TWO WAY STRETCH

1959

Director: Robert Day
Writers: John Warren, Len Heath, Alan Hackney

Cast: Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, Wilfrid Hyde White, Bernard Cribbins, David Lodge, Maurice Denham, Liz Fraser, Irene Handl

John Warren, Len Heath and Alan Hackney came up with an inspired screenplay which cast Peter Sellers as Dodger Lane, a criminal who, with Lennie Price (Bernard Cribbins) and Jelly Knight (David Lodge), is happily incarcerated in the prison run like a home-from-home for old lags by the liberal governor (Maurice Denham).

Crook Soapy Stevens (Wilfrid Hyde White), masquerading as a clergyman, joins forces with Dodger and his two cell-mates to commit the crime of the century. The plan is simple – Dodger, Lennie and Jelly will break out of jail, steal a fortune in jewels from a maharajah, and then break back into prison to provide themselves with a foolproof alibi. But the scheme is almost torpedoed by the arrival of sadistic prison officer Crout (Lionel Jeffries), who shakes them out of their cosy jail routine. Criminality prevails, however, and Crout is suitably dealt with before Dodger, Lennie and Jelly, helped by Dodger’s girlfriend Ethel (Liz Fraser) and her mother Mrs Price (Irene Handl), duly escape from jail in a Black Maria, pull off the robbery, and then return to jail.

The screenplay fairly fizzes with good visual and verbal jokes and cleverly contrived comic situations and was played with practised skill by the first-rate cast. When the film was released, the Variety Club of Great Britain voted Sellers actor of the year for Two Way Stretch, The Millionairess, The Mouse That Roared and Never Let Go.

Tagged Bernard Cribbins, Comedy, David Lodge, Irene Handl, Lionel Jeffries, Liz Fraser, Maurice Denham, Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde White