On the Beat

1962

Comedy

Norman Pitkin wants to be a policeman like his father was, but he fails the height test (amongst others). One day he gets out his father's old uniform and "walks the beat". This leads to a level of chaos that only Pitkin could cause

"As the COPPER who comes a CROPPER!"

Rating

7.7
28 votes

Popularity

0.3961

Origin & Countries

GBUS | en | United Kingdom

Production

The Rank Organisation

Runtime

106 min.

Status

Released

Release: 12/11/1962

Credits

On the Beat

Robert AsherDirector

On the Beat

Norman WisdomNorman Pitkin

On the Beat

Jennifer JayneRosanna

On the Beat

Raymond HuntleySir Ronald Ackroyd

On the Beat

Esma CannonMrs. Stammers

More like this

Zulu
1964
Action • Drama • History • War
7.4
2
The Art of Flight
2011
Adventure • Documentary
7.8
0
A Stitch in Time
7.4
0
The Court Jester
1955
Music • Adventure • Comedy
7.3
1
The Early Bird
1965
Comedy
7.6
0

Reviews

CinemaSerf

3/25/2023

6 / 10

Sometimes I forget just how charismatic and talented Norman Wisdom was. I was never a fan of slapstick humour, but somehow he always manages to inject the tiniest elements of class - even sophistication - into his performances. Here, he delivers one of his better and harder-working efforts as "Pitkin"; son of a decorated police officer who, it had been deemed, is too short to serve in the constabulary himself - so he gets a job cleaning their cars! Now cue for a fun water fight; the Commissioner gets soaked and he gets fired. Luckily for him, though, the police are under huge pressure to apprehend a jewel thief whom they think is masquerading as an high-end hairdresser. Guess what? "Neopolitani" is the spitting image of "Pitkin" and so back he is drafted to infiltrate the salon and hopefully bring down this criminal kingpin. This benefits strongly from an established cast of film and theatre actors who are no strangers to comedy: Terence Alexander, the scene-stealing Esme Cannon, David Lodge and Raymond Huntley (whom I could swear I saw struggling to contain his smiles at times). "Pitkin" even manages to find himself a little love interest in "Rosanna" (Jennifer Jayne) and, of course, there's not the merest doubt that Scotland Yard will get their man. It's a bit too long, and there is a decent smidgeon of stereotyping going on - but I think it fair to remember it's all pretty harmless and representative of British humour in the early 1960s and taken in that spirit is a good example of a star leading an enjoyable enough ensemble effort on a trail of mischief and mayhem.

MOVIZZ - all rights reserved @ 2025

Made with themoviedb.org