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The Wrong Box (1966)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0

audience

77

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 617

My Rating

Movie Info

Years before the story proper in The Wrong Box gets under way, a "tontine" is drawn up on behalf several young British boys. Each of the boys' parents had placed 1000 pounds in a pool, to be invested and expanded upon. The resultant fortune will go to the last surving member of the tontine. A series of montages depicts the various demises of the heirs (our favorite occurs when one of them is inadvertently beheaded while being knighted by Queen Victoria). Finally, only two of the tontine

Unrated, 1 hr. 45 min.

Comedy

Cast

All Critics (17) | Top Critics (3) | Fresh (15) | Rotten (2)

Some of the gags crumble on impact, others are stretched out like taffy, but there is enough fun left over to leave most moviegoers happily wallowing in greed, sex, homicide, body snatching and other nefarious diversions.

April 21, 2010 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Mills amusingly hams his way through two or three sequences as one of the dying brothers. Richardson, bland, imperturable old bore, is superb. He and Wilfrid Lawson, portraying a decrepit butler, virtually carry away the acting honors.

March 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Some sections and bits are funnier than others. Some are labored and dull. It is that sort of story, that sort of comedy. But it adds up to a lively lark.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It is a farce with a lot of class and style, carried off with some brilliant acting. It also has what most films with idiot plots lack, restraint, subtlety and sly wit.

November 5, 2011 Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | Comment
Laramie Movie Scope

All of the smaller roles are deliciously cast, with several of the best comic actors England had to offer in that decade, a heyday of British humor.

April 21, 2010 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Mildly amusing silly black comedy set in Victorian England.

June 3, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Funny farce with an all-star cast.

February 16, 2006 Comment
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

Hilarious black comedy.

June 14, 2005 Comment
Movie Metropolis

Black comedy featuring great British comedy actors

October 19, 2004 Comment

Review Immense, undisciplined, all-star period comedy of a sort that, in the 1960s, was a common feature of American and British cinematic output.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

He only has two scenes, but those two scenes, for my money, are the finest things [Peter] Sellers ever did.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | Comment
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

An inspired English farce; Ralph Richardson is irresistible.

November 1, 2002 Comment
Flipside Movie Emporium

Full of fun and wit ... It's a great treat for fans of The Life of Brian and Fawlty Towers who are curious about the history of British comedy.

July 5, 2002 Full Review | Comment (1)
Des Moines Register

Bryan Forbes proves as excellent at directing off-beat period comedy as he is at drama, and the slightly stylized acting technique occasionally used by his all-British cast in The Wrong Box adds plenty of flavor to the fun.

March 27, 2001 Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | Comment
Boxoffice Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Wrong Box

Really really funny. Seeing Peter Cook and Dudley Moore ham it up is just icing on the cake. :)

December 11, 2009
FilmFanatik
Tim Salmons

Super Reviewer

A classic and hilariously convoluted comedy of errors, which plays expertly on Victorian morals and mores. It might fall a bit flat for modern audiences due to the lack of throw-away jokes and punchlines. Instead, it offers a never-ending series of sight-gags, plot twists and general comedic mayhem. They just don't

June 1, 2009
dhetteix

Super Reviewer

The Wrong Box Quotes

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