"Actor: Graham Moffatt"

• Will Hay - Good Morning Boys | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £6.06   |  Saving you £5.19 (108.12%)   |  RRP £9.99

  The headmaster of St Michael's school Dr Benjamin Twist (Will Hay) finds himself in hot water after a government inspection. He is asked to resign unless he can prove that his educational methods work and so when he comes into possession of the French paper he does not need much coaxing before showing it to his students. The boys pass with honours but a congratulatory trip to Paris goes awry when they and Twist inadvertently help to steal the Mona Lisa.

• Will Hay - Convict 99 | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  One of Will Hay’s brisker comic efforts, 1936’s Convict 99 sees Dr Benjamin Twist, Hay’s clueless schoolmaster, caught in a case of mistaken identity and invited to head up a prison for especially hard-boiled criminals. Unable to believe his luck, Dr Twist celebrates his success with a few drinks, is still drunk when he arrives to take up his post and, confused with a new batch of inmates, ends up behind bars himself. There he makes the acquaintance of Moore Marriott as "Jerry the Mole", who has been digging an escape tunnel for nigh on 40 years and is only a fortnight away from his release date. When eventually reinstated as governor, Hay runs a loose ship, with inmates waited on by wardens, allowed to bet and even play the stock market. However, when a criminal on the outside attempts to defraud Twist, their indignation is naturally aroused. Convict 99 is a typical outtake from Hay’s bizarrely lawless universe, in which for all his harrumphing and bluster, he’s unable to exercise any sort of discipline whatsoever over the men in his charge. Hay plays exactly the same character from film to film, one so ill-equipped for any situation he’s equally suited for all. Whereas Twist is an incompetent who somehow muddles through, Hay the comic actor is a master of timing and double-takes who knows precisely how to create the air of a shambles. On the DVD: the original 1930s film stock has been well restored, give or take the odd crackle. But there are no extras, except scene index. --David Stubbs

• Will Hay - Old Bones Of The River | DVD | (03/12/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  When Professor Benjamin Tibbets (Will Hay) travels to Africa up river to open schools for the natives he experiences several setbacks. His new pupils are less than receptive and when the commander of the local base goes down with malaria he takes on his duties as well. Aided by the crew of the boat on which he arrived (Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt) he sets about collecting taxes from the locals with hilarious results.