The Wrong Box (1966)
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Reviews Counted: 17
Fresh: 15 | Rotten: 2
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 3
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 0
liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 661
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
Jul 4, 1966 Wide
Columbia Pictures Corporation
Cast
-
John Mills
Masterman Finsbury -
Ralph Richardson
Joseph Finsbury -
Michael Caine
Michael Finsbury -
Peter Cook
Morris Finsbury -
Dudley Moore
John Finsbury -
Nanette Newman
Julia Finsbury -
Peter Sellers
Dr. Pratt -
Tony Hancock
Detective -
Wilfred Lawson
Peacock -
Thorley Walters
Lawyer Patience -
Dame Cicely Courtneidge
Maj. Martha -
Irene Handl
Mrs. Hackett -
Gerald Sim
1st Undertaker -
John Le Mesurier
Dr. Slattery -
Norman Bird
Clergyman -
Tutte Lemkow
Bournemouth Strangler -
Vanda Godsell
Mrs. Goodge -
Peter Graves
Military Officer on Tra... -
Norman Rossington
1st Rough -
Nicholas Parsons
Alan Fraser Scrope -
Avis Bunnage
Queen Victoria -
Timothy Bateson
Clerk -
-
Diane Clare
Mercy -
Valentine Dyall
Oliver Pike Harmsworth -
Hamilton Dyce
Derek Lloyd Peter Digby -
Hilton Edwards
Lawyer -
Lionel Gamlin
2nd Engine Driver -
Dick Gregory
Leicester Young Fieldin... -
Maria Kazan
Twittering Female on Mo... -
Michael Scott Lees
Young Digby -
Reg Lye
3rd Undertaker -
André Morell
Club Butler -
Leonard Rossiter
Vyvyan Alastair Montagu... -
Frank Singuineau
Native Bearer -
Graham Stark
Ian Scott Fife -
Marianne Stone
Spinster on Train -
Donald Tandy
Ticket Collector -
Totti Truman Taylor
Lady at Launching -
James Villiers
Sydney Whitcombe Sykes -
Gwendolyn Watts
Maid -
John Junkin
1st Engine Driver -
Jeremy Lloyd
Brian Allen Harvey -
Willoughby Goddard
James White Wragg -
-
Denis Cowles
Sotheby's Partner -
Thomas Gallagher
2nd Rough -
George Selway
Railway Vanman -
Tony Thawnton
2nd Undertaker -
Joseph Behrman
Vanman's Mate -
Charlie Bird
Bonn's Vanman -
Michael Bird
Countryman -
George Spence
Workman in Road -
Terry Martin
2nd Stoker -
-
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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.
Top CriticMills 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.
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.
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.
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.
Mildly amusing silly black comedy set in Victorian England.
Funny farce with an all-star cast.
Hilarious black comedy.
Black comedy featuring great British comedy actors
Review Immense, undisciplined, all-star period comedy of a sort that, in the 1960s, was a common feature of American and British cinematic output.
He only has two scenes, but those two scenes, for my money, are the finest things [Peter] Sellers ever did.
An inspired English farce; Ralph Richardson is irresistible.
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.
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.
Audience Reviews for The Wrong Box
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
-
- Peacock: That's dead, that's what that is.
-
- Michael Finsbury: This is Julia Finsbury. Soon to be Julia Finsbury.
-
- Dr. Pratt: I was not always as you see me now.
Discussion Forum
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Foreign Titles
- The Wrong Box (1966) (DE)
- The Wrong Box (1966) (UK)
