My Learned Friend DVD, 1943

This black comedy about a murderer working his way through a list of planned victims was co-written by Kind Hearts and Coronets scribe John Dighton, six years before that classic. Will Hay plays a former barrister who is up in court for writing disingenuous begging letters. After getting the better of hapless prosecutor Claude Hulbert in a hilarious scene, he catches wind of his opponent’s generous allowance and decides they should work together. But they’ll have to stay one step ahead of cheery serial killer Mervyn Johns, who’s targeting those he blames for his spell behind bars, including his incompetent defence lawyer – Hay. The clever structure allows for our heroes to dress as Beefeaters, engage in a riotous bar brawl and disrupt a pantomime, as they try to save those on Johns’ list. The writers’ sense of invention is highlighted by the latter sequence, which slips seamlessly into rhyming dialogue.

If you like Hay, you’ll find his final feature a real treat, with a good supporting cast, some choice plot-twists and a fun Big Ben finale that borrows from Harold Lloyd.

Rick Burin on 31st March 2009
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Another welcome Will Hay reissue, with the blustering comedy star playing, as usual, an inept authority figure -- in this case, a disbarred solicitor who finds himself... more >

Another welcome Will Hay reissue, with the blustering comedy star playing, as usual, an inept authority figure -- in this case, a disbarred solicitor who finds himself involved in a hunt for a murderer newly released from prison. The prisoner is violently paying off old scores with Hay high on the list. Directed by Basil Dearden and Will Hay himself, My Learned Friend is closer in its dark tone to Ealing’s The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets, the plot here echoing the murderous activities of the latter. The same batch has a Charles Crichton war drama, For Those in Peril. < less

View all 513 of Barry Forshaw’s reviews