Stars: Norman Wisdom, Jennifer Jayne, Raymond Huntley, David Lodge, Lana Morris, Belinda Lee, Jerry Desmonde

Director: Robert Asher

Summary: In 'On The Beat' Norman struggles to become a policeman. 'Man Of The Moment' finds Norman conducting affairs as the British delegate at a Geneva Conference.

Two more doses of fun from the little man trying to make it big in British institutions.
ON THE BEAT (1962): When Norman is too short to join the police force like his father did before him, he resorts to washing the panda cars at Scotland Yard instead.
MAN OF THE MOMENT (1955): Norman is the great pretender once more. This time he leaps from lowly Whitehall clerk to cigar-smoking international diplomat at the United Nations.

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In 1962's On the Beat, Norman Wisdom's Pitkin, the most famous incarnation of his riotous buffoon character, is dreaming of something better as usual. Pitkin wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a policeman, but being decidedly on the short side, has to settle for washing police cars. Of course it's not long before Norman is impersonating an officer of the law. Wisdom also plays his nemesis here, the German General Schreiber, as well as the chief suspect in a series of jewel robberies which only Pitkin's chaotic antics can solve. Terence Alexander effectively reprises his character from The Square Peg(1958), and Wisdom regular David Lodge, previously seen costarring in The Bulldog Breed(1960), is also on hand, though otherwise the supporting cast is less stellar than before.

By the time of 1955's Man of the Moment, Wisdom was firmly established as Britain's favourite movie comedian, his shy, helpful and good-natured "gump" character forever unintentionally causing catastrophe in the great tradition of Charlie Chaplin. However, while Chaplin ventured into politics in Modern Times(1936) for satirical purposes, when Norman's minor civil servant here accidentally becomes the UK delegate at a conference in Geneva the emphasis is on farce and pratfalls. The plot sees Norman sticking up for the rights of the fictional kingdom of Tawaki against less-than-honest government interests, while his new-found status brings the attention of the ladies, including the return of his Trouble in Store(1953) costar Lana Morris. Continuing his collaboration with veteran director John Paddy Carstairs, the film is a polished laughter machine that continues to entertain. --Gary S Dalkin

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Audio Commentary By Sir Norman Wisdom
Year:	1962
Release Date:	May 12, 2003
Runtime:	186 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	37115 03553
Label:	The Rank Collection
Keywords:	Man, Beat, Comedy, General, Moment
Genre:	Comedy