Terry-Thomas Collection: Comic Icons (1960) (DVD)

Terry-Thomas, one of Britain's finest cinematic cads, gets his very own box set. Good show! School For Scoundrels sees Terry-Thomas in his quintessential role of cad and bounder, using his lecherous ways to steal the heart of April away from her hapless suitor Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael). Sick of being one of life's losers, Palfrey enrols at the college of 'Lifemanship' under the tutor ledge of the incomparable Alastair Sim and proceeds to learn the arts of one-upmanship and gamesmanship in an effort to outdo his caddish rivals and turn his life around. A true British old-school comic gem, dripping in cynicism but with a big heart nonetheless. Privates Progress teams Terry-Thomas once more with Ian Carmichael, this time in an army set comedy. Carmichael plays Stanley Windrush, a bookish and introverted flunkie from Officer candidate school, who is thrown into the deep end of rough and ready army life and must contend with rough-hewn fellow private Cox (Richard Attenborough), an eccentric crackpot Major Hitchcock (Thomas) and a nonplussed commanding officer played by Dennis Price. Make Mine Mink is based on Peter Coke's West End comedy Breath of Spring and concerns the blundering excursions into crime of a bunch of pinheaded amateurs, who specialize in lifting valuable furs and apparently devoting the loot to charity. Terry-Thomas plays one of a group of lodgers who all team up as the thieves as a convenient escape from the meaningless routine of their daily lives. Along with their aging landlady Dame Appleby (Athene Seyler), the misfits conspire to carry out a series of daring raids, keeping the only ex-con member of the household in the dark - the beautiful housekeeper played by Billie Whitelaw. Bungling thieves are the order of the day once again in Too Many Crooks that also stars fellow Comic Icon Sid James. When their planned robbery of the safe lecherous millionaire Billy Gordon (Terry-Thomas) actually results in the kidnap of his wife, Gordon couldn't be happier to be rid of her. Refusing to pay the ransom sets the stage for Mrs Gordon's sweet revenge... The Naked Truth is the third in the trilogy of films here scripted by Michael Pertwee. Co-starring Peter Sellers in one of his early roles, the film centres around the exploits of four celebrities, including Terry-Thomas as politician Lord Mayley, who band together to assassinate from blackmailing low-life reporter Dennis (Dennis Price). Brothers In Law is a Boulting Brothers classic!