- Private's Progress
Infobox_Film
name = Private's Progress
director = John Boulting
writer =Alan Hackney (novel)
John BoultingFrank Harvey
starring =Ian Carmichael Richard Attenborough Dennis Price Terry-Thomas Miles Malleson William Hartnell
producer = Roy Boulting
music =John Addison
cinematography =Eric Cross
distributor =British Lion Films
released = 1956
runtime = 95 min.
country =U.K.
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0049637"Private's Progress" is a British
comedy film of 1956, based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced byJohn and Roy Boulting , from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.Plot
The action takes place during
World War II and follows the adventures of a youngundergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael ) who is conscripted into theBritish Army . Unlike his friend Egan (Peter Jones ), Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone barracks. Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock. Most of the soldiers are malingerers and drop-outs.Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil. He's then contacted by his uncle, now a senior officer in the
War Office , to join a secret operation known only as "Hatrack". He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans, but in fact to steal the works and sell them to two very dodgy art dealers.Windrush survives the operation, despite being briefly arrested by British forces whilst in German uniform, and is discharged from the army. He returns to University, but when some of the artworks are found to have identical copies in circulation, the game is up.
Production
The movie was primarily filmed at
Shepperton Studios , however a number of scenes were filmed atWantage Hall , a hall of residence for theUniversity of Reading .It was the first in a series of successful satirical comedies made by the Boulting brothers for their production company Charter Films. Their
1959 comedy "I'm All Right Jack " also featured many of the same actors and characters. A number of references are made to the events of Private's Progress.Cast
*
Ian Carmichael as Stanley Windrush
*Richard Attenborough as Private Cox
*Dennis Price as Brigadier Bertram Tracepurcel
*Terry-Thomas as Major Hitchcock
*Miles Malleson as Windrush Sr.
*William Hartnell as Sergeant Sutton
*Jill Adams as Prudence Greenslade
*Peter Jones as Egan
*Thorley Walters as Captain Bootle
*Ian Bannen as Private Horrocks
*Kenneth Griffith as Private Jones
*Victor Maddern as Private Blake
*John Le Mesurier as Psychiatrist
*Sally Miles as Catherine
*Derrick De Marney as Pat
*Christopher Lee as General von Linbeck's aideAdditional crew
* Cinematographer: Eric Cross
* Music:John Addison
* Art Direction: Allan Harris
* Editor: Anthony HarveyExternal links
*imdb title|id=0049637|title=Private's Progress
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