Editing Private's Progress

{{Short description|1956 British film by John Boulting}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Private's Progress
| image          = Private's Progress - 1956 poster.jpg
| caption        = Original UK cinema poster
| director       = [[John and Roy Boulting|John Boulting]]
| screenplay     = John Boulting<br />[[Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]]
| based_on       = {{Based on|''Private's Progress''|[[Alan Hackney]]}}
| producer       = [[John and Roy Boulting|Roy Boulting]]
| starring       = [[Ian Carmichael]]<br />[[Richard Attenborough]]<br />[[Dennis Price]]<br />[[Terry-Thomas]]
| cinematography = [[Eric Cross (cinematographer)|Eric Cross]]
| editing        = [[Anthony Harvey]]
| music          = [[John Addison]]
| studio         = <!-- Redirects to Boulting brothers article -->Charter Film Productions
| distributor    = [[British Lion Films]] {{small|(UK)}}
| released       = {{Film date|df=y|1956|02|17|UK}}
| runtime        = 95 minutes
| country        = United Kingdom
| language       = English
| budget         = £161,069<ref name="money">Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p. 359</ref>
| gross          = £310,870 (UK)<ref>Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', ''Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television'', Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p. 506</ref>
}}
'''''Private's Progress''''' is a 1956 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[John and Roy Boulting|John Boulting]] and starring [[Richard Attenborough]], [[Dennis Price]], [[Terry-Thomas]] and [[Ian Carmichael]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Private's Progress (1956) - BFI |url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b38d979 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712032629/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b38d979 |archive-date=2012-07-12 |work=BFI}}</ref> The script was by John Boulting and [[Frank Harvey (English screenwriter)|Frank Harvey]], based on the novel of the same name<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hackney |first=Alan |title=Private's Progress |publisher=[[Faber and Faber]] |year=1954 |isbn=9780571282579}}</ref> by [[Alan Hackney]].

==Plot==
During the [[Second World War]], young [[undergraduate]] Stanley Windrush is conscripted into the [[British Army]]. Unlike his friend, Egan, Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone Barracks under Sgt. Sutton. Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock. Most of the soldiers there are malingerers and drop-outs, with one of them Private Cox becoming his mentor in escaping work details and riding on the railway without a ticket.

Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil. He is then contacted by his uncle, Brigadier Tracepurcel, who rapidly rose from the rank of Major for facilitating profitable business deals for his superior officers and is now a senior officer in the [[War Office]], to join a secret operation known only as Hatrack. He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, Windrush becoming an unwitting participant in a scheme ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans but really to steal them and sell them to two crooked art dealers. All are astounded that Windrush was trained in Japanese, rather than German that initially made him desirable to the operation.

Windrush survives the operation where he is captured by British forces whilst in German uniform. No one believes he is British until he comes across Major Hitchcock who is commanding the prisoner of war camp Windrush is at. After being hospitalised for alleged mental illness, he is discharged from the army. Tracepurcel and his associate, Private Cox, fake their deaths. Windrush returns to university after the war and is surprised to receive a visit from Cox, who brings him an attaché case. Cox is arrested as he leaves by Sergeant Sutton, now a Royal Military Policeman; Windrush and Tracepurcel having been tracked as the source of a counterfeit copy of one of the artworks. Windrush innocently reveals to the military police the contents of the case – a large sum of money – and is also arrested, assumed to be complicit in the fraud.

The closing epilogue and dedication states: "To all those who got away with it, this film is most respectfully dedicated."<ref name="NYT1956">{{cite web|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/07/24/86653074.html?pageNumber=19|title=''Private's Progress'' Opens at the Guild|date=24 July 1956|website=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>

==Cast==
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Richard Attenborough]] as Private Cox
* [[Dennis Price]] as Brig. Bertram Tracepurcel
* [[Terry-Thomas]] as Major Hitchcock
* [[Ian Carmichael]] as Pte. Stanley Windrush
* [[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]] as Arthur Egan
* [[William Hartnell]] as Sgt. Sutton
* [[Thorley Walters]] as Captain Bootle
* [[Jill Adams]] as Prudence Greenslade
* [[Ian Bannen]] as Private Horrocks
* [[Victor Maddern]] as Private George Blake
* [[Kenneth Griffith]] as Private Dai Jones
* [[John Warren (actor)|John Warren]] as Sgt./Maj. Gradwick
* [[George Coulouris]] as padre
* [[Derrick De Marney]] as Pat
* [[Ronald Adam (actor)|Ronald Adam]] as doctor at medical
* [[Henry Longhurst (actor)|Henry Longhurst]] as Mr. Spottiswood
* [[Miles Malleson]] as Mr. Windrush Sr.
* Sally Miles as Catherine
* [[David King-Wood]] as Gerald
* [[Brian Oulton]] as M.O. at Gravestone Camp
* [[Michael Trubshawe]] as Col. Fanshawe
* [[John Le Mesurier]] as psychiatrist
* [[Robert Raglan]] as General Tomlinson
* Nicholas Bruce as German officer
* [[Theodore Zichy]] as German agent
* [[Henry Oscar]] as art expert
* [[Basil Dignam]] as Colonel Martin (president of Selection Board) (uncredited)
* [[John Harvey (actor)|John Harvey]] as RAF officer at headquarters (uncredited)
* [[Glyn Houston]] as corporal on sick call (uncredited)
* [[Lloyd Lamble]] as officer at medical hearing (uncredited)
* [[Christopher Lee]] as General von Linbeck's aide (uncredited)
* [[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as lance corporal on guard duty (uncredited)
* [[Trevor Reid]] as adjutant (uncredited)
* [[Marianne Stone]] as expectant mother talking to Captain Bootle (uncredited)
* [[Michael Ward (actor)|Michael Ward]] as Sidney (guest at party) (uncredited)
* [[Peter Williams (American actor)|Peter Williams]] as officer at Selection Board (uncredited)

{{div col end}}

==Production==
The film was primarily filmed at [[Shepperton Studios]] but some scenes were filmed at [[Wantage Hall]], a hall of residence for the [[University of Reading]].{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}

The [[War Office]] refused all requests for cooperation, even after the ending of the film was changed to show the guilty being caught. The producers inserted a title card depicting three officers in the [[See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil]] stance with the words "the producers gratefully acknowledge the official cooperation of absolutely nobody".<ref>Mackenzie, S.P. ''British War Films''  BLM Academic UK; 1st edition (1 June 2006) p. 133</ref><ref name="NYT1956" />

It was the first in a series of successful satirical comedies made by the Boulting brothers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/446435/|title=BFI Screenonline: Boulting Brothers|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref> Their 1959 comedy ''[[I'm All Right Jack]]'' featured many of the same actors and characters. Many references are made to the events of ''Private's Progress''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/441166/index.html|title=BFI Screenonline: I'm All Right Jack (1959)|work=screenonline.org.uk}}</ref>

==Reception==

=== Box office ===
The film was the second most popular at the British box office in 1956.<ref>British Films Made Most Money: Box-Office Survey. ''The Manchester Guardian'' 28 December 1956: 3</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=259|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}}</ref>

=== Critical reception ===
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote:<blockquote>The general irreverence of this film is in itself welcome; it is prepared to tilt at almost any target – the boredom and futility of army routine, the corruption of high-ups at the War Office, class-consciousness, all kinds of incompetence, intrigue and official absurdity. All that one wishes is for the humour to have more edge. There is material here for real satire, but writing and direction choose the less demanding level of affable farce. The experiences of Windrush are not related to anything outside himself; and since the reality of war is never shown at all, an important point of contrast is lost, and the force of the episode about the looting of German art treasures is dissipated. Everything in this world is absurd. Also, Ian Carmichael – though he has an enjoyably accomplished comedy technique – does not present Windrush as a true innocent; he is too sly, too knowing. When one thinks of [[Charlie Chaplin|Chaplin]] in ''[[Shoulder Arms]]'' [1918] one realises how much is lost by too obvious a dig in the ribs. For the rest, there are some clever character sketches by TerryThomas, Richard Attenborough and Kenneth Griffith, and a number of good jokes.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1956 |title=Private's Progress |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305818684/48025A55A04C4EE7PQ/1 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=23 |issue=264 |pages=44 |id={{ProQuest|1305818684 }}}}</ref></blockquote>''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' wrote: "As a lighthearted satire on British army life during the last war, ''Private's Progress'' has moments of sheer joy based on real authenticity. But it is not content to rest on satire alone and introduces an unreal melodramatic adventure which robs the story of much of its charm.&nbsp;... Expert British players lake good care of the supporting parts."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=14 March 1956 |title=Private's Progress |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/962917917/2EB903AA241F467EPQ/2 |journal=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |volume=202 |issue=2 |pages=22 |url-access=subscription |id={{ProQuest|962917917 }}}}</ref>

''[[The New York Times]]'' wrote, "the Boultings have come up with an ingenious story and injected hilarious moments. But the whole thing sparkles and fizzles."<ref name="NYT1956" />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{British Comedy Guide|film|private_progress}}
* {{IMDb title|0049637}}

{{Boulting brothers}}

[[Category:1956 comedy films]]
[[Category:1950s satirical films]]
[[Category:1956 films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:British satirical films]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by John Boulting]]
[[Category:Films scored by John Addison]]
[[Category:Military comedy films]]
[[Category:British World War II films]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]