Editing My Learned Friend

{{EngvarB|date=December 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = My Learned Friend
| image          = "My_Learned_Friend"_(1943).jpg
 
| caption        = 
| director       = [[Basil Dearden]]<br>[[Will Hay]]
| producer       = [[Michael Balcon]]<br>[[Robert Hamer]]
| writer         = [[John Dighton]]<br>[[Angus MacPhail]]
| narrator       = 
| starring       = [[Will Hay]]<br>[[Claude Hulbert]]<br>[[Mervyn Johns]]
| music          = [[Ernest Irving]]
| cinematography = [[Wilkie Cooper]]
| editing        = [[Charles Hasse]]
| studio         = [[Ealing Studios]]
| distributor    = [[Ealing]]
| released       = 
| runtime        = 74 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = 
}}

'''''My Learned Friend''''' is a 1943 British, [[black-and-white]], [[comedy film|comedy]], [[farce]], directed by [[Basil Dearden]] with his regular collaborator, [[Will Hay]], as the film's star in the role of William Fitch. The principal supporting roles were taken by [[Claude Hulbert]] and [[Mervyn Johns]] .  Character roles went to [[Laurence Hanray]] as Sir Norman, [[Charles Victor]] as "Safety" Wilson, [[Ernest Thesiger]] as Ferris and [[Ronald Shiner]] as the Man in Wilson's café.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114124559/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/43545?view=cast BFI.org]</ref> It was produced by [[Michael Balcon]], [[Robert Hamer]] and [[Ealing Studios]].

The film's title refers to a tradition in British law: when addressing either the court or the judge, a barrister [[Barristers in England and Wales#Appearance and forms of address|refers to the opposing counsel]] using the respectful term, "my learned friend".

This was [[Will Hay]]'s last film; Hay went on to star as "Doctor Muffin" in The Will Hay Programme that aired on the radio in 1944. The humour of My Learned Friend took a darker turn than any of Hay's earlier films.

==Plot==
This comedy sees [[Will Hay]] playing a seedy lawyer, who finds himself marked for assassination by a [[forgery|forger]] whom he previously defended unsuccessfully. He teams up with an incompetent solicitor to try to prevent the deaths of others involved.

The film climaxes with a sequence where Hay hangs from the hands of the clock face of [[Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster|Big Ben]] in an attempt to prevent a time bomb being detonated.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190306042955/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b1159be ''My Learned Friend''] at the [[British Film Institute]]{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
* {{IMDb title|0036184}}

{{Basil Dearden}}
{{Michael Balcon}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:My Learned Friend}}
[[Category:1943 films]]
[[Category:1940s crime comedy films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:British crime comedy films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Will Hay]]
[[Category:Films directed by Basil Dearden]]
[[Category:Films produced by Michael Balcon]]
[[Category:Ealing Studios films]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films set in Lancashire]]
[[Category:1943 comedy films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s British films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Ernest Irving]]
[[Category:English-language crime comedy films]]


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{{comedy-crime-film-stub}}