The Punch and Judy Man
Encyclopedia
The Punch and Judy Man is a British
comedy film
from 1963
directed by Jeremy Summers
. It was Tony Hancock
's second film in a starring role, following The Rebel
(1961).
, the movie is both filmed and set in 1963 in the sleepy fictional seaside town of Piltdown. Hancock plays Wally Pinner, the unhappily married Punch and Judy
Man. Wally and the other beach entertainers, the Sandman (John Le Mesurier
) who makes sand sculptures, and Neville the photographer (Mario Fabrizi
) are socially unacceptable to the town's snobbish elite.
Wally's wife, Delia (Sylvia Syms
), runs a typical seaside curios shop of the time below their flat, and is socially ambitious. To achieve this she needs to have Wally invited to entertain at the official reception for Lady Jane Caterham (Barbara Murray
), who is to switch on the town's illuminations, and at the Mayoress' suggestion the Reception Committee invites Wally to entertain.
The illumination
ceremony ends in farce when Wally's electric shaver shorts out some of the lights, causing some of the illuminated signs to display unflattering comments about the town. The dinner degenerates into a food fight
when one of the drunken guests heckles Punch, and when Lady Jane rounds on Wally, Delia floors her with a punch. Her dreams of social acceptance are gone, but Wally and Delia retire, wiser and closer.
.
The film is a gentle but bitter-sweet comedy, and provides some considerable insight into Hancock himself. The screenplay by Hancock and Philip Oakes appears to be based partly on Hancock's own life and marriage. In one scene, Wally and Delia have breakfast in almost total silence, and the scene demonstrates that Wally and Delia are married from habit, and no longer have anything in common. The scene is often considered to be an observation on Hancock's marriage to the former Cicely Romanis at the time.
A still from the following scene shows Wally angrily ramming a bunch of flowers up a porcelain pig's backside. The script originally called for the flowers to go up the pig's nose, but Hancock argued that the joke had to be stronger and so a prop with a suitable orifice was made. In the next scene Delia discovers the flower-adorned pig, but the audience has to guess how it got that way.
In another scene, Wally retreats from the rain into an ice cream parlour with a small boy, played by Sylvia Syms' nephew, Nicholas Webb
. The boy asks for a large sundae (a "Piltdown Glory") and Wally orders the same. Then, because he is uncertain of the correct etiquette for eating the dessert, Wally carefully watches the boy and imitates his every move.
The scene was done in several takes and in between each take Hancock would rinse his mouth with vodka to remove the taste of the ice cream.
Several actors from Hancock's successful television series, Hancock's Half Hour
, also appear in supporting roles: John Le Mesurier
, Hugh Lloyd
, Mario Fabrizi
and Hattie Jacques
.
Roger Wilmut, in Tony Hancock: Artiste (1978), argues that the climactic food fight escalates too quickly and that a more experienced director would have been given it more time to develop comedically.
Visually, The Punch and Judy Man is reminiscent of Jacques Tati
's film Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
, showing a sleepy seaside town in the early 1950s. Both have a unique style of visual humour, and both are an historian's delight in being comments on the society of the time. Michael Palin
created a film twenty years later called East of Ipswich
, with a similar theme of social acceptance in a small seaside town.
The film itself was shot on location in Bognor Regis
, and when the producers asked for some local people to take parts as extras, over 2,000 people turned up. Many parts of the town are immortalised in the film, from the Pier and the Town Hall, alongside other areas such as Spencer Street, Belmont Street, and York Road, beside the Esplanade and Royal Hotel, where in fact the film crew stayed. Tony Hancock himself stayed at the more expensive and smarter Royal Norfolk Hotel during filming.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
from 1963
1963 in film
The year 1963 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* June 12 - Cleopatra starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rex Harrison and Richard Burton premieres at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City....
directed by Jeremy Summers
Jeremy Summers
Jeremy Summers is a retired British television director and film director, best known for his directorship of ITC productions in the 1960s and 1970s, most notably The Saint.-Background:...
. It was Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...
's second film in a starring role, following The Rebel
The Rebel (1961 film)
The film The Rebel is a satirical comedy starring the British comedian Tony Hancock, and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson.-Plot:...
(1961).
Plot
Based on Hancock's childhood memories of BournemouthBournemouth
Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, the movie is both filmed and set in 1963 in the sleepy fictional seaside town of Piltdown. Hancock plays Wally Pinner, the unhappily married Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy
Punch and Judy is a traditional, popular puppet show featuring the characters of Mr. Punch and his wife, Judy. The performance consists of a sequence of short scenes, each depicting an interaction between two characters, most typically the anarchic Punch and one other character...
Man. Wally and the other beach entertainers, the Sandman (John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
) who makes sand sculptures, and Neville the photographer (Mario Fabrizi
Mario Fabrizi
Mario Fabrizi was an English comedian and actor of Italian descent active in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s....
) are socially unacceptable to the town's snobbish elite.
Wally's wife, Delia (Sylvia Syms
Sylvia Syms
Sylvia M. L. Syms OBE is a British actress. She is probably best known for her roles in the films Woman in a Dressing Gown , Ice-Cold in Alex , No Trees in the Street , Victim and The Tamarind Seed...
), runs a typical seaside curios shop of the time below their flat, and is socially ambitious. To achieve this she needs to have Wally invited to entertain at the official reception for Lady Jane Caterham (Barbara Murray
Barbara Murray
Barbara Ann Murray is an English actress. She was married to the actor John Justin and had three daughters, but they divorced in 1964....
), who is to switch on the town's illuminations, and at the Mayoress' suggestion the Reception Committee invites Wally to entertain.
The illumination
Illumination
Illumination, an observable property and effect of light, may also refer to:* Illumination , the use of light sources* Illumination , the use of light and shadow in art...
ceremony ends in farce when Wally's electric shaver shorts out some of the lights, causing some of the illuminated signs to display unflattering comments about the town. The dinner degenerates into a food fight
Food fight
A food fight is a form of chaotic collective behavior, in which food is thrown at others in the manner of projectiles. These projectiles are not made to harm or damage others, but to simply ignite a fight filled with spontaneous food throwing. Food fights may be impromptu examples of rebellion or...
when one of the drunken guests heckles Punch, and when Lady Jane rounds on Wally, Delia floors her with a punch. Her dreams of social acceptance are gone, but Wally and Delia retire, wiser and closer.
Background
The town of Piltdown is apparently named after Piltdown ManPiltdown Man
The Piltdown Man was a hoax in which bone fragments were presented as the fossilised remains of a previously unknown early human. These fragments consisted of parts of a skull and jawbone, said to have been collected in 1912 from a gravel pit at Piltdown, East Sussex, England...
.
The film is a gentle but bitter-sweet comedy, and provides some considerable insight into Hancock himself. The screenplay by Hancock and Philip Oakes appears to be based partly on Hancock's own life and marriage. In one scene, Wally and Delia have breakfast in almost total silence, and the scene demonstrates that Wally and Delia are married from habit, and no longer have anything in common. The scene is often considered to be an observation on Hancock's marriage to the former Cicely Romanis at the time.
A still from the following scene shows Wally angrily ramming a bunch of flowers up a porcelain pig's backside. The script originally called for the flowers to go up the pig's nose, but Hancock argued that the joke had to be stronger and so a prop with a suitable orifice was made. In the next scene Delia discovers the flower-adorned pig, but the audience has to guess how it got that way.
In another scene, Wally retreats from the rain into an ice cream parlour with a small boy, played by Sylvia Syms' nephew, Nicholas Webb
Nick Webb (musician)
Nicholas "Nick" Webb was an English acoustic guitarist, composer, and co-founder of contemporary jazz group Acoustic Alchemy...
. The boy asks for a large sundae (a "Piltdown Glory") and Wally orders the same. Then, because he is uncertain of the correct etiquette for eating the dessert, Wally carefully watches the boy and imitates his every move.
The scene was done in several takes and in between each take Hancock would rinse his mouth with vodka to remove the taste of the ice cream.
Several actors from Hancock's successful television series, Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
, also appear in supporting roles: John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier
John Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
, Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lloyd
Hugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...
, Mario Fabrizi
Mario Fabrizi
Mario Fabrizi was an English comedian and actor of Italian descent active in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s....
and Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques
Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
.
Roger Wilmut, in Tony Hancock: Artiste (1978), argues that the climactic food fight escalates too quickly and that a more experienced director would have been given it more time to develop comedically.
Visually, The Punch and Judy Man is reminiscent of Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati
Jacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...
's film Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
Les Vacances de M. Hulot Les Vacances de M. Hulot Les Vacances de M. Hulot (released as Monsieur Hulot's Holiday in the UK and US as Mr. Hulot's Holiday, is a comedy film starring and directed by Jacques Tati. It introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy character of Monsieur Hulot, who...
, showing a sleepy seaside town in the early 1950s. Both have a unique style of visual humour, and both are an historian's delight in being comments on the society of the time. Michael Palin
Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries....
created a film twenty years later called East of Ipswich
East of Ipswich
East of Ipswich was a BBC television drama from 1987 written by Michael Palin, based on his own memories of dreary holidays in English coastal towns in the 1950s....
, with a similar theme of social acceptance in a small seaside town.
The film itself was shot on location in Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis
Bognor Regis is a seaside resort town and civil parish in the Arun district of West Sussex, on the south coast of England. It is south-south-west of London, west of Brighton, and south-east of the city of Chichester. Other nearby towns include Littlehampton east-north-east and Selsey to the...
, and when the producers asked for some local people to take parts as extras, over 2,000 people turned up. Many parts of the town are immortalised in the film, from the Pier and the Town Hall, alongside other areas such as Spencer Street, Belmont Street, and York Road, beside the Esplanade and Royal Hotel, where in fact the film crew stayed. Tony Hancock himself stayed at the more expensive and smarter Royal Norfolk Hotel during filming.
Cast
- Tony HancockTony HancockAnthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...
— Wally Pinner - Sylvia SymsSylvia SymsSylvia M. L. Syms OBE is a British actress. She is probably best known for her roles in the films Woman in a Dressing Gown , Ice-Cold in Alex , No Trees in the Street , Victim and The Tamarind Seed...
— Delia Pinner - Ronald FraserRonald FraserRonald Fraser was an English character actor, who appeared in numerous British films of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s whilst also appearing in many popular TV shows.-Background:...
— Mayor - Barbara MurrayBarbara MurrayBarbara Ann Murray is an English actress. She was married to the actor John Justin and had three daughters, but they divorced in 1964....
— Lady Caterham - John Le MesurierJohn Le MesurierJohn Le Mesurier was a BAFTA Award-winning English actor. He is most famous for his role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the popular 1970s BBC comedy Dad's Army.-Career:...
— The Sandman - Norman BirdNorman BirdNorman Bird was a British character actor. Often sporting a moustache and an air of worried resignation, he seemed to specialise in downtrodden roles...
— Committee Man - Kevin BrennanKevin Brennan (actor)Kevin Martin Brennan was a British film and television actor.-Selected filmography:* On the Beach * The Punch and Judy Man * The Small World of Sammy Lee...
— Landlord - Eddie ByrneEddie ByrneEddie Byrne was an Irish actor. Outside Ireland he is probably best known for his minor role as General Vanden Willard in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but fans of cult sci-fi might also remember him as the skeptical Inspector Mulrooney in The Mummy and as the kindly Dr. Reginald Landers in...
— Ice Cream Assistant - Norman ChappellNorman ChappellNorman Chappell was a British character actor most known for his roles in the Carry On films and in The Avengers...
— Footman - Mario FabriziMario FabriziMario Fabrizi was an English comedian and actor of Italian descent active in Britain in the 1950s and early 1960s....
— Nevile Shanks - Carole Ann FordCarole Ann FordCarole Ann Ford is a British actress best known for her role as Susan Foreman in the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who. She also appeared in the 1962 film version of The Day of the Triffids....
— Girl in seaside kiosk - Gerald HarperGerald HarperGerald Harper is an actor, best known for his work on television, having played the title roles in Adam Adamant Lives! and Hadleigh ....
— First Drunk - Walter HuddWalter HuddWalter Hudd was a British actor.According to the Filmgoer's Companion by Leslie Halliwell, in 1936 Hudd was cast as T.E...
— Clergyman - Hattie JacquesHattie JacquesJosephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
— Dolly Zarathusa, the Fortune Teller - Hugh LloydHugh LloydHugh Lewis Lloyd, MBE was an English actor who made his name in television and film comedy from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was best known for appearances in Hugh and I and other sitcoms of the 1960s.-Life:...
— Edward Cox - Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
— Waiter - Peter VaughanPeter VaughanPeter Vaughan is an English character actor, known for many supporting roles in a variety of British film and television productions. He has worked extensively on the stage, becoming known for roles such as police inspectors, Soviet agents and similar parts...
— Committee Man - Russell WatersRussell WatersRussell Waters was a Scottish film actor.Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the Old English Comedy and Shakespeare Company then appeared in repertory theatre, at the Old Vic and in the West End. On screen Waters generally...
— Bobby Bachelor