Private's Progress

Private's Progress
Directed by	John Boulting
Produced by	Roy Boulting
Screenplay by	John Boulting Frank Harvey
Based on	Private's Progress by Alan Hackney
Starring	Ian Carmichael Richard Attenborough Dennis Price Terry-Thomas Miles Malleson William Hartnell
Music by	John Addison
Cinematography	Eric Cross
Editing by	Anthony Harvey
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release date(s)	17 February 1956 (1956-02-17)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£310,870 (UK)[1]

Private's Progress is a 1956 British comedy film based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.

Plot

The action takes place during World War II and follows the adventures of young undergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael), who is conscripted into the British Army. Unlike his friend Egan (Peter Jones), Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone barracks. Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock. Most of the soldiers there are malingerers and drop-outs.

Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil; he's then contacted by his uncle, now a senior officer in the War Office, to join a secret operation known only as "Hatrack". He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans but really to steal them and sell them to two very dodgy art dealers.

Windrush survives the operation, despite being briefly arrested by British forces whilst in German uniform and is discharged from the army. He returns to University but when some of the artworks are found to have identical copies in circulation, the game is up.

Production

The film was primarily filmed at Shepperton Studios, however a number of scenes were filmed at Wantage Hall, a hall of residence for the University of Reading.

It was the first in a series of successful satirical comedies made by the Boulting brothers for their production company Charter Films. Their 1959 comedy I'm All Right Jack featured many of the same actors and characters. A number of references are made to the events of Private's Progress.

Partial cast

• Ian Carmichael as Stanley Windrush
• Richard Attenborough as Private Cox
• Dennis Price as Brigadier Bertram Tracepurcel
• Terry-Thomas as Major Hitchcock
• Peter Jones as Egan
• William Hartnell as Sergeant Sutton
• Thorley Walters as Captain Bootle
• Jill Adams as Prudence Greenslade
• Ian Bannen as Private Horrocks
• Victor Maddern as Private Blake
• Kenneth Griffith as Private Jones
• George Coulouris as Padre
• Derrick De Marney as Pat
• Ronald Adam as Doctor at medical hearing
• Miles Malleson as Windrush Sr.
• Sally Miles as Catherine
• David King-Wood as Gerald
• Brian Oulton as M.O. at Gravestone Camp
• Michael Trubshawe as Col. Fanshawe
• John Le Mesurier as Psychiatrist
• Robert Raglan as Gen. Tomlinson
• Henry Oscar as Art expert
• Christopher Lee as General von Linbeck's aide
• Basil Dignam as Col. Martin (president of Selection Board)
• John Harvey as RAF officer at headquarters
• Glyn Houston as Corporal on sick call
• Lloyd Lamble as Officer at medical hearing
• David Lodge as Lance Corporal on guard duty, Holding Unit
• Marianne Stone as Expectant mother talking to Capt Bootle
• Michael Ward as Sidney (guest at party)
• John Warren as Sergeant Major Gradwick
• Trevor Reid as Adjutant

References

External links

• Private's Progress at the Internet Movie Database

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