The Wrong Box (1966)

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Writers:

Robert Louis Stevenson (suggested by a novel by) and
Lloyd Osbourne (suggested by a novel by) ...

Release Date:

4 July 1966 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Virtuous maidens...cunning cousins...dastardly deeds...bodies in barrels...and boxes and boxes of boxes!

Plot:

In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other... or can be made to have seemed to do so!

Plot Keywords:

Tontine | Attempted Murder | Duel | Brass Band | Playing Piano

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Jeremy Lloyd	...	Brian Allen Harvey
James Villiers	...	Sydney Whitcombe Sykes
Graham Stark	...	Ian Scott Fife
Richard Gregory	...	Leicester Young Fielding (as Dick Gregory)
Nicholas Parsons	...	Alan Frazer Scrope
Willoughby Goddard	...	James Whyte Wragg
Valentine Dyall	...	Oliver Pike Harmsworth
Leonard Rossiter	...	Vyvyan Alistair Montague
Hamilton Dyce	...	Derek Lloyd Peter Digby
Hilton Edwards	...	Lawyer
Timothy Bateson	...	Clerk
Donald Oliver	...	Gunner Sergeant
Totti Truman Taylor	...	Lady at Launching
Jeremy Roughton	...	Bugler
Frank Singuineau	...	Native Bearer

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | Swahili

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | UK:U | USA:Approved | Finland:K-8

Filming Locations:

Englefield Green, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Salamander Film Productions

Trivia:

Peter Cook's wife, Wendy was nine months pregnant when filming began. Director Bryan Forbes promised them that he would let Peter leave the set as soon as Wendy went into labor. He kept his word and Peter made it to the hospital just in time for the birth of his daughter, Daisy. Forbes, Dudley Moore, Michael Caine and Peter Sellers filled his dressing room with flowers and champagne in celebration of Daisy's birth when he returned to work.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Victorian-age London houses have TV antennae on them.

Quotes:

[Aboard a train engine after a wreck]
First Driver: Fred?
Stoker: Yeah?
First Driver: We haven't heard the last of this.

Movie Connections:

References Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Soundtrack:

Onward Christian Soldiers

See it for Peacock

There are many reasons to enjoy this film. It is a catalogue of English comic and serious actors, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore not the least among them. But this show belongs to the bit players. Wilfrid Lawson as Peacock is superb. I hope he garnered enough attention from this role to cap off his career. Bit and character players are a special breed.

The film is vaguely psychedelic. The art nouveau lettering on title cards fits in with the Haight Ashbury tone of the times. The plot is solid and humorous throughout yet it depends on the basic slapstick for its conclusion.

Well-written, well-acted, well-directed, well-conceived. A treat.