING ON A F-F-F-FORK LIFT TRUCK?”

By Raymond Benson

The Boulting Brothers (John and Roy) were a British filmmaking team (and identical twins!) active primarily in the 1940s and 50s. They mostly made acerbic satirical comedies, often with a social issue stance. They directed a handful of titles together, but usually either John or Roy would direct (Roy did the most), they both produced, and one or the other would contribute to the screenplays. Having formed their own production company, Charter Film Productions, in 1937, the brothers enjoyed a great deal of creative freedom and, at times, considerable success. Their films were not for everyone, but occasionally they made a classic… and I’m All Right Jack is absolutely one of them.

The picture did a great service for actor Peter Sellers, catapulting him into stardom on the British scene after a stellar radio career (The Goon Show) and several cinema appearances in the latter 1950s. Even though he didn’t have top billing, Sellers’ standout performance in Jack was noticed by Hollywood and, by 1963, he had migrated across the Atlantic.

I’m All Right Jack takes its name from a British slang phrase that is, according to Collins Dictionary, generally a smug remark that indicates complacent selfishness. The story has to do with the rather serious subject of unions in the U.K., and it’s a send-up of industrial working class sensibilities in the late fifties. It’s a sequel to the Boultings’ 1956 comedy, Private’s Progress, and Sellers’ costars, Ian Carmichael, Dennis Price, Terry-Thomas, Richard Attenborough, and Miles Malleson all reprise the roles they played in that picture. Sellers, though, won a BAFTA Best Actor Award for playing the trades union shop steward.

Stanley Windrush (Carmichael) is a well-meaning but ultimately naïve and oafish young man who wants a job in “industry.” After a few unsuccessful and comical landings at various factories, his uncle, wealthy Bertram Tracepurcel (Price) and his pal, Sidney DeVere Cox (Attenborough), push Stanley into an unskilled labor job at Tracepurcel’s missile factory. The union shop steward, Mr. Kite (Sellers) is at first in conflict with Stanley, but eventually becomes something of a mentor, even allowing Stanley to lodge at his home. There, Stanley becomes enamored with Kite’s daughter, Cynthia (Liz Fraser), and vice versa, much to Kite’s chagrin. However, the factory personnel manager, Major Hitchcock (Terry-Thomas) hits a roadblock with Stanley when the latter outperforms the other workers in a rigged time and motion study that was secretly instigated by Tracepurcel and Cox. When Hitchcock wants the rest of the workers to do as well as Stanley, Kite orders a general strike… which is what Tracepurcel and Cox want so that Cox’s own company can steal a lucrative contract with a Middle Eastern country. But soon tables are turned and all hell breaks loose among the trade unions… all over the country!

Yes, the plot is political and a bit complicated, but it also provides several scene-stealing moments for Sellers as he, at first, undergoes a slow burn, but then quickly escalates to red-faced anger (too bad the film is in black and white!). Carmichael, as Stanley, is the protagonist, though, and he, too, is quite winning as the insufferable fool who manages to be at the center of everyone’s frustrations. In fact, there are so many popular British character actors in supporting and cameo roles that anyone with a knowledge of UK cinema history will have a grand time spotting the players. Even Sellers pops up in a brief secondary role at the beginning of the movie.

Written by Frank Harvey and John Boulting with Alan Hackney, the dialogue is razor sharp. The film must have been considered for adults only at the time. One stuttering shop steward is aghast at seeing Stanley on the fork lift for the first time and shouts, “What’s he doing on a f- f- fork lift truck?” An opening scene at a nudist colony displays bare bottoms in the background action. And this was 1959!

Kino Lorber’s new Blu-ray release is top-notch with an excellent transfer. It comes with an audio commentary by authors and comedy historians Gemma and Robert Ross. There is also an interview with actress Liz Fraser which highlights her roles in various British comedies of the era. The theatrical trailer for this and other Kino comedies round out the package.

I’m All Right Jack is for fans of Peter Sellers, other UK actors in the cast, British comedies, and the always interesting Boulting Brothers.

Click here to order from Amazon