Stephen Potter knew he was onto a good thing when he wrote Gamesmanship in 1947; Lifemanship, One-Upmanship, Supermanship, Christmas-ship and Golf-Gamesmanship soon followed.
Most of his humorous books are still in print. His earlier books on DH Lawrence and ST Coleridge are not. Well, that’s that; no it’s not. A film was made about the ‘manship series in 1960 and the good old BBC, always keen to snap up something cheap and not wanting to compete with Netflix, are screening it. It is definitely best watched at home on a small screen. I have no idea how much it cost to make but not much is my guess. It has the same feel as early episodes of The Saint; black and white with locations within a couple of miles from the film studios but a much better cast.
It has a plodding beginning but improves markedly in the second half when Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael) puts into practice what he has learnt at Potter’s (Alastair Sim’s) School of Lifemanship. He is up against John Le Mesurier as a snooty head waiter, Terry-Thomas in top form as a cad and two dodgy secondhand car salesmen (Dennis Price and Peter Jones). Hattie Jaques and Hugh Paddick are instructors at Potter’s school. She had been married to John Le Mesurier since 1949. Irene Handl pops in as a landlady. You will remember her ad-libbing outrageously as Miss Peach in The Italian Job. A young Jeremy Lloyd makes his first, brief, screen appearance as a student. It’s the sort of film you need to see for pub quizzes and to excel at Cinemanship.
I’m sorry not to have seen The Truffle Hunters. It was on at The Riverside Studios over the weekend. It’s as about as far removed from School for Scoundrels as possible. Walking Bertie, changing a light bulb, defrosting the freezer and clearing up the co-lateral damage took precedence.