The Punch and Judy Man (1963)

The Punch and Judy Man: Directed by Jeremy Summers. With Tony Hancock, Sylvia Syms, Ronald Fraser, Barbara Murray. Dark comedy about a seaside Punch and Judy man driven to distraction by his social climbing wife and his hatred for the snobbery of local government. He is persuaded to go to the Mayor’s gala evening but it’s all too much for him.

“My cd came with u0026quot;The Rebelu0026quot; which I have commented on elsewhere on the Imdb.Many of Tonyu0026#39;s old friends from his u0026quot;Half-Houru0026quot; tv series were in this film, Hattie Jacques, Mario Fabrizi, Hugh Lloyd and of course John le Mesurier.The broader canvas of cinema allowed Tony to develop his humour around a story set in a typical early sixties English seaside resort run by a myopic town council led by Ron Fraser.It is refreshing to see Sylivia Sims playing comedy as his wife who has social pretensions of meeting the pompous lady who will open the townu0026#39;s illuminations.I donu0026#39;t believe Hancock is u0026quot;marriedu0026quot; in any of his other films or tv comedy and this gives him a chance to interact with her in the domestic scenes together, certainly a novelty.His friend John le Mesurier does beach sand sculptures with commentaries and with Mario Fabrizi, the beach photographer and his assistant in the Punch and Judy stall, Hugh Lloyd, they adjourn to the pub to annoy the local worthies.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis film has a gentle humour and Hancock gets away from the pseudo intellectual persona he so often played in his tv comedy shows and in u0026quot;The Rebelu0026quot;.Highly acclaimed is the mime sequence in the ice cream parlour run by Eddie Byrne with the little boy fan.Do we assume this is the son he never had in the film?I believe viewers today are giving more generous ratings to this film than when it was first released in 1963.I rated it 6.”