The Intelligence Men (1965)
Directed by Robert Asher

Film Review

Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were two halves of the most successful comedy double act ever to appear on British television, but their attempt to break into the movies was something of an embarrassment, if not to say an outright disaster.  The Intelligence Men was the first of four films that Morecambe and Wise starred in, and it is probably the best although it pales into insignificance when compared with the duo's television shows, which have become the stuff of TV legend.  Part of the problem is its pedestrian plot (it's basically a James Bond spoof of the lamest kind, with a badly parodied Hitchcock climax tagged on at the end), although director Robert Asher deserves a fair share of the blame.  Trite, unfunny comedies seemed to be a particular forte of Asher, given that he directed several Norman Wisdom films, with similar lacklustre results.

The main reason why the film fails - or, to be fairer, why it is not as good as its stars' television shows - is that the Morecambe and Wise style of comedy does not translate well to the big screen.  Impromptu ad libs, audience interaction and a constant impression  of barely contained anarchy are what made the duo so funny and so successful.  Getting them to deliver polished performances on film in front of a film camera, which is then edited to give an even more polished result, wipes out not only the hilarious spontaneity of Eric and Ernie's interplay but also virtually all of the humour.  What the film records is a desiccated impression of a great comedy double act - like the fossilised remains of a prehistoric animal, it's just a lifeless remnant of something genuinely impressive.

The Intelligence Men is most effective when it is closest to the duo's TV show - scenes that would work as standalone sketches, such as Eric's hopeless attempt to serve a girl a drink without his glasses.  The scenes at the ballet are also enjoyable, albeit a trifle overlong, because these remind us of those big song and dance numbers in the TV show where something invariably goes wrong.  But for the most part it's a stuttering, unimaginative and poorly paced comedy that struggles to keep going, despite the best efforts of its two great comedy performers.  Eric's recurrent attempts to break through the fourth wall alone offer a glimpse of what the film could have been if its makers had been more daring and more inclined to give Eric and Ernie a free hand, instead of imprisoning them in a celluloid straightjacket.  The main value of this film and the three that followed it is that they give you a much greater appreciation of Morecambe and Wise's television shows, comedy at its best.

Film Synopsis

Eric, the owner of a London coffee bar, ends up being recruited by MI5 when his path accidentally cross that of an enemy agent.  Paired with MI5's lowest ranked agent (i.e. tea boy) Ernie Sage, Eric soon finds himself pitted against the notorious agency Schlect, which has apparently set its sights on sabotaging a visit by a Russian trade delegation.  Posing as a dead British agent, Eric holds the key to Schlect's intentions: a snatch of music which he is incapable of repeating.  After some unfortunate mishaps, Eric and Ernie end up at Covent Garden Opera House, unaware that an assassination is planned to take place midway through a performance of Swan Lake...