Dad’s Army **** (1971, Arthur Lowe, John le Mesurier, Clive Dunn, John Laurie, James Beck, Arnold Ridley, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee, Liz Fraser) – Classic Movie Review 3,315

Director Norman Cohen’s 1971 vintage British comedy film Dad’s Army is set in 1939 in Walmington-on-Sea, England, where George Mainwaring (Arthur Lowe), manager of St Martin’s Bank, forms the town’s platoon of the Local Defence Volunteers and appoints himself Captain of the Home Guard, or Dad’s Army.

The vicar, the Rev Timothy Farthing (Frank Williams), rings his bells before they are to be melted down for the war effort. But unfortunately Mainwaring misinterprets this as a signal that the Germans are invading. Later a German aircraft bails out over the town, landing near the church hall, where the invaders take the townsfolk hostage, but the platoon forces the Germans to surrender.

This is a most enjoyable big-screen version of the ever-popular classic TV series with Home Guarders Lowe, John le Mesurier (Sgt Wilson), Clive Dunn, (Cpl Jones) John Laurie (Private Frazer), James Beck (Private Walker), Arnold Ridley (Private Godfrey), Ian Lavender (Private Pike) and Co as splendid as ever, with huge nostalgia appeal.

It provides a very happy memento of the show, and is done with plenty of vim and zest, even if increasing its scope to include the townsfolk, relatives and real Germans diminishes the laughs, though developing the strand of Sgt Wilson’s love life with Pike’s widowed mother Mavis (Liz Fraser) pays dividends.

Also in the cast are Bill Pertwee as the warden Hodges, Edward Sinclair, Bernard Archard, Derek Newark, Anthony Sagar, Pat Coombs, Roger Maxwell, Paul Dawkins, Sam Kydd, Michael Knowles, Fred Griffiths, John Baskomb, Alvar Lidell, George Roubicek, Scott Fredericks and Hugh Hastings.

The script by series devisers Jimmy Perry and David Croft uses sequences from the TV series’ first episode, The Man and the Hour (1968).

2016 brings a new version of Dad’s Army, with Ian Lavender (as Brigadier Pritchard) and Frank Williams in the otherwise new cast.

English actor Frank Williams (2 July 1931 – 26 June 2022) was best known for playing vicars and clergymen such as Timothy Farthing, the vicar in Dad’s Army. He also appeared in similar roles in You Rang, M’Lord?, Hi-de-Hi!, What’s Up Nurse, The Worker, and Vanity Fair. He reprises the role of Farthing in the 2016 film Dad’s Army.

Ian Lavender (16 February 1946 – 2 February 2024) plays Private Pike in 1971 vintage British comedy film Dad’s Army, and was the TV show’s last surviving main cast member.

Ian Lavender (16 February 1946 – 2 February 2024) worked a lot on stage and TV but remained best known as Private Pike in Dad’s Army, the TV series’ last surviving main cast member after the death of Frank Williams in 2022.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3,315

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