Carlton-Browne of the F.O. (1959)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1959
Running Time	86:13
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Roy Boulting Jeffrey Dell
Studio Distributor	British Lion Films Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Terry-Thomas Peter Sellers Thorley Walters Raymond Huntley Miles Malleson John Le Mesurier Marie Lohr Kynaston Reeves John Van Eyssen Nicholas Parsons Luciana Paluzzi Ian Bannen Irene Handl
Case	?
RPI	$14.95	Music	John Addison

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Carlton-Browne of the F.O. is an ensemble comedy from the Boulting Brothers, Roy (writer-director) and John (producer). The Boultings were responsible for some of the funniest British movies of the 1950s, such as Brothers in Law, Lucky Jim and I'm All Right Jack. The subject of this film is British colonialism (and British incompetence).

    Gaillardia is a former colony in an unspecified part of the world. The ambassador should have been recalled in 1916, but due to an oversight by the Foreign Office, is still there in 1959 when Russian agents arrive and start digging holes. The Foreign Secretary (Raymond Huntley) sends the head of the Minor Territories branch of the F.O., Cadogan deVere Carlton-Browne (Terry-Thomas) to negotiate with the new Oxford-educated King (Ian Bannen) a resumption of the former treaty between Britain and Gaillardia. The King is determined to govern fairly for his people, but he has not reckoned on the corrupt Prime Minister, Amphibulos (Peter Sellers).

    What follows is a series of misadventures and cock-ups, mostly by Carlton-Browne and his military adviser Colonel Bellingham (Thorley Walters). Also in the mix are the King's revolutionary uncle, Grand Duke Alexis (John Le Mesurier) and his daughter Ilyena (Luciana Paluzzi - Paoluzzi in the credits), for whom the King falls.

    This is one of those comedies centred around British bureaucratic and military incompetence, ably personified by Carlton-Browne and Bellingham. The film has a reasonable storyline on which to hang the many jokes, some of which seem pretty stale and unsubtle today. While the script is pat and predictable, the performances by a splendid cast lift this above the norm. Peter Sellers does not have much to do as the sleazy Amphibulos, but Terry-Thomas is in good form. Thorley Walters and Raymond Huntley nearly steal the show in their supporting roles. Even the minor roles in this farce are filled by familiar faces, such as Irene Handl, Marne Maitland, Michael Ward, Miles Malleson and Kenneth Griffith.

    Direction is sharp and the 80-odd minutes pass quickly. While this is not a classic of British comedy, it is amusing and worth watching at least once.

    When released in the US, the title of the film was changed to Man in a Cocked Hat. The current US DVD release has reverted to the original title.

Video

    The video transfer afforded this film is very good.

    The film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is enhanced for 16x9 displays.

    The video transfer is sharp and clear, achieved without any noticeable film to video artefacts being created. There is some occasional flickering, but otherwise the black and white cinematography is faithfully rendered. Shadow detail is reasonable, and while a few scenes occur in darkness, everything that we need to see is visible. Some very black objects show little shape or detail.

    The print used for this transfer was in good condition. There are occasional spots and dirt early on, and while the frequency of these artefacts increases over the course of the film, they are only occasionally distracting, such as the faint vertical scratch which appears for about 5 minutes from 65:30.

    There is a glitch during a special effects shot at 53:54. It looks like the shot was achieved by overlaying two pieces of film, but the two pieces were not accurately lined up, resulted in a blurry shot that lasts for about 3 seconds.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio track is in English Dolby Digital 2.0 and appears to be in mono, which would be consistent with the original film. There is no surround or subwoofer activity.

    As with most of these recent releases of British films, the audio is not brilliant, with some clipping in the higher ranges of sound resulting in excessive sibilance. This seems to affect Raymond Huntley and John Le Mesurier more than the other actors, probably due to a combination of their voice registers and the lines they are required to speak.

    The audio sounds quite constricted and unnatural, though the ear quickly adjusts.

    The music score is by John Addison and is quite good, complementing the on-screen action nicely. The Gaillardian National Anthem is amusingly orchestrated.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    The usual absence of extras.

    The film has also been released in Regions 1 and 2. In comparison to the Region 1 disc, the Region 4 misses out on:

• Peter Sellers biography and filmography
• 5x7 Theatrical Poster Replica

    In comparison to the Region 4 disc, the Region 1 disc misses out on:

• nothing

    The Region 2 disc, like the Region 4, has no extras. However, the transfer is in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, meaning that the film is missing about 20% of the original image. The print material used is also in poor shape according to reviews of the DVD.

    The extras on the Region 1 DVD are insignificant, so I would call this a draw.

    Carlton-Browne of the F.O. is an amusing British comedy, with some fine performances and a fast pace. It is well worth watching, though I think it would pall on repeated viewings.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is average.

    There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall