The Wrong Box

Plot synopsis:
In Victorian London, elderly brothers Masterman (Mills) and Joseph Finsbury (Richardson), who live next to each other, are the surviving members of a tontine, an investment scheme set up 63 years before, in which the last member stands to receive a fortune. Masterman is attended by his unpromising medical student grandson, Michael (Caine), while his greedy cousins Morris (Cook) and John (Moore), who live in Bournemouth, do their best to keep their annoying uncle Joseph alive there. Masterman, who hasn't talked to his despised brother in many years, summons Joseph to his "deathbed," intending to kill him so that Michael can get the money.
On the train trip to London, Joseph escapes from his minders, entering a compartment and boring the sole occupant with a litany of trivial facts (something he does with everyone he encounters). His traveling companion later turns out to be the "Bournemouth Strangler." Joseph leaves to smoke a cigarette, leaving his coat behind, which the strangler dons. The train then collides with another one coming in the other direction. In the confusion, Morris and John find the strangler's mutilated body and mistakenly believe it is that of their uncle.
Morris decides to try to hide the body long enough for Masterman to pass away, then claim Joseph died of a heart attack upon hearing the news. Morris and John plot to ship the body to their London home. John, left behind to attend to this task, sends the body in a barrel. However, it is delivered to Masterman's house by mistake. The "wrong" box of the title is concurrently shipped to Masterman's house, a crate containing a statue that has the house number partially obscured. Joseph makes his way to London on his own and visits his brother; Masterman attempts to kill his brother a number of times, with Joseph oblivious to the attempts; they separate after quarreling. Meanwhile, Michael meets Joseph's ward, Julia Finsbury (Nanette Newman), and they fall in love.
The containers are mistakenly delivered to the wrong houses. Morris, arriving at Joseph's house in John's absence, sees a delivery wagon just leaving and assumes that his uncle's body has just been delivered. Things become complicated when Michael discovers the contents of the barrel and, after learning of the "altercation" between Masterman and Joseph from family butler Peacock (Wilfrid Lawson), assumes that his grandfather has killed his brother. Michael hides the body in a piano when Julia brings Masterman some broth. That night Michael hires unscrupulous "undertakers" to remove the strangler from the piano and dump it into the Thames, but Masterman falls down the staircase and they assume his is the body. Morris observes the activity and gleefully assumes Masterman has died.
Further misunderstandings and antics ensue the next day as the cousins claim that the tontine has been won, Masterman is returned home after being fished out of the river, Morris orders a coffin to remove the mutilated body he thinks is in Joseph's basement, the coffin is delivered to the wrong house, Michael sells the piano not knowing the strangler's body is still in it, the police are involved when the body in the piano is discovered, Masterman is revealed to be quite alive in the misdelivered coffin, a second coffin ordered by Michael arrives, the cousins make off with the tontine money in the second hearse, and the chase that ensues encounters a real funeral procession in which Joseph is participating.

Tags: comedy, murder, melodrama

Review:
Masterman (John Mills) lives with his grandson Michael (Michael Caine), and Joseph with his two greedy nephews (Morris and John - Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) and his niece Julia (Nanette Newman).
Along the way we meet other characters who are colorful: Dr. Pratt (Peter Sellers) - who at the drop of a hat will tell you about how he fell from medical grace to the backstreet he resides in; Peacock (Wilfred Lawson), Masterman's butler, who makes the average turtle look like it's turbocharged; the police Detective (Tony Hancock) - who can't put together a coherent idea if his life depended on it; and ...the Bournmouth Strangler (the story is from 1888, so we can guess who this character is based on).
That the novel is not quite like the film does not matter (Michael is not a medical student but a clever barrister in the story, and John's relationship with Morris deteriorates in the story due to some money troubles), but this does not matter.
L. Stevenson of "Treasure Island" fame); that the story in spite of its endless comical complications never once becomes too confusing (except of course to Tony Hancock's hapless inspector); and that the story is interpreted by some of the most memorable and talented actors of two generations.The (then) old guard is worthily represented by Ralph Richardson as the deliciously exasperating Joseph Finsbury, John Mills as the cranky and cantankerous Masterman, and especially Wilfrid Lawson's unforgettable doddering yet stalwart butler (his fellow actor Michael Caine has stated that Lawson is his favorite actor--as well as the favorite actor of every other actor who knew him).The (then) younger generation, however, does not pale by comparison.
Peter Cook's Morris Finsbury sets down a delightfully unprincipled cad (one suspects that Masterman may have resembled him in his younger days), yet we can't quite stop rooting for him, because Michael Caine and Nanette Newman strike just the right sweet and innocent tone as Michael and Julia to make us surreptitiously feel that perhaps they deserve to be cheated out of their money.
In this respect, the eventual denouement (which I won't give away) is pleasantly and surprisingly satisfying.Spare some kudos also for the excellent supporting cast, from Peter Sellers' vacuously venal Doctor Pratt and Dame Cicely Courtneidge's imperious Salvation Army major to such brief but perfect walk-ons as the unflappable engine crew ("We haven't heard the last of this") or poor Hackett's lachrymose widow.
The actors involved give the impression they're delighted to be in the film, as they should be.THE WRONG BOX is one of Michael Caine's earlier films and he performs creditably, and Peter Sellers shines in an excellent bit part.
Nevertheless, my hat goes off to three other actors who give the performance of their careers:  Ralph Richardson, as the quintessential pedant Joseph Finsbury, the world's most boring narcissist; Peter Cook, as Joseph's incessantly scheming nephew who wants to see his uncle die a few seconds after Masterman croaks; and most especially, Wilfrid Lawson as the wondrously torpid Peacock, Masterman's dignified but disheveled butler whose peculiar grunts and malapropisms remain fresh with every viewing of the film.
I would put Lawson's performance on a par with Humphrey Bogart's in THE CAINE MUTINY or Fred MacMurray's in DOUBLE INDEMNITY -- it is truly that good.THE WRONG BOX ranks on a par with THE LIFE OF BRIAN as one of the finest British comedies ever.
Veteran British stage/cinema actors (Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Wilfred Lawson) play with rising stars (Michael Caine, just off "Alfie", and Peter Cook & Dudley Moore from the groundbreaking "Beyond the Fringe" revue).
Even the tiniest "blink and you'll miss 'em" roles are loaded with familiar character actors (Cicely Courtneidge, John Le Mesurier, Thorley Walters &c) rubbing elbows with rising talents (Jeremy Lloyd, James Villiers, Leonard Rossiter, Graham Stark) making the movie a veritable field day for spotters of British humor.
Funny and often laugh out loud hilarious story of two brothers (John Mills and Ralph Richardson), one of whom must outlive the other in order to win a Tontine started at their boys school and going to the final survivor of the class.
What transpires is "The Wrong Box," a 1966 film directed by Bryan Forbes and also starring Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Wilfred Lawson, Nanette Newman (Mrs. Forbes) and Peter Sellers.The first ten minutes or so of the movie is hilarious, as it shows the demise of the other students over the years.
When they go to bury what they think is his body, Cook makes Moore do it rather than put his hands in the dirt, insisting "petal-soft hands are the mark of a great ornithologist." Both Richardson, as the fact-spewing brother, and Mills, as the crazy old coot with murder in his heart, are excellent, as is the rest of the cast.
John Mills and Ralph Richardson play a pair of elderly brothers in Victorian England who are the last surviving members of a tontine, a form of investment/insurance policy in which a group of people pool funds which are disbursed to the last surviving member.
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore play two of Richardson's great-nephews, with Nanette Newman being a cousin to them and Caine.
The editing is brilliant with sound and picture from the end of one scene/shot being cut/combined to great comedic effect with the next scene/shot's start.The script and story are hilarious and keep a fast but not rushed pace until the slightly rushed ending which is the only slight shame but it is not a bad ending at all and does not detract from the whole films appeal.The cast are universally superb with many career best performances albeit in small parts.
Tony Hancock is also brilliant in a cameo, showing his comic talent on the big screen.Peter Cook has never come close to being this good in another film in my opinion.
Dudley Moore is also very funny and Michael Caine is just right in an early role.Legends John Mills and Ralph Richardson are at their incredible best but best of all is Wilfred Lawson as the butler Peacock.
He is mesmerising, unbelievably funny and it is one of the greatest comedy characterisations I've seen.Lawson gives a genius performance in a genius film where from the smallest part to the stars, everyone is perfect and almost everything is perfectly executed.
Every actor creates a memorable comic portrait: shy, naive, Michael Caine, confused Peter Sellers, vengeful rivals Ralph Richardson and John Mills (my favorites), greedy Peter Cooke and randy Dudley Moore and many, many more.
An overly silly, often too chaotic but yet still enjoyable little comedy, it is not as much a showcase for the talents of its director as his previous films were, but it is still well done, with some swift bits of editing, excellent sets and costumes, and some good camera-work.
This is one of those very rare films that has to be called 'perfect'...not a frame out of place  It stars nearly every British comic actor of the time in a Victorian period comedy...an ensemble piece of great wit with superb direction by Bryan Forbes.
With Peter Sellers in a cameo that should be required viewing for comic actors, and great comic performances by Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Michael Caine, the luminous Nanette Newman, a transcendent turn by Wilfred Lawson as the world's oldest butler, the best work Peter Cook and Dudley Moore ever did, and a great bit by Tony Hancock, generally unknown in the US, as a detective.
there has been numerous films with Micheal Caine and peter cook which have been released but are not half as good e.g. jaws 3 and and one foot in the grave (t v series on BBC) with slight performances from both Caine and cook could this be something to do with some type of movie red tape that i do not know about as far as i am concerned the story line is perfect and the cast is probably one of the best in a movie there are some very funny moments and as far as i know has only been shown on UK TV very rarely while films like stakeout seem to be on every other week: also it is one of Micheal Caine's best comic performances along with peter cook and Dudley Moore..
I still quote Sir Ralph Richardson's character, after a train blows up and he's found sitting on the loo: "I think I'll take my leave, now." Peter Cook is hilarious in this movie, too.
With a such terrific cast (Ralph Richardson, John Mills, Michael Caine, Peter Sellers, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, et al.), and cult status pedigree, how strange that the latest video release was the full screen, rather washed out laserdisc.
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.
Michael Caine, Dudley Moore, and Peter Cook are all good, and Peter Sellers is fantastic in a small role.
But ultimately the film comes down to a cleverly crafted plot that was derived from an old novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne.The movie is clean enough to watch with your family, though the young kids will miss much of the humor, and some of the comedy comes from the fact that characters pretend to care about the deaths of older family members, when in fact they don't..
Suggested by Robert Louis Stevenson's and Lloyd Osbourne's story, this outrageous comedy involves a pair of estranged, elderly brothers in Victorian England--the last two survivors of a decades old lottery--who, at different points, are thought deceased by their relatives, two of whom will go to any lengths to retrieve the boodle.
The all-star cast (including Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and Peter Sellers in a guest role as a befuddled doctor) is encouraged to play it over-the-top, and there are laughs nearly all the way through.
However, being patchy overall  insufficiently witty and often resorting to heavy-handed comedy which outstays its welcome  it fails to achieve that film's level of artistic merit (culminating in a fracas at a graveyard, then, it also brings to mind the contemporaneous THE LOVED ONE [1965]); however, we do begin promisingly enough with a number of nice skits wherein the long line of candidates to the fortune is severely diminished (there's even a gag involving an accident-prone Queen Victoria!).As for the remarkable cast, it's led by Ralph Richardson (amusingly bugging everybody with his pomposity  a coachman whispers to himself "God save us!" at Richardson's hope that they meet again) and John Mills (atypically involved in pratfalls, especially when attempting to do in brother Richardson: the two live next door to each other and, yet, haven't spoken in 40 years!) as the last survivors of the deadly tontine.
Also on hand are Michael Caine (as Mills' grandson) who shares a rather boring, and unnecessarily flashily-presented, romance with Nanette Newman (Richardson's ward and director Forbes' real-life wife), Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (making for a characteristically unscrupulous albeit bumbling duo  incidentally, I should get to their maligned spoof rendition of THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES [1978] presently), Wilfrid Lawson (who's fun as Mills' doddering butler) and Thorley Walters (the lawyer charged with handing over the money to the eventual winner).
The cast list of this film, also see Bedazzled and Rise of Michael Rimmer, is like a whos-who of British comedy in the 60s.
The movie starts off quite well, rather quirky, with colourful and fun characters played occasionally brilliantly by an excellent cast (Caine, Cook, Newman, Dudley), and visually nice, obviously with a decent budget.
As for Cook and Dudley, watch "Bedazzled", which came out just a year after TWB; it's superior to it and one of the best comedies of the 60s.There are some original ideas, such as the inheritors in a testament not trying to kill their uncle/father/whoever but dedicating their lives to prolonging their life, as is the case with "poor little orphans" Cook and Moore taking care of Richardson's health.
I found the montage lame and underdeveloped, and nothing that followed improved the experience.Judging by other reviews it's clear comedy is a subjective experience, but it's hard not to see how poorly scripted this story is, how hard the actors struggle to give life to the material, and how many jokes were left on the table.The cast is wonderful, but I did feel sorry for them - especially Caine - having to deliver some really poor lines.
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.
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.
(As does the original "Bedazzled," of a few years later.)PLUS, you've got Peter Sellers doing one of his most bizarre eccentrics, Ralph Richardson as probably the funniest bore ever to appear in a movie, Tony Hancock at his apoplectic best, and gorgeous photography (if you can ignore the TV antennae).In all, a genuine unsung British comedic masterpiece that deserves much wider recognition..
Peter Sellers was wasted.Caine , Mills & Richardson, Cooke & Moore all did a good job of acting but there did not seem to be enough coherence in the plot to interest me.
Wilfrid Lawson was an heroic drinker.Once when starring as the Duke of Buckingham with fellow boozehound Robert Newton in a production of" Richard the third" he stumbled all over the stage,finally tripping over his sword.As he struggled upright a voice from the audience assailed him "You're p*ssed!".He staggered to the footlights and screwed up his eyes,"if you think I'm p*ssed you should see the Duke of Clarence",he shouted,grinning manically.Now he was either almost permanently p*ssed during the making of "The wrong box",or he was the greatest actor I have ever seen.Mr Bryan Forbes assembled some lovely actors of both generations for his movie of greed and deceit amongst the Victorian upper middle classes.I can feel affinity with the Finsburys because my grandmother was the loser in a Tontine and had she not rather inconsiderately fallen under the wheels of a London Omnibus I might have been heir to a fortune.On the other hand I might have ended up the victim of a fiendish plot by disgruntled relatives.................
Mill's son (Michael Caine) is a decent chap, a promising doctor, while Redgrave's wards, nephews Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, come up with a scheme to get their hands on the money when Richardson goes missing.
This leads to a hysterical chase at the end, sort of a British early 1900's version of "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World", with a bit of Monty Python and Benny Hill thrown in.You'll delight at the ensemble cast here, which also includes Peter Sellers in one of his zanier roles as the quack doctor utilized to sign a death certificate for Redgrave, who gets the best lines in the film and is extremely funny.
And that damp squib was The Wrong Box. It's a perfectly good natured light comedy, but is another example (like The Bulldog Breed) of a Caine fan suffering for his art - this film is really a showcase for the considerable talents of Ralph Richardson and John Mills.
Throw in the fact that Tony Hancock, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were also in the cast, and it is fair to say that gives you an idea of the type of movie this was.
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).
This Bryan Forbes film based on an idea stolen free of charge from an out of copright book by Robert Louis Stevenson written under his pen name "Collette" and translated by Reg Varney, who also drove the train; must have kept the entire British film industry gainfully employed for a year or so in Bath (where Tommy Steele and the same people in different costumes were ready to shoot "Half a sixpence".From Shakerspearian legends like Ralph Richardson who rub shoulders with comic legends Peter(s) Cook and Sellers and new up-and-coming, fresh-faced Hollywood great Michael Caine (there's not many people know that)Grab a beer, sit back on the sofa and have another beer for each born actor you can spot.Guest appearances by John Wayne (as a bird's egg) and Walter Huson (as the villain) are missed by anybody who is under 95 years of age.Enjoy !.
This in itself became ridiculous and absolutely tedious to view.Two old brothers survive-John Mills and Ralph Richardson.
Michael Caine, Nanette Newman, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, John Mills, Ralph Richardson, and Peter Sellers, as well as a host of other familiar English character actors grace this amusing bit of nonsense.
That is not true of Joseph's two scheming sons Morris (Peter Cook) and John (Dudley Moore) who are just as treacherous as Masterman.
Peter Sellers gives one of the movie's best performances as the bumbling Dr. Pratt, who just loves cats.
Same for Nanette Newman as Julia.Ralph Richardson and Peter Cook, of course, deliver hilarious performances.