Letzte Grüße von Onkel Joe (1966)

Letzte Grüße von Onkel Joe: Directed by Bryan Forbes. With John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine, Peter Cook. In Victorian England, a fortune now depends on which of two brothers outlives the other, or can be made to have seemed to do so.

“Robert Louis Stevenson wrote novels that studied character and its flaws: Long John Silver in u0026quot;Treasure Islandu0026quot;, Aleck Breck Stewart in u0026quot;Kidnappedu0026quot; and u0026quot;David Balfouru0026quot;, James and Henry Durie in u0026quot;The Master Of Ballentraeu0026quot;, Dr. Henry Jeckyll/Mr. Edward Hyde…. His best novels show the ambiguity of character. Yet with his interest in melodramatics he should have been a natural for writing mystery and detective stories, like his contemporaries Conan Doyle, Gilbert Chesterton, and Ernest Brahmah. They concentrated their gifts on character developments on their central story figures (Holmes and Watson, Father Brown, Max Carrados), but the basic plot development is what pulls the story along for all of them. Stevenson pulled the story plot to develop the characters instead. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eExcept once – u0026quot;The Wrong Boxu0026quot;. It is Stevensonu0026#39;s spoof on mystery and detective fiction. It was not his novel alone, but the first of three he wrote with his stepson Lloyd Osborne (to whom he told the story of u0026quot;Treasure Islandu0026quot; before he wrote it down). Stevenson is telling the story of Masterman and Joseph Finsbury, the last two survivors of a special type of insurance form called a u0026quot;tontineu0026quot;. Itu0026#39;s an elaborate wager where a bunch of people put up a sum of money individually, and the last survivor gets the bulk of it. Masterman is home bound, and Joseph is a lively old bore who loves to talk and show off his preposterous knowledge of trivia (Ralph Richardson brings out the fact about the word u0026quot;whipu0026quot; when riding with a man holding a u0026quot;whipu0026quot;). Masterman (John Mills) lives with his grandson Michael (Michael Caine), and Joseph with his two greedy nephews (Morris and John – Peter Cook and Dudley Moore) and his niece Julia (Nanette Newman). Joseph does not really care about the tontine, but Masterman wants it – and is willing to speed the demise of Joseph to do it. Morris and John have to keep Joseph alive (which is not unlikely – he is in good health). Michael is not quite sure what is going on with his irascible grandfather, and Julia just knows she dislikes her two cousins Morris and John (but she really likes Michael). So the stage is set for the comedy. Along the way we meet other characters who are colorful: Dr. Pratt (Peter Sellers) – who at the drop of a hat will tell you about how he fell from medical grace to the backstreet he resides in; Peacock (Wilfred Lawson), Mastermanu0026#39;s butler, who makes the average turtle look like itu0026#39;s turbocharged; the police Detective (Tony Hancock) – who canu0026#39;t put together a coherent idea if his life depended on it; and …the Bournmouth Strangler (the story is from 1888, so we can guess who this character is based on). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt is a marvelous send-up on Victorian England, taking in the empire (notice the beginning when we see the demises of various members of the tontine), to the problems of railway traffic, talkative relatives, and body disposal in London in the 1880s. That the novel is not quite like the film does not matter (Michael is not a medical student but a clever barrister in the story, and Johnu0026#39;s relationship with Morris deteriorates in the story due to some money troubles), but this does not matter. It is a fun movie and well worth seeing.”