"Oh, hard cheese, old man!"

School for Scoundrels, that cheery, malicious comedy of one-upmanship, was based on Stephen Potter's classic of underhanded winning, Gamesmanship - Or How To Win Without Really Cheating, and its follow-up, Lifemanship. (Potter wrote several others, too.) What is lifemanship? "Well, gentlemen," says the avuncular head of school played by Alastair Sim to a new class, "lifemanship is the science of being one up on your opponents at all times. It's the art of making him feel that somewhere, some how, he's become less that you. He who is not one up, is one down."

Getting ready to sign up for the courses is Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael), so nice, so pleasant, so helpful that he usually finds himself either ignored, taken advantage of or walked all over. His employees pay him little attention. He meets April Smith (Janette Scott), an attractive young woman, and invites her to dinner, only to see himself turned into the extra man while that bounder, Raymond Delauney (Terry-Thomas) moves in and takes over. He decides to buy a car to impress April and winds up with a moveable piece of smoking, chugging, wheezing metal courtesy of two smarmy used car salesmen, Dunstan (Dennis Price) and Dudley (Peter Jones) Dorchester. And when he agrees to play tennis at the club with Raymond while April watches them...oh, my. Raymond reduces Henry to an impotent lamb in front of April. "Hard cheese," says Raymond sympathetically, every time he maneuvers Henry into looking foolish and losing a point.

The worm strikes back, however, when Henry signs up for courses at Mr. Potter's College of Lifemanship. There Henry learns all the little gambits that will put him one up...the cough just as his opponent begins to strike the ball at snooker, hearing a joke about a cripple then standing and limping out of the room, the spilled drink on the dress that leads to a bit of solicitous dress drying after the girl takes it off, the apparently well-meaning delays that drive a competitor to distraction, and on. With Professor S. Potter's help, Henry becomes a one-upsman to be proud of. He learns to make his employees nervous, how to deal with used car salesmen, ways to innocently seduce young women, and how to deal with Raymond Delauney. The person who has to grind his teeth and hear "Oh, hard cheese" is now Delauney. It's almost as satisfying as eating a double portion of sticky toffee pudding. Henry's final tennis match with that cad Delauney is the funniest, most satisfying game of tennis I've seen since Billie Jean King slowly dismembered Bobby Riggs.

Is there a lesson for us in all this? Yes, but fortunately it's saved for the very last. And that lesson Henry learns while gazing lovingly at April and telling her he loves her. "We're witnessing the birth of a new gambit," Professor Potter says proudly. No, we're witnessing the moment when love, and the person we love, requires sincerity.

All the one-upman gambits are so outrageous and so familiar, and served up with such good-natured manipulation, that all we can do is sit back and smile. School for Scandal is a witty, almost innocent and sweet-natured movie with a fine, dry script, credited to Patricia Moyes and the producer, Hal Chester. In fact it was written by Peter Ustinov and the blacklisted American writer, Frank Tarloff. Robert Hamer, the director of Kind Hearts and Coronets, is credited with directing. When Hamer, an alcoholic, fell off the wagon half way through, however, the producer immediately fired him, brought in another director, Cyril Frank, and the two of them finished the movie unbilled.

In addition to the script, of course, what makes this movie so funny and memorable are the performances. Terry-Thomas was never better as the unctuous cad who finally gets his. Ian Carmichael plays another innocent with great ineffectual likability, and then comes through for us. And Alastair Sim as Professor S. Potter is a joy. Watching Professor Potter introduce Henry Palfrey to one-upmanship during their first meeting is to watch one of the cleverest examples of Sim's timing and expression you'd ever hope to see. The only sad spot is seeing Dennis Price in a decidedly secondary role and not looking all that healthy.

For many of us, this is a movie to watch while taking notes.

A classic, (and very, very funny) British comedy that seems to have slipped through the net, (despite having been picked up and remade last year with Billy Bob Thornton). Aficianados, of course, love the film with a passion and for good reason since it represents a high point in the careers of Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and director Robert Hamer, (sadly this was the last thing Hamer did).

It's based on the Oneupmanship books of Stephen Potter, in themselves classics of British humour, and here Potter is played by the great and inimitable Alastair Sim, though Sim takes a back seat in this one. Surprisingly, the writers Hal E Chester and Paricia Moyes, who adapted Potter's books, have managed to pull together something of a coherent plot rather than just a series of sketches as initially nerdy Carmichael starts putting Sim's Dark Arts into practice as he goes head-to-head with the dastardly Thomas for the virtue of Janette Scott. Anyone who has ever wondered what the point of Terry-Thomas was need look no further than here. He's a comic fireball and he ignites every scene he's in. Seek this one out.

'School for Scoundrels' is another film where my main reason for seeing it was for the cast. Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas, Alastair Sim and Dennis Price were actors of immense talent and bring so much promise. Add to that a very interesting concept and that it is directed by Robert Hamer, who directed a personal favourite comedy of mine 'Kind Hearts and Coronets', and one can't help thinking what could possibly go wrong with that amount going for it?

Luckily 'School for Scoundrels' doesn't come anywhere close to going wrong and doesn't actually do an awful lot wrong. Almost everything with it is right, but it just misses the "everything" so narrowly. The good things are many and they are executed pretty wonderfully. Will admit that 'School for Scoundrels' is not one of my favourite comedies or films, but certainly still found myself thoroughly enjoying it and the film does not waste the elements that got me seeing it in the first place.

Maybe Hamer's direction could have done with a lighter touch in places, with comedy of such subtlety having the film directed with a heavier hand occasionally is (slightly) at odds.

This is especially apparent in the third act, where the film loses its momentum somewhat.

However, as well as being my main reason for seeing 'School for Scoundrels', the cast are also the main reason to watch it. Ian Carmichael is willing and likeable in a role that suits him, never playing innocence blandly, and although his role is not a large one Alastair Sim's performance is vintage Sim (meaning a joy to watch). Dennis Price, Peter Jones and John LeMesurier are highly entertaining in their roles and Janette Scott is fetching in hers. It is Terry-Thomas, possibly never better, who makes the most impression playing a cad to hilarious perfection.

Also a big star is the script, filled with witty lines and subtle humour that is seldom less than very funny, thanks to the cast's sharp and elegant comic timing. The best lines come from Thomas and the middle act is especially good. The story is slight and episodic, but very engaging and runs crisply with no lapses in cohesion. John Addison's score has the right amount of energy and the film looks great, not many films have had me pining for any kind of car but 'School of Scoundrels' is one of those exceptions.

Concluding, very good film and very much a winner if not quite classic. 8/10 Bethany Cox