Two Way Stretch (1960)
Directed by Robert Day

Film Review

Two-Way Stretch represents vintage British comedy at its near-best, a humorous caper movie featuring a dazzling array of great British performers headed by the incomparable Peter Sellers.  Setting a template for prison-based comedy that would be shamelessly stolen by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais for their popular British sitcom Porridge in the 1970s, the film extracts as much comedy mileage as it can from the least likely of situations and has stood the test of time far better than many British comedies of this era.  Two-Way Stretch is a classic, a worthy successor to earlier Ealing comedies such as The Lavender Hill Mob (1951).

For once, Peter Sellers eschews the funny voices and comedy stunts, and instead plays the part of the straight man to the menagerie of eccentrics and borderline lunatics who surround him, a magnificent ensemble that includes Wilfrid Hyde-White as the smoothest of conmen and Lionel Jeffries as a hilariously sadistic prison warden. Bernard Cribbins and Maurice Denham lend further comedy muscle to this enjoyably gag-packed romp, aided and abetted by funny girls Irene Handl and Liz Fraser.  Whilst he is perhaps best remembered for his work on the lavish Hammer fantasy She (1965), Robert Day proves here that he was also a highly competent comedy director, as he would also demonstrate on his subsequent Tony Hancock feature, The Rebel (1961).

Film Synopsis

Dodger Lane, Lennie Price and Jelly Knight are doing time at Her Majesty's pleasure, but thanks to their benign Prisoner Governor, Horatio Bennett, they have not had to sacrifice their creature comforts.  Bennett believes that convicts should be treated humanely and encouraged to take up creative pursuits, such as tailoring, basket weaving and gardening, to prepare them for their future life outside prison.  For Lane and his chums, prison has become a home from home, and none of them is pleased when their former accomplice, Soapy Stevens, turns up disguised as a vicar in the hope of persuading them to assist him on another heist.  Lane hasn't forgiven Stevens for their last misfired robbery but even he cannot turn down the opportunity of stealing two million pounds worth of diamonds.  If Lane, Price and Knight can break out of jail, steal the jewels, and break back in again, they will have the perfect alibi.  What could possibly go wrong...?