Postman’s Knock ** (1962, Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, Wilfrid Lawson, Miles Malleson, Bob Todd, Warren Mitchell, Arthur Mullard, Lance Percival) – Classic Movie Review 12,018

They tried to turn Spike Milligan into a movie star with Postman’s Knock (1962). 

Director Robert Lynn’s 1962 British mail theft ring slapstick comedy film Postman’s Knock stars Spike Milligan and Barbara Shelley, along with Wilfrid Lawson, Miles Malleson, John Wood and Archie Duncan. It is based on a story by Jack Trevor Story.

It is a middling comedy for a typically manic, goonish Spike Milligan as a befuddled out-of-town mailman posted to the big city for training at London’s busiest post office. Still, in the time-honoured, antique British comedy film tradition, he catches mail-robbing crooks (though only after he is suspected of being the brains behind the gang!), becomes a hero and gets the gal, ambitious art student Jean (Barbara Shelley).

Milligan, Lawson, Malleson and the comedy stalwarts (Bob Todd, Warren Mitchell, Arthur Mullard, Lance Percival) help to make you more warmly disposed towards the movie, and Milligan (who, unlike his Goon colleague Peter Sellers, never made it as a movie star) is an all-time national treasure.

Also in the cast are Miles Malleson, John Wood, Ronald Adam, Archie Duncan, Bob Todd, Warren Mitchell, Arthur Mullard, John Bennett, Lance Percival, and Mario Fabrizi.

It is made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios, and MGM reported a loss of $31,000.

The cast are Spike Milligan as Harold Petts, Barbara Shelley as Jean, John Wood as P.C. Woods, Archie Duncan as Inspector, Warren Mitchell as Rupert, Lance Percival as Joe, Arthur Mullard as Sam, John Bennett as Pete, Ronald Adam as Mr. Fordyce, Miles Malleson as Psychiatrist, Wilfrid Lawson as Postman, Mario Fabrizi as Villager, and Bob Todd as District Superintendent.

Along with the 1961 Invasion Quartet, it is one of two comedies created for Spike Milligan by screen-writers John Briley and Jack Trevor Story.

© Derek Winnert 2022 Classic Movie Review 12,018

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com