Brothers in Law (film)
Brothers in Law is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Jill Adams.[1] The film is one of the Boulting brothers successful series of institutional satires begun with Private's Progress in 1956.[2] It is an adaptation of the novel Brothers in Law by Henry Cecil, a comedy set in the legal profession.[3]
| Brothers in Law | |
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| Directed by | Roy Boulting |
| Produced by | John Boulting |
| Screenplay by | Roy Boulting Jeffrey Dell Frank Harvey Jr. |
| Based on | Brothers in Law by Henry Cecil |
| Starring | Richard Attenborough Ian Carmichael Terry-Thomas Jill Adams Miles Malleson |
| Music by | Benjamin Frankel |
| Cinematography | Mutz Greenbaum |
| Edited by | Anthony Harvey |
| Distributed by | British Lion Films Tudor |
Release date |
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Running time | 94 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Main cast
- Richard Attenborough as Henry Marshall
- Ian Carmichael as Roger Thursby
- Terry-Thomas as Alfred Green
- Jill Adams as Sally Smith
- Miles Malleson as Kendall Grimes
- Raymond Huntley as Tatlock
- Eric Barker as Alec Blair
- Nicholas Parsons as Charles Poole
- Kynaston Reeves as Judge Lawson
- John Le Mesurier as Judge Ryman
- Irene Handl as Mrs. Potter
- Olive Sloane as Mrs. Newent
- Edith Sharpe as Mrs. Thursby
- Leslie Phillips as Shopkeeper
- Brian Oulton as Client
- George Rose as Mark Frost
- Kenneth Griffith as Undertaker
- Basil Dignam as Judge Emery
- Henry B. Longhurst as Reverend Arthur Thursby
- Penny Morrell as Rosalie Biddle
- John Schlesinger as Assize Court Solicitor
Critical reception
Bosley Crowther in The New York Times compared the film unfavourably to Private's Progress, commenting that it was "blessed with little spark";[4] whereas more recently, Tony Sloman in the Radio Times wrote, "Carmichael is surrounded here by a cast of accomplished character actors, including the splendid Terry-Thomas and the redoubtable Richard Attenborough as a smarmy fellow barrister. This is still very funny and relevant today." [5]
References
- "Brothers in Law (1956)". BFI. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012.
- "BFI Screenonline: Boulting Brothers". screenonline.org.uk.
- Hal Erickson. "The Brothers in Law (1957) - Roy Boulting - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related - AllMovie". AllMovie.
- "The Screen: Case Study of Lawyers; Brothers in Law' Opens at Guild British Comedy Stars Ian Carmichael". www.nytimes.com.
- Tony Sloman. "Brothers in Law". RadioTimes.
Bibliography
- Harper, Sue & Porter, Vincent. British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press, 2003.