This film is part of Rentals
Penny Points to Paradise
The first screen outing for Goon Show stars Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe in a cheerful comic escapade set in Brighton.
Director: Tony Young
Overview
The long-lost first screen outing for stars of The Goon Show, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe, is a cheap and cheerful comic escapade climaxing in a Brighton waxworks. Secombe takes the lead role as Harry Flakers, winner of a big prize on the football pools. True to his roots he decides to continue with his planned summer holiday to Brighton, staying in his favourite shabby B&B. But his fellow guests are a shady bunch all with an eye on his winnings.
While Milligan is relatively subdued as Flakers’ best friend Spike, Sellers displays his famed dexterity of characterisation in a double-role as both a bluff con-man and a smarmy salesman. Filmed on the fly in just three weeks by family-run outfit Adelphi Films, Penny Points to Paradise aimed to capture the madcap energy of the Goons just before their ground-breaking radio comedy show first aired. Although the comedy here is more conservative than the Goons at their wildest harking back to the days of variety and silent cinema, there are still plenty of laughs to be had in this fascinating record of the ground-breaking troupe’s early exploits. Although Sellers dismissed the film later in his career, his recollections may well have been hazy: the film was long out of circulation, until its reconstruction by the BFI. The film’s initial 1951 release was short-lived, although a shorter cut was assembled in 1960 to capitalise on Sellers’ growing popularity; inserting sequences from another Adelphi comedy, Let’s Go Crazy. Following the discovery of a 16mm print in Adelphi’s archives in 2006, a restoration incorporating all known surviving sources was completed in 2008.
Contains scenes of smoking
Related
Support the Girls Support the Girls
Drama 2018 90 mins Director: Andrew Bujalski
Andrew Bujalski serves up a big-hearted comedy with his day-in-the-life look at Double Whammies – a Hooters-style bar and its tight-knit, all-female staff.
Black Mountain Poets Black Mountain Poets
Comedy 2016 85 mins Director: Jamie Adams
Alice Lowe and Dolly Wells play criminal sisters who steal the identity of two poets, only to be charmed by the world of competition poetry.
Flux Gourmet Flux Gourmet
Comedy 2022 112 mins Director: Peter Strickland
This darkly comic tale from Peter Strickland is a fantastic feast for the senses, starring Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie.
I Never Cry I Never Cry
Comedy 2020 97 mins Director: Piotr Domalewski
Darkly comic Polish drama about a young woman who goes on a voyage of self-discovery in Ireland after her father unexpectedly passes away.
It Must Be Heaven It Must Be Heaven
Comedy 2019 102 mins Director: Elia Suleiman
Acclaimed Palestinian filmmaker Elia Suleiman returns with another deadpan take on life in exile that is typically assured and moving.
Queen of Glory Queen of Glory
Comedy 2021 79 mins Director: Nana Mensah
In Nana Mensah’s self-assured and charming comedy, a Ghanaian-American woman’s life is thrown into disarray when she inherits her mother’s Christian bookshop.
Computer Chess Computer Chess
Comedy 2013 91 mins Director: Andrew Bujalski
Andrew Bujalski’s hilarious and surreal comedy about the birth of computer culture, set in an early 1980s conference where primitive programmers take on chess masters.
Whisky Galore! Whisky Galore!
Comedy 1949 83 mins Director: Alexander Mackendrick
Ealing's thirstiest comedy: "the longest unsponsored advertisement ever to reach cinema screens"?
Dogtooth Dogtooth
Drama 2009 93 mins Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Yorgos Lanthimos' scary, witty tale of a dysfunctional Greek family is original, ingenious and sadly relevant as a study of parent-child relationships
Unrelated Unrelated
Drama 2008 96 mins Director: Joanna Hogg
On a Tuscan break a fortysomething woman finds herself drawn to the company of a group of partying teens, including a young Tom Hiddleston.
Amour Fou Amour Fou
Period drama 2014 92 mins Director: Jessica Hausner
Jessica Hausner’s long-awaited follow-up to Lourdes is a devilish anti-Rom-Com in which a German poet seeks mates for a suicide pact.
La Grande Bouffe La Grande Bouffe
Comedy 1973 130 mins Director: Marco Ferreri
Marco Ferreri's provocative and controversial satire about four friends who retreat to a country mansion with the intention of eating themselves to death.
The Slappiest Days of Our Lives The Slappiest Days of Our Lives
Comedy 1953 73 mins
A young Peter Sellers voices this compilation film of silent slapstick footage, featuring Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy.
Let's Go Crazy Let's Go Crazy
Comedy 1951 33 mins Director: Alan J. Cullimore
Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan shine in a series of sketches and multiple roles, in this madcap mixture of music-hall and anarchic comedy.
Mr. Topaze Mr. Topaze
Comedy 1961 97 mins Director: Peter Sellers
Charming character comedy, unseen for decades, starring Peter Sellers as a school teacher corrupted by big business.
The Blockhouse The Blockhouse
Drama 1973 92 mins Director: Clive Rees
A rare serious performance by Peter Sellers drives this tale of eight men buried in a bunker for three years at the end of WWII.
My Death Is a Mockery My Death Is a Mockery
Crime 1952 69 mins Director: Tony Young
Hop aboard for a choppy Channel crossing with this bleak, bullet-spattered sea-smuggling crime drama.
Hands of Destiny Hands of Destiny
Drama 1954 52 mins Director: Tony Young
The strange prophesies of Dr Josef Ranald, palm reader of choice to Nazi war leaders.
The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future
Fantasy 2022 99 mins Director: Francisca Alegría
Francisca Alegría brings together family trauma and ecology into a poetic journey of rebirth. A mysterious and poetic tale on our collapsing ecosystem and finding balance.
A Forgotten Man A Forgotten Man
Historical drama 2022 85 mins Director: Laurent Negre
At the end of World War Two, a Swiss diplomat (Michael Neueschwander) is burdened with guilt in this chillingly intense historical drama.
Verdict Verdict
Crime 2019 127 mins Director: Raymund Ribay Gutierrez
A wife presses charges against her violent husband, only to face fresh battles against bureaucracy, in this incensing courtroom thriller.
Rimini Rimini
Drama 2022 90 mins Director: Ulrich Seidl
Impeccably styled and unflinchingly grim, this darkly humorous tale of a pop star past his prime finds Ulrich Seidl at his audacious best.
The Miseducation of Cameron Post The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Drama 2018 92 mins Director: Desiree Akhavan
Chloë Grace Moretz is the girl who finds her tribe with fellow ‘sinners’ at a religious camp where they are told to pray the gay away.
Petrov's Flu Petrov's Flu
Fantasy 2021 146 mins Director: Kirill Serebrennikov
A comic book artist contracts flu during an epidemic and subsequently embarks on a strange journey through Russian society.