''It's Not Cricket'' is a 1949 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Alfred Roome Alfred Wallace Roome (22 December 1908 – 19 November 1997) was an English film editor and occasional film director, director. Biography Born in London, in 1908, he first worked in the film industry as a film editor on the 1932 British comed ...

and starring

Basil Radford Arthur Basil RadfordAdam Greaves, "Radford, (Arthur) Basil (1897–1952)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201available online Retrieved 3 August 2020. (25 June 189720 October 1952) was an English chara ...

Naunton Wayne Naunton Wayne (born Henry Wayne Davies, 22 June 1901 – 17 November 1970), was a Welsh character actor, born in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales. He was educated at Clifton College. His name was changed by deed poll#Use for changing name, deed po ...

Susan Shaw Susan Shaw (29 August 192927 November 1978; born Patricia Gwendoline Sloots) was an English actress. Early life Shaw was born Patricia Gwendoline Sloots on 29 August 1929 in West Norwood, London, to Edward John Sloots and Lillian Rose Lewis. S ...

and

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Early life Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Eleanor ...

. It was written by Gerard Bryant, Lyn Lockwood and Bernard McNabb. It is the second (after 1941's ''

Crook's Tour ''Crook's Tour'' is a 1940 British comedy film, comedy spy film directed by John Baxter (director), John Baxter featuring Charters and Caldicott. It is adapted from a BBC radio serial of the same name. Plot Charters and Caldicott are touring th ...

'') of two starring films for Radford and Wayne. It was one of the final films made by

Gainsborough Pictures Gainsborough Pictures was a British film studio based on the south bank of the Regent's Canal, in Poole Street, Hoxton in the former Metropolitan Borough of Shoreditch, east London. Gainsborough Studios was active between 1924 and 1951. The co ...

before the studio was merged into the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded in 1937 by industrialist J. Arthur Rank. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the Uni ...

Plot

Major Bright and Captain Early are intelligence officers in the British army of occupation in post-World War 2 Germany. They are sent home on leave, but fail to notice that their new

batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

is actually wanted

war criminal A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

Otto Fisch. He vanishes on arrival in England and the two officers are punished by early

demobilisation Demobilization or demobilisation (see spelling differences) is the process of standing down a nation's armed forces from combat-ready status. This may be as a result of victory in war, or because a crisis has been peacefully resolved and milita ...

. Uncertain what to do in civvy street, they decide to use the "skills" they learned in the army and set up a private detective agency, "Bright and Early". They engage a secretary, Primrose Brown, but she's not very busy as they have as yet no clients. Primrose's boyfriend/fiancee invites them all to a weekend

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

party for a cricket match, but what they don't know is that the cricket ball they buy in London actually contains a valuable diamond that Fisch has stolen. It has been hidden in the hollow ball by his friend and protector Mr Felix, who runs a sporting goods shop. As the match gets under way Fisch and Felix watch from the cover of the trees, then infiltrate the game and steal the ball. A free-for-all chase ensues, and Bright and Early manage to recover the ball and the diamond. They have now become celebrities and don't lack for eager clients. Fisch is still working for them, as they remain unaware of his identity.

Cast

Production

Alfred Roome directed the film with Roy Rich, with Rich focusing on dealing with the actors. Roome called the movie "a slapstick action thing, really, almost a children’s picture. What I’d do now is cut out all the terrible, boring romance stuff with Susan Shaw; there was a lot of other chat that should have gone too, but other than that, it’s not too bad... We managed to doll the sets and clothes up quite nicely, so that it looked quite expensive."

Critical reception

It was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and

Brian McFarlane Brian McFarlane is a Canadian television sportscaster and author. He is best known as a broadcaster on Hockey Night In Canada and as an author of hockey books. He is also the honorary president of the Society for International Hockey Researc ...

in ''The British 'B' Film'', their survey of British B films, as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and 1970. They said it contained "some of the most humorous moments in a British film of the period", and praised the performances, Maurice Denham's in particular. ''

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Basil Radford and Naunton Wayne exploit to the full every humorous possibility to be found in this somewhat thin story, which degenerates into pure slapstick in the closing sequences."

References

External links

* * {{Gainsborough Pictures 1949 films British crime comedy films British sports comedy films 1940s crime comedy films 1940s sports comedy films Gainsborough Pictures films Films directed by Alfred Roome Films set in England Films set in London Films produced by Betty Box British black-and-white films 1949 comedy films 1940s English-language films 1940s British films English-language crime comedy films English-language sports comedy films