In The Square Peg Norman Wisdom plays one of a pair of council workmen who, while repairing the road outside an army base, come to illustrate the oxymoronic nature of the phrase "military intelligence". Finding themselves drafted, the workmen are sent to repair the roads ahead of the Allied advance through war-torn Europe by the sergeant they previously embarrassed. Norman finds himself behind the German lines, joins up with French Resistance, gets captured then sets out to rescue British prisoners from a German military HQ by impersonating General Schreiber. Of course... Wisdom plays Schreiber too. The Square Peg is the film that introduced Norman Wisdom's famous catch-phrase, "Mr. Grimsdale!". Also here Hattie Jacques gets to sing a remarkable duet with Wisdom, and a pre-Goldfinger Honor Blackman provides the love interest. Following his rising star was just what Norman Wisdom's audience had been doing all through the 1950s and, by 1959, and after six films with director John Paddy Carstairs, it was time for a change. Hence Robert Asher made his directorial debut with Follow a Star. The plot is a comedy version of A Star is Born (1954), with Norman yet again playing a dreaming shop worker, this time aspiring to singing stardom. Vernon Carew (played by Wisdom regular Jerry Desmonde) is the fading singer who schemes to use Wisdom's talent to sustain his own rapidly failing career, while the girl is overlooked starlette June Laverick. Norman is surrounded by a particularly strong supporting cast, with Hattie Jacques returning from The Square Peg (1958), Richard Wattis, John Le Mesurier, Fenella Fielding, Ron Moody and, uncredited, future Bond villain Charles Grey. --Gary S Dalkin [show more]
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