A cheap, drunken, bombastic widower (Charles Laughton) declares he will not pay the expected marriage settlement for his two younger daughters (Daphne Anderson and a pre-pre-Faulty Towers Prunella Scales) and that his eldest (Brenda de Banzie) is too old to find a husband. That eldest has her own plans: marriage with a lower class bootmaker
Rich and corrupt Simon Hilton (A.E. Matthews) dies, leaving his fortune and questionable enterprises to his pure and kindly niece Clara (Margaret Rutherford). Clara sets out with Simon’s semi-criminal butler (Ronald Shiner) to check on the businesses, including a pub where the keepers have been stealing the money meant for Simon’s illegitimate daughter (Jill Bennett),
Extreme fog shuts down London’s airport—and most forms of transportation—a fact that isn’t going to stop overbearing Miss Benton (Margaret Rutherford) from getting to Dublin. She insists that a bus be supplied, and to avoid trouble, it is, along with inept driver, Percy Lamb (Frankie Howerd), and put upon stewardess Lee, Nicholls (Petula Clark). They
Fingers (George Cole) is the incompetent leader of a band of unsuccessful thieves, made up of grumpy and nearly competent Sid (Sidney James), illiterate wrestler Snowdrop (Bernard Bresslaw), the agreeable Whisper (Joe Melia), and the buxom and stunning Charmaine (Vera Day). After several failed jobs, Fingers comes up with a plan to kidnap the daughter
Paul Martin (Griffith Jones), a wealthy doctor, leaves his wife Clare (Googie Withers) at home and takes a bachelor holiday to the seaside. There he meets Miranda, a lonely mermaid (Glynis Johns) and agrees to take her to London, disguised as an invalid patient. As she is attractive, enthusiastic, flirtatious, and lacking in the norms
Three small time crooks, Jelly Knight, Scapa Flood, and Lennie the Dip (Dudley Sutton, James Beckett, and Kenneth Griffith) get out of prison to find their old boss, The Duke (Anton Rodgers) dead and the money they stole gone. They fail running their own crimes, but a chance encounter leads them to believe that The
Kindly but repressed school teacher Caroline Trewella (Glynis Johns) takes a trip to Cornwall to see the house she has inherited. It sits on top of a sea cave where a pair of mermaids frolic. The brighter of the two, Miranda (also Glynis Johns) shares a grandfather with Caroline—the two are doubles—and persuades her to
A man (Rex Harrison), later identified as Charles Hathaway, wakes up in Wales with amnesia. With the aid of a specialist (Cecil Parker), he discovers he’s rich, married to a beautiful woman (Kay Kendall), and is an important government official. But quickly things don’t fit properly. His boss (Raymond Huntley) only seems to know him
Norman (Norman Wisdom) is an incompetent and dim stock boy at a large department store. When not destroying things or insulting people, he is chasing after fellow employee Sally (Lana Morris). He repeatedly gets fired by the new boss, Mr. Freeman (Jerry Desmonde) and rehired by dumb luck. Meanwhile, Miss Bacon (Margaret Rutherford) is shoplifting
The unplanned detonation of an unexploded WWII bomb in a London neighborhood uncovers a buried treasure. Professor Hatton-Jones (Margaret Rutherford) is brought in to determine its historical significance, and discovers more than anyone expect: By a 500 year old royal charter, the area is not part of England, but of Burgundy. The locals quickly find
William Horatio Ambrose, a seasick sea captain (Alec Guinness) from a long line of sea captains, purchases a ramshackle “resort pier” where he holds dances. When the greedy town council attempts to take the dock, Ambrose registers the stationary structure as a ship, which puts it beyond the control of locals, and sells “cruises” to
With headmistress Fritton (Alastair Sim) in jail, the older girls of St. Trinian’s concern themselves with marrying a rich Prince. Since he wants to see the girls before choosing one, Flash Harry (George Cole) and the girls rig a contest to win a trip to Europe, and blackmail a jewel thief on the run (Lionel Jeffries)