Up in the World ** (1956, Norman Wisdom, Maureen Swanson, Jerry Desmonde) – Classic Movie Review 10,493

Robin Askwith’s Confessions of a Window Cleaner has an ancestor and a rival. Director John Paddy Carstairs’s 1956 silly slapstick comedy Up in the World stars Norman Wisdom as window cleaner Norman, who breaks panes, falls off ladders, goes to jail, sings 21 songs, gets the girl, and keeps a hamster called Harold.

He works at an English manor house with hundreds of windows on a country estate where he saves the owner’s spoiled young heir (Michael Caridia) from kidnappers.

There are some good-natured, simple laughs to be found in this generally rather sluggish vehicle for the man who was Britain’s top box-office comic of the 50s, though Wisdom’s fans will enjoy the pleasant old-style atmosphere and find that there are enough amusing moments along the way to a funny finale.

As as the estate manager Major Willoughby, Wisdom’s regular comedy-act stooge Jerry Desmonde shows an impressive quiet skill that contrasts perfectly with the boss’s overpowering persona. Reliable character actors Lionel Jeffries, Cyril Chamberlain, Michael Ward (as a fussy uncle called Maurice) and Bernard Bresslaw are a help too, and Maureen Swanson (as Jeannie Andrews) is a pleasing heroine and love match for Norman.

It is written, without much finesse, by Jack Davies, Henry Blyth and Peter Blackmore, keeping it busy and decently plotted, but cosy, corny and predictable.

Scottish leading lady Maureen Swanson debuted in 1952’s Moulin Rouge but retired from films in 1961 after her marriage to William Humble David Ward, 4th Earl of Dudley. She was the aunt of Rachel Ward. She appeared on Norman Wisdom’s second This Is Your Life (TV series documentary) in 1987.

Also in the cast are Michael Caridia, Ambrosine Phillpotts, Colin Gordon, Lionel Jeffries, Michael Ward, Jill Dixon, Edwin Styles, William Lucas, Michael Brennan, Bernard Bresslaw, Cyril Chamberlain, Thomas Gallagher, Hy Hazell, Eddie Leslie, Edward Lexy, and Ian Wilson.

It is shot at Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, and the film’s exterior scenes were shot at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,493

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