Dry Rot *** (1956, Ronald Shiner, Brian Rix, Sidney James, Peggy Mount, Michael Shepley, Heather Sears, Joan Sims) – Classic Movie Review 8334

Director Maurice Elvey’s 1956 British black and white comedy movie Dry Rot gallops along at a fair whip and stays the course, but, alas, fails to get to the winning post first, being a bit of an also-ran.

John Chapman’s long-running Whitehall Theatre stage farce about three dodgy broke bookies (Ronald Shiner as Alf Tubbe, Brian Rix as Fred Phipps, Sidney James as Flash Harry) who try to make a fortune by fixing a race with a doped horse swapped for the fancied favourite comes uneasily to the screen with over-broad performances by a popular cast and heavy-handed direction, though it does move quickly and at times amusingly. Chapman provides his own screenplay, adapting his play.

In three attractive and appealing farce performances, Rix plays the dimwitted bookmaker who has to jockey the horse, Peggy Mount plays the storming Sergeant Fire and Michael Shepley plays hotelier Colonel Wagstaff.

The trio of bookies Alf, Fred and Harry decide to kidnap the favourite horse Sweet Lavender and its French jockey Polignac (Christian Duvaleix), and conceal the horse, as well as later the jockey, in a hidden cellar at the country house hotel near the racecourse, run by Colonel and Mrs Wagstaff (Michael Shepley, Joan Haythorne), where they are staying. Dim Fred falls for the giggling hotel chambermaid Beth (Joan Sims).

Brian Rix and Ronald Shiner in Dry Rot.

Favourite credit: Miles Malleson as Yokel.

Joan Sims recalled: ‘With each successive take Maurice Elvey was getting more and more frantic and Michael Shepley more and more flustered. He shouted at Michael and Sid James announced that he was leaving the set until Maurice apologised. Maurice duly apologised but I was hugely impressed by the stand Sid took.’

The horse-racing sequences are by courtesy of Kempton Park Race Course, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, England, where they were filmed. It was also filmed at Shepperton Studios, Surrey, England.

The cast are Ronald Shiner as Alf Tubbe, Brian Rix as Fred Phipps, Peggy Mount as Sergeant Fire, Lee Patterson as Danby, Sid James as Flash Harry, Joan Sims as Beth Barton, Heather Sears as Susan, Michael Shepley as Colonel Wagstaff, Joan Haythorne as Mrs Wagstaff, Miles Malleson as Yokel, Christian Duvaleix as Polignac, John Roy Chapman, Joan Benham as Blonde, Raymond Glendenning as himself, Fred Griffiths as Bookie and Wilfrid Brambell as Tar Man.

Heather Sears (1935–1994) makes her credited screen debut (after an uncredited role as a Student in Touch and Go (1955) and Shirley Ann Field can be briefly glimpsed as a waitress at the Three Frogs Cafe – already her tenth film appearance in a couple of years.

Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) is the most prolific British film director, directing nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. In the silent era, he directed as many as 20 films a year.

 © Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8334

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