''Lucky Jim'' is a 1957 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

John Boulting John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

and starring

Ian Carmichael Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career spanning 70 years. He found prominence in the films of the Boulting brothers, including ' ...

Terry-Thomas Terry-Thomas (born Thomas Terry Hoar Stevens; 10 July 19118 January 1990) was an English character actor and comedian who became internationally known through his films during the 1950s and 1960s. He often portrayed disreputable members of th ...

and

Hugh Griffith Hugh Emrys Griffith (30 May 1912 – 14 May 1980) was a Welsh film, stage, and television actor. He is best remembered for his role in the film '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), which earned him critical acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Acto ...

. It is an adaptation of the 1954 novel ''

Lucky Jim ''Lucky Jim'' is a novel by Kingsley Amis, first published in 1954 by Victor Gollancz. It was Amis's first novel and won the 1955 Somerset Maugham Award for fiction. The novel follows the exploits of the eponymous James (Jim) Dixon, a reluctant ...

'' by

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

Plot

Jim Dixon is a young

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

in history at a

redbrick university A red brick university (or redbrick university) was originally one of the nine civic universities founded in the major industrial cities of England in the 19th century. However, with the 1960s proliferation of plate glass universities and t ...

, who manages to offend his head of department and create various disastrous incidents. When he eventually delivers a lecture drunk, he feels forced to resign. But just as his career seems over, he is offered a job in London, and when he learns that the girl of his dreams is on her way to the railway station, he chases after her in the professor's old car. The professor's whole family chases after, and arrives at the station just in time to see Jim and the girl disappear on the train to London.

Main cast

- James "Jim" Dixon *

- Bertrand Welch *

- Professor Welch *

Sharon Acker Sharon Acker (born April 2, 1935) is a Canadian film, stage, and television actress and model. Acker appeared mostly on television in Canada and the United States from 1956 to 1992. She played Della Street, Perry Mason's loyal secretary, in ''Th ...

- Christine Callaghan *

Jean Anderson Jean Anderson (12 December 1907 – 1 April 2001) was an English actress best remembered for her television roles as hard-faced matriarch Mary Hammond in the BBC drama '' The Brothers'' (1972–1976) and as rebellious aristocrat Lady Jocelyn "J ...

- Mrs Welch *

Maureen Connell Maureen Connell (born 2 August 1931) is a British actress. Personal life On 20 July 1956, Connell married British film director, writer and producer John Guillermin. They resided in the Los Angeles area beginning 1968. They had two children, ...

- Margaret Peel *

Clive Morton Clive Morton (16 March 1904 – 24 September 1975) was an English actor best known for playing upper class Englishmen, he made many screen appearances, especially on television. In 1955, he appeared in Laurence Olivier's '' Richard III'' and is ...

- Sir Hector Gore-Urquhart *

John Welsh John Welsh may refer to: *John Welsh of Ayr (1568–1622), religious leader *John Welsh of Irongray, religious leader *John Welsh (actor) (1904–1985), Irish actor *John Welsh (Australian footballer) (born 1938), Australian rules football player f ...

- The Principal *

Reginald Beckwith William Reginald Beckwith (2 November 190826 June 1965) was an English film and television actor, who made over one hundred film and television appearances in his career. He died of a heart attack aged 56. Beckwith was also a film critic and ...

- University Porter *

Kenneth Griffith Kenneth Griffith (born Kenneth Reginald Griffiths, 12 October 1921 – 25 June 2006) was a Welsh actor and documentary filmmaker. His outspoken views made him a controversial figure, especially when presenting documentaries which have been ca ...

- Cyril Johns *

Jeremy Hawk Jeremy Hawk (20 May 1918 – 15 January 2002) was a character actor with a long career in music halls and on London's West End stage. Early life Hawk was born Cedric Joseph Lange in Johannesburg, South Africa; his father was a matinee idol wh ...

- Bill Atkinson * Ronald Cardew - Registrar *

Penny Morrell Penny Morrell (4 February 1938 – 3 January 2020) was a British actress. She was married to the actor George Cole until his death in 2015. Death Penny Morrell died at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, Berkshire, England on 3 January 2020, aged 81. ...

- Miss Wilson *

John Cairney John Cairney (born 16 February 1930) is a Scottish film and television actor who is well known to audiences in Scotland and internationally through his one-man shows on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Service, Charles Rennie Macki ...

- Roberts * Ian Wilson - Glee Singer *

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his ''Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book ''Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764–18 ...

- Contractor *

Henry B. Longhurst Henry B. Longhurst (February 1891 in Brighton, Sussex – 11 April 1970 in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Berkshire) was a British actor. Selected filmography * ''Chin Chin Chinaman'' (1931) - Purser * ''The Crooked Lady'' (1932) - John Morla ...

- Professor Hutchinson * Jeremy Longhurst - Waiter

Reception

The film critic writing for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', gave the film a mixed review after the UK premiere in September 1957, stating that the film, "carries over enough gusto from the original to be funnier than the usual run of British comedies, without managing to avoid lapses into incoherence through pressing the Joke too far." When the film premiered in the United States a year later, Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described Ian Carmichael as "an English answer to

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

": "let's fervently hope this stale attempt at mirth, furiously sliding back and forth from leaden coyness to plain custard-pie confusion, doesn't mean the end of all the sly, civilized fun we've come to expect from the British specialists." In his 2010 obituary of Ian Carmichael, ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' contributor

Dennis Barker Dennis Barker (21 June 1929 – 2 March 2015) was a British journalist. Early life and career Born at Lowestoft, Suffolk, son of company director George Barker and Gertrude (née Seeley), Barker and his mother escaped the heavy bombing of L ...

wrote: "One of his most characteristic and memorable sorties... was his portrayal of Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim—the anti-hero James Dixon, who savaged the pretensions of academia, as Amis had himself sometimes clashed with academia when he was a lecturer at

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

. Appearing in John and Roy Boulting's 1957 film, he was able to suggest an unruly but amiable spirit at the end of its tether, his great horsey teeth exposed in the strained grimace that often greeted disaster."

Song

The film's end titles credit "the voice of Al Fernhead" with singing the distinctive repeated "O Lucky Jim" phrase, from the

eponym An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Usage of the word The term ''epon ...

ous song whose composers are credited as Fred V. Bowers and Charles Horwitz. The Bowers–Horwitz song "Ah, lucky Jim" inspired the book's title.Paul Schlueter, "Academic Humor", in Maurice Charney, ''Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide'', vol. 1 (Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2005), p. 14.

References

External links

* * * {{Lucky Jim 1957 films 1957 comedy films 1950s satirical films British comedy films British satirical films 1950s English-language films Films based on works by Kingsley Amis Films directed by John Boulting Films scored by John Addison Films set in universities and colleges Films shot at MGM-British Studios 1950s British films