The best Mervyn Johns’s comedy movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Mervyn Johns’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Mervyn Johns.
The Rebel
6.8/10
Anthony Hancock gives up his office job to become an abstract artist. He has a lot of enthusiasm, but little talent, and critics scorn his work. Nevertheless, he impresses an emerging very talented artist. Hancock proceeds to con the art world into thinking he is a genius.
The Devil's Disciple
6.9/10
In a small New England town during the American War of Independence, Dick Dudgeon, a revolutionary American Puritan, is mistaken for local minister Rev. Anthony Anderson and arrested by the British. Dick discovers himself incapable of accusing another human to suffer and continues to masquerade as the reverend.
The Old Dark House
5.4/10
An American car salesman in London becomes mixed up in a series of fatal occurrences at a secluded mansion.
Helter Skelter
5.2/10
A detective gets involved with a wealthy socialite who can't seem to stop hiccuping.
Doctor at Large
6/10
The third of the "Doctor" films. Newly qualified doctor Simon Sparrow goes in search of a job. He applies for a surgery position at the hospital where he studied, but manages to insult the senior surgeon and one of the hospital's governors. So, instead he ends up as assistant to with a niggardly and rather scary GP with an amerous wife, followed by cushy but rather unmedical job with a Harley Street doctor, and then a job with a very nice GP whp is the opposite to the first one. But after getting the chance to rescue the hospital governor from a group of angry ladies at a resort in France, he finally lands a job at his beloved hosdpital.
My Learned Friend
7/10
An insane murderer is on the loose, and gunning for the men who put him away. Will Hay is on the list, and co-opts Claude Hulbert to try and stop him from meeting a grisly end.
Once More, with Feeling!
6.1/10
Yul Brynner plays a musical genius whose eccentricities are kept in check by his wife, until she discovers him "auditioning" a sultry young pianist. She walks out on him and his career promptly starts skidding. The temperamental maestro must again win his scorned wife.
The National Health
6/10
Peter Nichols adapted his own hit play to the screen, based on his experiences in hospitals. A riotous black comedy that's as timely today as ever, it contrasts the appalling conditions in a overcrowded London hospital with a soap opera playing on the televisions there. In an ingenious touch, the same actors appear in the "real" story as well as the "TV" one, thus blurring the distinctions even further. Jack Gould directs such outstanding British actors as Lynn Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Eleanor Bron, Jim Dale, Donald Sinden, Mervyn Johns, and, in only his second film, Bob Hoskins. The renowned Carl Davis composed the score.
Dishonour Bright
6.5/10
A man is cited as the co-respondent in a divorce case, but is cheerfully unashamed when he appears in court.
A Jolly Bad Fellow
7.1/10
An English professor decides that there are too many useless people in the world and invents a gas that will kill them off. But first they'll at least have a good laugh.
Find the Lady
5.8/10
During New Year's Eve, a young model spends the day searching for her grandmother, who has suspiciously gone missing.
The Oracle
6.4/10
An Irish "oracle" foretells the next day's track results to a newspaperman, resulting in a national uproar.
Easy Money
6/10
A win on the football pools in postwar Britain changes lives. A happy family is turned into an unhappy argumentative lot until it is discovered the coupon apparently didn't get posted. A mild-mannered clerk worries about how to tell his overbearing boss he is quitting. A double-bass player finds life without the orchestra lacks something. The lure of the big money even turns some people into criminals, as when a coupon checker is tempted by his night-club singer girlfriend to cheat the company. Written by Jeremy Perkins
The Guv'nor
7.3/10
The Guv'nor (released in the U.S. as Mr. Hobo) is a 1935 British comedy film starring George Arliss as a tramp who rides a series of misunderstandings and becomes the president of a bank.
