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	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=September 2020}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=June 2012}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Laughter in Paradise		\| name = Laughter in Paradise

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External links

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	*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/591011/index.html Modern Review] (Undated) at [[screenonline]]		*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/591011/index.html Modern Review] (Undated) at [[screenonline]]
	*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/mfb/1007275/index.html Contemporaneous Review] (June, 1951) at screenonline		*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/mfb/1007275/index.html Contemporaneous Review] (June, 1951) at screenonline

	~~{{Mario Zampi}}~~

	[[Category:1951 films]]		[[Category:1951 films]]

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */remove Category:English-language films; now in subcat

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External links: remove Category:English-language films; now in subcat

New page

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2012}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Laughter in Paradise
| image = "Laughter_in_Paradise"_(1951).jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = [[Mario Zampi]]
| producer = Mario Zampi
| writer = [[Jack Davies (screenwriter)|Jack Davies]] [[Michael Pertwee]]
| starring = [[Alastair Sim]] [[Fay Compton]] [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] [[Guy Middleton]]
| music = [[Stanley Black]]
| cinematography = William McLeod
| editing = Giulio Zampi
| distributor = [[Associated British-Pathe]]
| released = {{Film date|1951|06|13|df=y}}
| runtime = 93 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross = £256,579 (UK)<ref>Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p496</ref>
}}
'''''Laughter in Paradise''''' is a British comedy film released in 1951. The film stars [[Alastair Sim]], [[Fay Compton]], [[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] and [[Guy Middleton]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ae9bfc5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711202223/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6ae9bfc5|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-11|title=Laughter in Paradise|work=BFI}}</ref> The film was remade as ''[[Some Will, Some Won't]]'' (1970).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b6686c8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711234223/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b6686c8|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-11|title=Some Will – Some Won't (1969)|work=BFI}}</ref>

==Plot==
The will of well-known practical joker Henry Russell leaves £50,000 to each of his four surviving relatives, all unmarried, provided they first perform prescribed tasks that are completely contrary to their natures.

Law-abiding retired army officer Deniston Russell, who writes lurid crime novels under several fictional names, has within a week to get himself arrested and jailed for exactly 28 days. Difficult, snobbish Agnes Russell has to find employment as a domestic servant in a middle-class home, again within a week, and keep her position for a month. Simon Russell, a penniless womanising con man, has to marry the first single woman he speaks to. Timid Herbert Russell has to hold up the bank manager he works for in his office, using a mask and a toy pistol, and obtain the bank keys for two minutes.

Deniston is thwarted repeatedly in his attempts, but finally manages to complete his task by smashing a shop window and assaulting a policeman. It costs him his fiancée Elizabeth when he is brought up before the magistrate, Elizabeth's father, but his secretary Sheila reveals her love for him and promises to stand by him.

Agnes finds work with the irascible Gordon Webb who, since she is so surly and incompetent, is suspicious of her motives and hires a private detective, Roger Godfrey, to find out what she is up to. The handsome Roger falls in love with Gordon's long-suffering daughter Joan, who is unwilling to marry him as her father depends on her. After Agnes persuades the girl to seize the chance of happiness, Gordon first sacks her and then calls round to take her out to dinner.

Though the first single woman Simon speaks to is Frieda, a cigarette girl in a club he frequents, being in search of richer prey he breaks his promise. An attractive but suspiciously available young woman called Lucille scoops him up and, once they are married, reveals that she is the penniless niece of his butler, in whom he unwisely confided.

When Herbert finally gathers the nerve to go through with his assignment, he inadvertently foils an actual robbery and becomes a hero, plastered across the front pages of the press. Rewarded with a branch managership, his fellow employee Susan is proud and happy to be his girl.

When the executor gathers the four heirs together, he informs them that there is in fact no money left. The whole exercise was Henry's last practical joke. Agnes, Deniston and Herbert burst into laughter. Simon is annoyed at first, until he happens to look out of the window at his conniving and equally unscrupulous wife, who is waiting for him with a bottle of champagne. Then he too joins in the merriment.

==Cast==
*[[Alastair Sim]] as Deniston Russell
*[[Fay Compton]] as Agnes Russell
*[[Guy Middleton]] as Simon Russell
*[[George Cole (actor)|George Cole]] as Herbert Russell
*[[Hugh Griffith]] as Henry Russell
*[[Ernest Thesiger]] as Endicott, Henry's executor
*[[Beatrice Campbell]] as Lucille Grayson, the woman Simon marries
*[[Mackenzie Ward]] as Benson, Simon's butler
*[[Joyce Grenfell]] as Elizabeth Robson, Deniston's fiancée
*[[A. E. Matthews]] as Sir Charles Robson, Elizabeth's father
*[[John Laurie]] as Gordon Webb, Agnes's employer
*[[Veronica Hurst]] as Joan Webb, Gordon's daughter
*[[Anthony Steel (actor)|Anthony Steel]] as Roger Godfrey, private detective hired by Gordon
*[[Eleanor Summerfield]] as Sheila Wilcott, Deniston's secretary
*[[Charlotte Mitchell]] as Ethel, Agnes's maid
*[[Leslie Dwyer]] as Police station sergeant
*[[Colin Gordon]] as Police station constable
*[[Ronald Adam (actor)|Ronald Adam]] as Wagstaffe, the bank manager
*[[Michael Pertwee]] as Stewart, bank employee
*[[Mary Germaine]] as Susan Heath, bank employee
*[[Audrey Hepburn]] as Frieda. This was Hepburn's first professional appearance on film (save for a brief role in a 1948 Dutch film entitled ''[[Dutch in Seven Lessons]]''), with her two scenes as a cigarette girl totalling 43 seconds. They were recreated by [[Jennifer Love Hewitt]] in the 2000 [[biopic]] ''[[The Audrey Hepburn Story]]''.
*[[Noel Howlett]] as Clerk of the Court
*[[Martin Boddey]] as Store detective
*[[Arthur Howard]] as passenger in train with Herbert (uncredited)

Eleanor Summerfield and Noel Howlett both appeared, although in different roles, in the 1970 remake ''[[Some Will, Some Won't]]''.

==Production==
Anthony Steel has a small role.<ref name="vagg">{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-emasculation-of-anthony-steel-a-cold-streak-saga/|title=The Emasculation of Anthony Steel: A Cold Streak Saga
|date=September 23, 2020}}</ref>
The film editor Giulio Zampi would go on to produce the 1970 remake ''[[Some Will, Some Won't]]''.

==Reception==
''Laughter in Paradise'' was the fourth most popular film at the British box-office in 1951.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article63397098 |title=Vivien Leigh Actress of the Year. |newspaper=[[Townsville Daily Bulletin]] |location=Qld. |date=29 December 1951 |accessdate=24 April 2012 |page=1 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=258|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}}</ref> ''[[The New York Times]]'' in November 1951 called the film a "merely pleasant, not especially surprising, comedy".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A05E2DB103DEF3BBC4A52DFB767838A649EDE|title=''Laughter in Paradise,'' British Import With Alastair Sim, at 60th St. Trans-Lux|work=The New York Times|date=12 November 1951|access-date=26 August 2019}}</ref>

In modern reviews, the ''[[Radio Times]]'', David Parkinson gave the film four out of five stars, and praised the "fantastic performance of Alastair Sim as the henpecked thriller writer", adding, "the scene in which he tries to shoplift is one of the funniest in a career overladen with choice comic moments,"<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/film/mgvnz/laughter-in-paradise|title=Laughter in Paradise|author=David Parkinson|work=Radio Times}}</ref> while ''Britmovie'' called the film "a sure-fire British comedy that's sprightly execution doesn’t leave many dull moments."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britmovie.co.uk/films/Laughter-in-Paradise_1951|title=Laughter in Paradise|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129014646/http://www.britmovie.co.uk/films/Laughter-in-Paradise_1951|archivedate=29 November 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links ==
*{{IMDb title|id=0043727|title=Laughter in Paradise}}
*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/591011/index.html Modern Review] (Undated) at [[screenonline]]
*[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/media/mfb/1007275/index.html Contemporaneous Review] (June, 1951) at screenonline

{{Mario Zampi}}

[[Category:1951 films]]
[[Category:1951 comedy films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films shot at Associated British Studios]]
[[Category:Films directed by Mario Zampi]]
[[Category:Films set in England]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]

Laughter in Paradise - Revision history

Kurt at 05:29, 5 February 2023

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Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */remove Category:English-language films; now in subcat