Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Laughter in Paradise Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 17, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies.

Chances are if you are like many, maybe even most, American filmgoers, you tend to associate Alastair Sim with one thing and one thing only: his inimitable portrayal of one Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 version of Charles Dickens' immortal A Christmas Carol. A few outliers might have vague memories of Sim in such underappreciated gems as Green for Danger (a film where he notably wasn’t even given above the title billing) or even his latter day stint in The Ruling Class, but quite a bit of the rest of Sim’s multi-decade long filmography just doesn’t seem to be that well known by the public at large on this side of the pond. Film Movement has now come to the rescue in that regard and assembled four charming Sim comedies that bridge the years of 1947 to 1960, and which offer a fine assortment of well written, performed and directed outings that have a few linking elements besides Sim himself, including plots sometimes centered around the quest for riches, and occasionally with some chicanery and other shenanigans involved.

Laughter in Paradise is in essence an ensemble piece, and as such Alastair Sim is only one of several fun performers who drift in and out of a vignette laden story. The basic setup here involves infamous practical joker Henry Russell (the great Hugh Griffith), who expires mid-prank as the film opens. Four of his relatives are gathered for the reading of his will, which is facilitated by an addlepated elder named Endicott (the equally great Ernest Thesiger). The quartet of hopeful heirs includes Deniston Russell (Alastair Sim), a retired army officer who secretly makes a living writing so-called “penny dreadfuls”; Agnes Russell (Fay Compton), a harridan elder who abuses her servants; Herbert Russell (George Cole), a milquetoast bank teller who is kind of an analog to the “before” character Ian Carmichael plays in School for Scoundrels; and Simon Russell (Guy Middleton), a “player” who is kind of like the “after” version of Carmichael’s character in School for Scoundrels. While the will discloses that each of the relatives is due the then astounding sum of 50,000 pounds, they each need to complete a task assigned them by the late Henry before they can collect their riches.

Unsurprisingly, Henry’s “assignments” all cut to the quick with regard to what Henry perceived as flaws in each person’s character. The apparently respectable but secretly “lurid” Deniston is tasked with getting himself arrested and jailed for 28 days. The rude and dismissive Agnes has to find employment as a “domestic” and remain employed for a similar amount of time. Herbert has to pretend to hold up his bank with a mask and toy gun, and hang on to the bank’s vault keys for a limited amount of time. And Simon is required to marry the first single woman he talks to after the reading of the will.

This set of requirements allows the film to ping pong between the various characters as they attempt to complete their assignments, and the film generates some genial humor, if few outright guffaws, along the way, probably especially with regard to the scenes involving Deniston, whose harridan fiancée (Joyce Grenfell) is the daughter of the magistrate before whom Deniston appears when he finally manages to break the law. There are also some cute moments with the oafish Herbert, who ends up thwarting an actual bank robbery.

Aiming more for pure heartstring pulling are the scenes involving Agnes, who does find work as the housekeeper for a crusty old guy named Gordon Webb (John Laurie), who suspects her motives and hires an investigator to find out what’s really going on. Agnes ends up playing matchmaker between the private eye Roger Godfrey (Anthony Steel) and Gordon’s daughter Joan (Veronica Hurst), while also helping to nurse Gordon back to health and discover her “nice” side. The Simon scenes are often kind of smarmy, but they at least include a couple of moments with a club’s cigarette girl named Frieda (Audrey Hepburn in her first film role).

Laughter in Paradise is never less than enjoyable, but it simply never scales the comedic heights that some of the other films in this set do. The film does offer a wealth of fun performances by a coterie of greats (keep your eyes peeled for an unbilled and unbearded Sebastian Cabot as one of Simon's poker playing buddies), and its denouement of course relies on one final practical joke played post mortem by Henry Russell.

Laughter in Paradise Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Laughter in Paradise is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement Classics, an imprint of Film Movement, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.67:1. As has been the case with several Film Movement releases I've reviewed, the insert booklet offers only a generic "new digital restoration" in terms of providing any technical information on the transfer. All of the releases in this set bear a StudioCanal logo, though interestingly (and perhaps saliently) this particular film does not appear to have had a prior UK Blu-ray release, as with several others in this set, at least as evidenced by our own usually pretty accurate database. While this is perfectly watchable, this is by far the most damaged looking presentation in the set, something that's evident from the get go, with the British censor card bobbing and weaving crazily, and some really noticeable nicks and scratches crossing the black background. Those nicks and scratches continue unabated throughout the presentation, and are joined by occasional other anomalies like warped frames. If you look at screenshots 17 through 19 in particular, you can see some of the sorts of damage that show up with pretty fair regularity. Aside from these issues, the rest of the transfer looks rather good, with a nicely resolved grain field and some rather fulsome levels of fine detail in elements like fabrics on costumes and sets. I'm scoring this at 3.0 to temper expectations, but my hunch is most fans will be generally well pleased with the look of this presentation, and some may feel a somewhat higher score is merited. My score is 3.25.

Laughter in Paradise Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Laughter in Paradise features an LPCM 2.0 mono track that has no major issues. Both occasional narration as well as the film's dialogue and score sound distortion free and without any other major distractions like clicks, pops, or dropouts. There's an inherent boxiness, something this film's track shares with several of the others in this set, but everything resonates clearly throughout. Unfortunately, this release does not offer optional subtitles for those who might benefit from them.

Laughter in Paradise Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This is the lone film in this set that does not have film specific supplements on the disc. The insert booklet that comes with Alastair Sim's School for Laughter: 4 Classic Comedies includes an essay about all four films in the set. As with many Film Movement releases, there's the About Film Movement option on the Main Menu which provides some text and a trailer.

Laughter in Paradise Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Laughter in Paradise may actually not serve up that many laughs, but it's genuinely amusing a lot of the time, and it manages to even provide a couple of touching moments as well. This has the least pleasing transfer of the four in the Alastair Sim set, but it's still perfectly watchable. Audio is fine as well, though this release doesn't sport any on disc supplemental material. Recommended.