Humour is funny. Some people laugh loudly at what others don't. This film is paired on a single disc with The Green Man, which for me is the funniest ever produced. Yet SFS sits marginally higher on the IMDb rating list. I don't get it. The substance and script of this offering is insufficient. There's not much of a story and no plot. Ineffective executive loser takes a ridiculous expensive course in how to be overbearing and becomes a winner. Its pace drags.The one-upmanship joke is a one-joke joke. Once you've heard it once or possibly twice, it ceases to be funny, and, in my view, doesn't amuse any more. Here, it goes on and on, interminably. Terry-Thomas is wasted. He can be hilarious, but only in special situations, and relatively small doses. The Hattie Jacques episode is entirely pointless. That tennis match grows frankly tedious, and is suffered twice. A sports scenario, predicated on actual skill, does not exactly lend itself to one-upmanship, which only has purpose in social settings. Ian and Alastair are OK, but in a restricted sort of way. I didn't actually laugh, and really only smiled if I was feeling generous. The Swiftmobile was impressive, but the sales spiel from Dennis and friend, larded with verbosity, went on far too long. Janette was easy on the eye. Insufficient compensation for the general emptiness.

Stephen Potter wrote a series of humorous "self-help" books at around the turn of the 1950s which purported to teach life's losers how to become winners without actually cheating (although manipulating the rules was perfectly permissible).Some years later those books formed the basis of School For Scoundrels, in which the fictitious Yeovil academy (principal S. Potter, played by Alistair Sim) teaches the easily intimidated Henry Palfrey (Ian Carmichael) how to turn the tables on rotter and cad Raymond Delauney (Terry-Thomas) and win back the lovely April Smith (Janette Scott).The script, by Peter Ustinov, turns the spoof techniques of the book into maguffins driving a coherent narrative. The story, and the developments in it, are pleasing and funny, the performances are all excellent and, notwithstanding the fact that the film is clearly rooted in the 1950s, there is a freshness and timelessness about it.And it is fair to say that it is the beneficiary of a beautifully crisp transfer of the monochrome original to DVD.This film is as enjoyable as any of the Ealing comedies.

If you think David Frost or John Cleese "invented" English satire then I implore you to watch "School for Scoundrels",a cornucopia of gentle and wistful irony at the expense of the arrogant,patronising public school / Oxbridge types that messrs Frost and Cleese usually avoided parodying as they themselves were drawn from their ranks. Mr Ian Carmichael(born to play the meek middle-class doormat)is thwarted in his every move by by the manic Mr Terry-Thomas.In despair he enrolls at Stephen Potter's Colllege of One-Upmanship where shrinking violets are turned into tigers,unravelling the subtle coils of the English Class - System by using the Nobs techniques against them. Mr Carmichael uses the subterfuge he is taught to play those who see themselves as his social superiors at their own game.Unlike Basil Fawlty who merely crawls round those who he sees as his social superiors and whose aspirations are to join that class.Those aspirations are what Cleese satirises,Fawlty's wish to "better"himself is what Cleese despises,quite the opposite to Potter who applauds Carmichael's wish to "better" himself and indeed enables it. Later British satire treated its victims with contempt,subjecting them to heavy-handed humiliation,"School for Scoundrels" merely makes them figures of fun,much more subtle and consequently more effective. Each of Carmichael's tormentors is hoisted with his own petard in a most satisfying manner. Miss J.Scott is innocent and sexy in a 1960 - ish way,Mr Price and Mr Jones incomparable.Mr Sim,first in a field of one,hooded eye and sardonic voice,is perfect as Stephen Potter.But I leave the best to last.Mr Terry-Thomas,leering,loathsome yet strangely child - like, irritatingly good at everything he does,a portrait to join those masterpieces from "Private's Progress" and "I'm All Right,Jack" of the cynical upper-class opportunist who gets his come-uppance. Before satire was written by Oxbridge public school boys for Oxbridge public school boys,British comedy writers believed their audience intelligent enough to appreciate gentle irony without stamping on their heads.It was,and it did.

Humilliated in sport,losing his girl to a cad, and always taken advantage of-Henry Palfrey decides enough is enough and enrols himself at the College Of Lifemanship to learn self improvement strategies.School For Scoundrels is inspired by a trio of parody self-help books written by Stephen Potter called Gamesmanship, Lifemanship & Oneupmanship, with the subsequent result being a deftly charming satire backed up with very knowing comedy. Taking the lead role of Henry Palfrey is Ian Carmichael, tho a star of many funny and successful British comedies, Carmichael is not someone I would normally term as a confident leading man, but here he does well and I think that is probably down to having the ebullient Terry-Thomas to feed off. Terry-Thomas is here in full caddish rapscallion mode as Henry's love rival Raymond Delauney, a devilishly funny character who firmly has us begging Henry to get the better of him come the end. Some delightful laughs to be had here, from the duos tennis matches, to Henry's turning of the tables on an unscrupulous car salesmen. School For Scoundrels is never ever less than a funny movie.However the film is far from perfect, Alistair Sim isn't given that much to do as Henry's mentor, Professor Stephen Potter, and this ultimately feels like a wasted opportunity. The direction is also pretty patchy, which when I delved further is sadly understandable. Robert Hamer was the perfect choice to direct because nestling on his CV is the majestic Kind Hearts And Coronets. But Hamer was fired shortly after filming began after lapsing back into alcoholism {he would die three years later}, so the film was completed by Hal Chester and Cyril Frankel.Frayed edges aside tho, School For Soudrels still holds up well today, and when one witnesses the poor standard of the 2006 remake, this 1960 offering is something of a comedic gem to be cherished forever and always.Hard cheese old boy 8/10