Cheap School for Scoundrels (Video) (Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Alastair Sim) (Robert Hamer, Hal E. Chester, Cyril Frankel) Price

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He who is not one up is one down! This movie, 5-up!
"... the moment when Adam bit into that apple. At which moment, the first loser was born. Yes, the pattern was set. The world was divided not into male and female, that's a mere superficial division of minor importance. No, there is another division, another dichotomy more basic, more profound. At that fateful moment, the world was divided into winners and losers, top men and underdogs. In a word, the one up and the one down." --from Professor Potter's lecture at the College of Lifemanship, Yeovil.

Or How To Win Without Actually Cheating. That's the subtitle of School For Scoundrels, this brilliant piece of British comedy from 1960, a title my father saw long ago and which I got him for a Christmas present, with a screenplay by Peter Ustinov no less adapted from three Stephen Potter novels.

Poor Henry Palfrey! Clearly, he's constantly in a one-down position to the whole world. In a flashback, we see how despite being an executive in his late uncle's firm, he's dominated by his chief clerk Gloatbridge, who treats him like a non-entity. He literally bumps into the girl of his dreams, April Smith, a stunning but sweet, clean girl who's a brunette version of Betty Grable. However, a rascally, gap-toothed, smooth-talking acquaintance, Raymond Delawney, impresses April with his savoir-faire in wines and food, and even his snazzy Bellini sports car. Palfrey ends up getting a lemon and horribly losing a tennis match, where Delawney replies with a plummy "hard cheese!" every time he misses a point, causing him to lose face in front of April.

He thus enrolls in Professor Potter's classes on lifemanship. What is lifemanship? It's "the science of being one up on your opponent at all times. It's the act of making him feel that somewhere, somehow, he's becoming less than you, less desirable, less worthy, less blessed." After graduating in classes of gamesmanship, onemanship, businessmanship, and that most important one, woo-manship, he gets back at those who caused him to lose face, and how! Next time I find somebody's who a life of the party, I'll use Potter's technique in deflating him/her. If Dingle, the gangly student in the class where that technique was demonstrated is familiar, that's Jeremy Lloyd, who would have a bit part jumping up and down in a club in A Hard Day's Night and the co-writer of Are You Being Served? in the 70's, and Allo Allo in the 80's.

There are some misogynistic references on the "woo-manship" part, where Potter advises Henry to use a blase attitude to April in one scene. "Leave her alone and she'll come back home wagging her tail." Ouch, but good ones, Prof!

Ian Carmichael (Henry) would later be known to American audiences watching PBS's Mystery as Lord Peter Wimsey in the Dorothy Sayers series. Terry-Thomas (Delawney) has another one of his comedic supporting roles, and it's incredible to see how he's suave when with poise, to a point where his frustration causes him to lose his temper. But hands down, veteran Alistair Sim as the impish Potter steals the show with his characteristic expressive eyes, toothy grin, and droll wit. Janette Scott shines as April, showing she could handle adult roles as well as child roles (James Stewart's super-intelligent daughter in No Highway In The Sky). Six years later, she'd have singer Mel Torme as her second of three husbands.

Being someone constantly in a one-down position to the world, taking Potter's class would've been better than all those years I wasted in college. If I could do it all over, I'd take those classes and be one-up on everyone. However, Potter leaves the audience with a final warning: "once sincerity rears its ugly head, lifemanship is powerless." Me sincere? From now on, never! This movie is clearly one-up-up-up-up-up!

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"How did you meet this not-quite-blonde?"
In the British comedy, "School for Scoundrels" Ian Carmichael plays mild-mannered, docile Henry Palfrey. Palfrey is a nice man--too nice. His employees are disrespectful, waiters are rude to him, but the final blow comes when acquaintance Raymond Delauney (Terry Thomas) steals Henry's girlfriend. In desperation, Henry enrolls at the College of Lifemanship.

At the college, Henry learns that "the world is divided into winners and losers," and he is instructed in the art of Lifemanship or "the art of being one up on your opponent." The college's founder and head scallywag is Mr. Potter (Alistair Sim). He takes a special interest in Henry, and soon Henry learns how to manipulate circumstances to his advantage.

This is an extremely funny and clever film. It does not seem dated at all as the issues have not altered one bit in the last 40 odd years. The scenes between Sim and Carmichael illustrate the subtle nuances of one-up-man-ship in social settings, and after watching these scenes, it's easy to see how poor Henry is maneuvered by everyone in his life. Henry has his revenge on all the cads in his life--including Terry Thomas and a couple of unscrupulous car salesmen. Terry Thomas is at his fiendish best here as the playboy Delauney--he is such a great comic actor. "School for Scoundrels" is a black and white film, and the copy I saw was excellent quality--displacedhuman