The Cracksman

British comedian Charlie Drake is an acquired taste, and at his best as the hapless "cracksman" of the title in this modest little spoof of crime pictures. The script is sharper than one might expect from this kind of film, and little Charlie is up to his ears in trouble. His endearing innocence (if not talent) suggests a contemporary version of Chaplin; while his physical appearance suggests the love child of Ned Beatty and Mickey Rooney, making him wholly appropriate for comedy,--and nothing else. He plays so well with bad guy George Sanders, who really comes to life here, that I can almost imagine them as a comedy team, which sounds ludicrous I know, as they would have seemed so incongruous together, but then again comedy teams generally do,

The honest locksmith duped by the crooks only sees the light when he has to open the Tower of London. The cannonball & Bobby are a hoot.

This is an underrated little gem of a film. As long as you like the Pre-Python dry Brit farces.

I hadn't seen anything with Charlie Drake since I was a child. This was on TV recently and I watched it out of sheer boredom. Gradually, I got engrossed in it and found that it contained moments of sheer genius.

I think that Charlie Drake is a forgotten comedy hero who beats his contemporaries hands-down when it comes to acting ability.

No expense was spared on this lavish big screen vehicle for Charlie Drake, much of it filmed on location around a very wintry-looking London in CinemaScope and Technicolor with a supporting cast (in a nod towards 'The Rebel') headed by George Sanders. None of these blandishments (and certainly Ron Goodwin's galumphing score) made him any funnier, so he soon returned to TV.

Ironically Ronnie Barker's name doesn't even make the opening credits, yet the most enduring feature of the film is the first appearance - fully formed - of Norman Stanley Fletcher looking barely a day younger under an earlier alias and with a scar on his right cheek. Sixteen years later the character would return to the big screen (minus the scar) billed above the title.

Charlie Drake plays a naif.Every time he is asked to do a job as a cracksman it turns out he is being duped by a crook.Caught by the police he is sent to prison.This is repeated ad nauseum.For some reason they have included a night club scene which could easily have been cut to bring the film down to a more manageable and less boring 90 minutes.To me only 30 seconds of this film retained my interest.That is when Drake is shown in the East Stand of the marvellous art deco palace that was the East Stand Highbury.I reckon the filming must have taken place after the big freeze of 1962/63.Watch the film for this and nothing else.