''The Harassed Hero'' is a 1954 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

Maurice Elvey Maurice Elvey (11 November 1887 – 28 August 1967) was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He a ...

and starring

Guy Middleton Guy Middleton Powell (14 December 1906 – 30 July 1973), better known as Guy Middleton, was an English character actor, film character actor. Biography Guy Middleton was born in Hove, Sussex, and originally worked in the London Stock Exch ...

, Joan Winmill Brown and

Elwyn Brook-Jones Elwyn Brook-Jones (11 December 1911 – 4 September 1962) was a British theatre, film and television actor. Life Brook-Jones was born in Kuching, Sarawak, on the island of Borneo. After a private education, he attended Jesus College, Oxford. Hi ...

. It was based on a novel of the same name by

Ernest Dudley Vivian Ernest Coltman-Allen (23 July 1908 – 1 February 2006), known professionally as Ernest Dudley, was an English actor, dramatist, novelist, journalist and screenwriter. Biography Personal life Vivian Ernest Coltman-Allen was born in ...

. The film was produced as a

second feature A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

and shot at

Walton Studios Walton Studios, previously named Hepworth Studios and Nettlefold Studios, was a film production studio in Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, England.on location in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

John Stoll John Stoll (13 December 1913 – 25 June 1990) was a British art director. He won an Academy Award in the category Best Art Direction for the film ''Lawrence of Arabia''. During the 1950s, he worked largely on low-budget British feature f ...

Plot

Wealthy hypochondriac bachelor Murray Selwyn (Guy Middleton) has been ordered by his doctors to avoid stress, but unfortunately finds himself face to face with a gang of counterfeiters. Murray has unwittingly come into possession of the printing plates the gang is after. His stress levels escalate further when Murray's nurse (Joan Winmill Brown) is kidnapped by the gang.

Cast

as Murray Selwyn * Joan Winmill Brown as Nurse Brooks *

as Logan *

Mary Mackenzie Mary Mackenzie (3 May 1922 – 20 September 1966) was an English actress. One of her earliest credited TV roles was in 1950 on BBC's ''Sunday Night Theatre'', as Miriam in an adaptation of H. G. Wells' ''The History of Mr Polly'', a role she r ...

as Estelle Logan * Harold Goodwin as Twigg *

Joss Ambler Joss Ambler (23 June 1900 – 1959) was an Australian-born British film and television actor. He usually played somewhat pompous and irascible figures of authority, particularly in comedy films. He was an effective foil to George Formby in both ...

as Dr. Grice *

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 ...

as Archer *

Hugh Moxey Hugh Vincent Moxey (27 September 1909, Somerset, – 9 March 1991, Wandsworth), was a British film and television actor. Moxey spanned his career for 40 years, where he was best remembered in supporting roles in 1950s British war films, incl ...

as Willis * Stafford Byrne *

Gabrielle Brune Gabrielle Brune (12 February 1912 in Bournemouth, Hampshire – 18 January 2005 in Chichester, Sussex) was a British actress. Career On stage from 1930, her work included appearances in cabaret, the West End, on Broadway, in films and on t ...

*Gaylord Cavallaro *

Simone Lovell Simone Lovell (born 19 February 1934) is a British actress known for her television appearances of the 1950s and 60s. She is the daughter of the Canadian-born actor Raymond Lovell and Margot Ruddock, whose relationship broke down when Ruddock be ...

* Alfred Maron

Critical reception

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...

wrote, "silly comedy routines abound in this patented British farce."

References

Bibliography

* Chibnall, Steve & McFarlane, Brian. ''The British 'B' Film''. Palgrave MacMillan, 2009.

External links

* 1954 films 1954 comedy films 1950s English-language films Films directed by Maurice Elvey British comedy films Films set in London Films shot in London Films shot at Nettlefold Studios British black-and-white films 1950s British films {{1950s-UK-comedy-film-stub