Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

aramis-112-804880 If you like comedies where adults behave like children, "The Wrong Box" (based loosely on a yarn co-written by TREASURE ISLAND's Robert Louis Stevenson) is at the top of that genre's heap.British stage and screen stalwarts John Mills and Ralph Richardson play warring brothers named Finsbury, the final members of a tontine (for the purposes of this movie, a "game" where the last survivor snags all the loot). Young Michael Caine is Mills' grandson, in love with Richardson's ward Julia (Nanette Newman). Comics Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are Richardson's rapscallion nephews, desperate to keep the old man ticking until he cops the lolly (when they think he's won, they refer to him in the past tense). Wilfred Lawson, alcoholic actor who famously never forgot a line no matter how much he imbibed, is Mills' doddering butler. For various reasons, they each want their side to win (Lawson's butler, for instance, hasn't been paid in seven years).But when a body in a barrel (the wrong box) rolls up to the Mills/Finsbury residence in error, characters already in a heightened sense of excitement rush about frantically trying to hide, recover, or identify it. Peter Sellers is the "venal" Doctor Pratt. Inundated with cats, the pixilated doctor dispenses death certificates (and poisons) for a fee. Tony Hancock, practically unknown in America but a long-time favorite comic in England, pulls out all his well-worn stops in his last-gasp movie as the Inspector who tries valiantly to tie up the loose ends of a case where nearly all the suspects have the same surname. Choreographer/dancer/actor Tutte Lemkow turns in one of his best menacing performances in a small but pivotal role as a minor-league Jack the Ripper.Other members of the tontine, who meet suitably (and sometimes hilariously) gruesome ends, include a roll call of rising British talent (Jeremy Lloyd, James Villiers, Graham Stark, Nicholas Parsons) and veterans (Valentine Dyall, radio's "Man in Black").Amusing vignettes are also essayed by John Junkin (as an engine driver), Thorley Walters (as a fey lawyer) and Cicely Courtneidge (leader of a Salvation Army wanna-be band which wears an S on their collars almost like the old German national socialist police force; I suppose that's the filmmakers' statement against charity).The romp is full of twists like a good mystery, but the mystery (such as it is; the viewer is always in command of the facts) is merely a skeleton on which to hang the actors' humorous escapades. The final scene is thrilling, seeing so much talent gathered together in a cemetery (Mills, Richardson, Caine, Cook, Moore, Newman, Lawson, Walters--and Irene Handl, who jumps in at the eleventh hour. And Hancock has pride of place, strutting before them while desperately trying to work out which Finsbury is which.If you prefer humor served up dark but not bitter by the best in the business, roll a sip of this over your palate.

John Downes This is another candidate for the ultimate anti-accolade; that of "The Worst Film I Ever Saw". The difference with this one is that it unaccountably, bafflingly, scores respectably at IMDb.Peter Cook and Dudley Moore can be quite funny but their proper milieu is the 30-minute TV sketch show. Then there's the script. There might be a funny screen-play waiting to be written on the chosen plot subject, that of the last-surviving competitors in a tontine being two brothers who hate each other.... but this isn't it. I think the best you can say about this film is that all the players (and what an impressive cast they are) do their best with this witless material. But it's all pointless. To make a decent comedy there have to be a few jokes scattered about. Funny ones work best for me.I didn't as much as smile once. A complete waste of time.

TheLittleSongbird I saw The Wrong Box for the cast, who were undoubtedly some of the best actors of that time, and apart from the ending which was a little too rushed for my tastes I enjoyed every minute of this film. It is filmed beautifully, flowing well from one scene to the next, and the settings and costumes are luscious to look at. John Barry's score is as exciting and memorable as anything else this late great composer ever did, while the story was paced just right for me and very interesting and the writing and situations are unforced and always hilarious(with too many to list). Bryan Forbes I felt directed quite assuredly in alternative to slack, and the cast are simply to die for. Wilfrid Lawson and Peter Sellers especially are comedy gold, though Tony Hancock is also very funny, Michael Caine more than holds his own, John Mills and Ralph Richardson appeal even if their characters aren't as easy initially to warm to and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are in their prime and seeing them together is worth the viewing alone. All in all, a real joy, can't recommend it enough. 9/10 Bethany Cox

bkoganbing At some point the brothers Finsbury must have had some second thoughts about entering that lottery for life which is what the Tontine is. And it's true as Ralph Richardson reminds us in the film that the concept is named after the 17th century Italian banker who came up with the idea.Essentially a Tontine is a life's lottery, several folks put up an initial investment and we of course presume it is in the hands of some really conservative bankers who don't go into something wildly speculative. If that's done the winner of the Tontine is the last survivor among the initial investors.Wouldn't you know it, but the last survivors as it turns out are a pair of feuding brothers, the Finsburys played by John Mills and Ralph Richardson. These two guys don't speak on general principles to start with, but with over 100,000 in pound sterling up for grabs, these two old coots are at each other and if not them, their respective heirs.Worst of course is Dudley Moore and Peter Cook who are Richardson's nephews, presumably on his wife's side. They hear Mills is dying and Mills is one of those characters who's been dying for a couple of generations and buries everybody around him. But in order for them to inherit Mills has to go first and then Richardson and it's all their'sThus the black comedy begins with the two schemers trying to work out a pair of deaths in the correct order. It may be black comedy, but it's also Murphy's law comedy, but Murphy never dealt with some of the situations thrown at the cast.Best in the film in my opinion is Ralph Richardson. He's one of those pedantic scholarly types who has learned a lot on just about everything and who doesn't hesitate to show off his knowledge and bore everyone around him to tears. It's no wonder Mills rises from what is thought to be his deathbed to strangle him, just to shut him up. It's the best scene in the film, marvelously played by two of the best from the British cinema. So if you think your family has problems just think about the Finsbury brothers and what they and their relations go through in The Wrong Box.