Let's be realistic.

I wanted to but couldn't!

Good concept, poorly executed.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This movie is one of the wittiest and best sophisticated comedies every written – and ever acted. "Laughter in Paradise" ranks up there with a handful of great "quiet" comedies, such as "It Happened One Night." That 1934 film was the first and only comedy, and one of only three movies to win the big five Academy Awards – for best picture, director, screenplay, actor and actress. This movie probably didn't get much attention in 1951 Hollywood because it is a British film. But it's as good or better than the 1934 Oscar winner.These "quiet" films are not comedies of antics and hijinks that elicit rollicking laughter. Instead, they have clever and witty dialog with scenes in which the humor is as much in the situation and the performances of the actors. Unlike laugh fests, these films evoke chuckles, grins, knowing nods, smiles and other pleasant responses (even an occasional howl or burst of laughter). The screenplay for "Laughter in Paradise" is outstanding. The story is very clever and original. The plot is about four relatives – all Russells, inheriting an estate. But, hidden within are four separate stories of people changing, growing and finding new meaning in life – and new lives. It's all neatly wrapped in a mantle of ingenious comedy. The success of the comedy depends almost as much on the performances of the players. All of the cast excel in their roles. The nuances, insinuations and intimations are performed realistically and with whimsy. And, we viewers revel in the humor of each scene and situation. Top billing in the film goes to Alastair Sim as Deniston Russell. Without a doubt, Sim is one of the best British comedy actors of the 20th century. His character has some of the wittiest dialog exchanges, and some of the funniest situations. Aiding and abetting him in the comedy is Joyce Grenfell who plays Elizabeth Robson, aka "Muffy" to whom Deniston has been engaged for ten years. A.E. Matthews plays her father with aplomb – Sir Charles Robson. Very close to Sims in his role are George Cole as Herbert and Guy Middleton as Simon. Fay Compton is superb as Agnes. Her role is as much serious as comedic, but she shares some wonderful comedy situations with John Laurie who plays Gordon Webb. Other supporting actors are excellent in their roles. Ronald Adam plays the nasty and mean- mannered bank manager, Mr. Wagstaff. Or, as Herbert says, "Mr. Wag-stoff," who refers to Herbert as a bank "clark." There's more than a little exaggeration with some English accents. Eleanor Summerfield plays Sheila Wilcott, the very competent and admiring secretary to Deniston. Mackenzie Ward is Benson, the loyal and clever butler to Simon. Beatrice Campbell is Lucille Grayson, all too ready to be snared by Simon. Several small parts are very good – a couple of police sergeants and constables, Gordon Webb's daughter Joan, the private detective Roger Godfrey and others. One other notable mention is Audrey Hepburn as a cigarette girl. The beginning film credits even draw attention to her: "And introducing Audrey Hepburn." It was just her second film that came out just a month after her debut in a lesser movie, "One Wild Oat."This is a great film and one that should be in every serious movie collector's library. It should be on any list of the funniest movies of all time. The musical score is excellent. The direction and all quality aspects are superb. And there are some scenes with little or no dialog that will have one chuckling if not laughing out loud. Sims has great scenes trying to get caught shoplifting and later in court. Here are some sample lines from the film. The humor of these is magnified greatly by the visuals.Agnes, "It should not be necessary for people to die in order to have their photograph dusted."Herbert, "Oh, no sir. She's not a lady. She's my landlady."Dictating an opening scene of a new crime novel to Sheila, Deniston says, "I walked over and slugged her in the kisser… She certainly was a swell tomato." Sheila (Miss Wilcott), "Not many people can get a book published at all, and look at you. Scores of them and under 15 different names."Elizabeth, to Deniston, "You promised to take me out tonight, and I've had a bath especially."Herbert, "It's impossible. Not even a real gangster would dare to point a gun at Mr. Wag-stoff. Or point anything at Mr. Wag-stoff."Deniston, to Simon, "I couldn't possibly burgle somebody I didn't know."Simon, after stopping to help a stranded motorist (Lucille), "Do you know anything about cars?" Lucille, "Not a thing." Simon, "Fine!" He looks under the hood and turns to Lucille, "Well, if you ask me, circumventer on the ubiquitous praxtile…" Lucille, "What?" Simon, "… seems to be blown."Herbert, "Well, sometimes worms change their spots."Deniston, "Elizabeth, you have no idea what it cost me to be rude to your father. Or, for that matter, what it would have cost me if I hadn't been."

I first saw this as a youngster and liked it, but over the years it's really grown on me until now I regard it as a minor classic. The main characters were all played excellently, with many lesser characters also played memorably.Practical joker Hugh Griffiths dies and leaves GBP 50,000 to each of his four living relatives if they complete various silly but onerous tasks within one month of his death. Pulp writer Alistair Sim, snobby Fay Compton, womaniser Guy Middleton and timid George Cole are all faced with problems that are against their natures, and their attempts to succeed ultimately result in a worthy moral and laughter on Earth. Cole's "juvenile" sections used to irritate me when younger but there's plenty else to savour, especially the incomparable Sim as a determined shoplifter, Compton as a harassed skivvy and Middleton as a hornswoggled suitor. As icing on the cake there's also fluffy Joyce Grenfell, scathing John Laurie, suave Anthony Steel, jolly Ernest Thesiger, and many other old friends – even the forever bald Noel Howlett and a young Audrey Hepburn. The direction and production values were top notch too; the sets were so beautifully wooden, the acting certainly was not.It's flimsy yet logical, life-affirming and recommended – stay with it to the end to have the last laugh.

Hugh Griffith, a terribly rich prankster, dies and splits his fortune up between four of his relatives on the condition that they fulfill certain obligations. In general, they must disclose the elements of the will to no one. And then there are specific requirements for each beneficiary.Fay Compton, Griffith's cousin, is a prune-like, bitter woman who dominates her friends and excoriates her maid for slight infractions. Her job is to find work as a maid for one week without being fired. She winds up in the household of the cantankerous, bossy, hypochondriac John Laurie, who does a fine number on the fast-talking sadist. He was the Scottish farmer in "The 39 Steps" who asked, "Do ye eat the herring?" George Cole is the mousy bank teller who must don a mask and pretend to hold up a bank with a water pistol.Guy Middleton is the picaresque moocher and ladies' man who must marry the first woman he talks to after the reading of the will is complete.Alistair Sim, the survivor-in-chief, is a respectable retired Army captain who writes Mickey Spillane novels under various noms de plume in order to preserve his dignity. His job is to commit a crime that causes him to spend 28 days in prison.All four of the beneficiaries undergo complications of one sort or another. Some are funnier than others. Cole earns respect by accident at his bank. Compton's story is meant to be heartwarming. Middleton ends up the victim of a plot himself. All of them learn something about life and about themselves, and find their situations improved, despite the final prank of the great prankster.Sim's story is the funniest and he handles the comedy flawlessly. Like Charles Laughton in that O. Henry story, he can't seem to get himself into jail. His attempt at shop lifting is foiled when the expensive item he steals is stolen from him by pickpockets. The most amusing scene in the film is Sim's trial for breaking a window and bopping a cop with his umbrella. The magistrate turns out to be a friend of his and is reluctant to prosecute him. But Sim prods him mercilessly and offers no defense. Very well, he gets 14 days in the slams. That's not enough. He needs 28 days. So he calls his friend a pompous ass. The sympathetic magistrate becomes insulted and adds another 7 days. That's still only 21 -- not yet enough. Sim affirms his insult and adds that the judge isn't fit to conduct a bus let alone a courtroom trial. Boiled down like this, it probably sounds less amusing that it appears on screen.It's not hilarious. It's not a masterpiece of the sort that Ealing Studios were turning out in the 1950s. It shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath as a side-splitting comedy like "The L_________s." But you'll find it diverting.

This is such a funny film! It's a clever plot which owes more than something to the old "warhorse" Brewster's Millions, and is filled with the eccentric lunacy which characterised so many British films made after WW2.Alistair Sim is THE truly great British comic actor, even more so than Alec Guinness or Peter Sellers. To watch the scene when he tries to get arrested for shoplifting in the department store is to experience sheer comic inspiration.I am no fan of remakes (have you seen the Thomas Crown remake!!), but funnily enough I am amazed that Hollywood hasn't had a go at this. In the right hands it could be made to work again.