The Plank (1967)
0h 55m | PG-13
A slapstick comedy about two workmen delivering planks to a building site. This is done with music and a sort of "wordless dialogue" which consists of a few mumbled sounds to convey the appropriate emotion.
Director: Eric Sykes
Studio: Associated London Films
Genre: Comedy
Video: 720p
Cast
Tommy Cooper
as Larger Workman
Eric Sykes
as Smaller Workman
Jimmy Edwards
as Policeman
Roy Castle
as Delivery Man with boxes
Graham Stark
as Amorous Van Driver
Stratford Johns
as Station Sergeant
Reviews
Many of us will have seen loads of films where the acting is wooden - but here, it is meant to be! Eric Sykes assembles a reasonable cast of stalwart British comics to regale us us with the adventures of the humble plank! Together with Tommy Cooper, the pair of workmen take us on a guided tour of what this plank (or it's identical twin) gets up to in it's wide and varied life... There is virtually no dialogue - much of it relying on the quirky Brian Fahey score and the odd mumble that set the standards for many an inaudible television drama being made even now. It does recycle the joke once too often, but it still has a charm about it. The singing opening titles; closing windows to keep out the cold - not that they have any glass in them, and the simplicity of things getting stuck, walloped and wedged is fun for a while, but that simplicity struggles to sustain the humour after the first 15-20 minutes or so. Still, it is an interesting and engaging example of what made us Brits laugh in the late 1960s.