The Bulldog Breed (1960)

Well, kind of, because it's freaking funny. Why? It's about the first man in space. "The Russians?" Even worse. The laughable disaster of "Pitkin" kind.Again I'm writing a few words about a Norman Wisdom movie. And again I've got nothing bad to say. A great comedy from the good old black-and-white era. Finally in my DVD collection. I especially like the way this movie jumps from one subject to another (while some other reviewers are tend to consider it a drawback). Delivery service - suicide topic - Royal Navy - space travelling. And Mr Norman Wisdom delivers. He delivers his top-notch performance from the beginning of this picture till the very end adding ridiculous "Aye aye, sir" to his character's incompetent actions. And I was thoroughly surprised by the ladies' actions. The scene where some hot chick lures Norman into love-making is dynamite. How daring for 1960.Congratulations, Mr Norman Wisdom. You've made me laugh again. And not just once or twice during the movie but continuously. The fabulous highlights of the film for me are: Norman's collision with the local band, the three ways of "doing oneself in", the famous "man overboard" scene (I especially like the gun play here), the three ways of Norman's "trials" (gymnastics, diving-costume, mountains), the ridiculous "Attention!" boxing scene and a bit further - a reprise of it, and space travel with Norman pushing every button to get any result. The movie has also a very neat bunch of puns (look up the reference of this comment – it is a brilliant example).And don't tell me the movie's rating is lower than 7 out of 10. It must rub shoulders with Mr Charlie Chaplin's films on the top list. That's what I think.10 out of 10 (yes, I know it is too subjective, so what?). Thanks for attention.

I didn't think much of THE BULLDOG BREED simply because I don't think much of Norman Wisdom . When you've seen one of his comedies you've basically seen them all . The jokes are corny and predictable and usually revolve around coincidence and misunderstanding . Suppose to were to throw an anchor off a pier what's the chances of a speed boat passing at the same time ? If you threw an anchor of a pier a thousand times I doubt if you'd hit one single boat passing , same as if you threw rubbish overboard from a ship whats the chances that your commanding officer would be berthed alongside ? Yeah I know you're not supposed to think about it but the comedy stretches credibility and shows itself to be unsophisticated There is another problem this movie and that is that it doesn't have a cohesive plot . Think about it , by an unlikely series of events Norman joins the navy but then the location switches to a climbing expedition then later on the story revolves around a journey in to outer space . It's as if the writers had several under developed ideas for a story then not knowing what to do with them tried to piece them together which gives the movie a very episodic feel Despite these criticisms THE BULLDOG BREED remains one of Wisdom's most watchable movies simply because it features so many well known faces from television such as a couple of long running cast members from CORONATION STREET not to mention a couple of uncredited appearances from future film stars Oliver Reed and Michael Caine

Grocer delivery boy Norman Puckle is frustrated in his attempts to et a local girl and tries to kill himself. However he is saved at the last minute and told that to join the navy is to get all the girls he'll ever want. However Norman is not a sea-faring man by trade and struggles with the disciplined lifestyle required. Things are made worse when The Admiral selects him for an experimental rocket as proof that any sailor could operate it given the proper training. He hadn't planned on Norman.Wisdom is very much an acquired taste. I'm not an Albanian but I do still enjoy most of his films. Here the plot sees him as, wait for it, a lowly worker who makes good, gets the girl and shows up the toffs at the same time! So not a mile (or a yard) away from the usual fare then. But that's fine, the usual stuff is actually OK. Here his usual routines are mostly OK but some are just average. If you usually get a laugh from it then this will just about suffice.Wisdom is good and has a strong support cast. However the problem is that it feels too heavily on his shoulders and the rest aren't used well enough to share the load. When you've got actors like Hunter, Chapman, Jones, Alexander and the ever great Le Mesurier then you need to use them. Most have the odd good line or two but I wanted more from all of them.The comedy is basic and times and you know where it's heading from minute number 1! I'm a fan and found this to be amusing but not Wisdom's best by any means. If this is your first meeting with Wisdom then you may be disappointed, fans will enjoy it.

Norman Wisdom is- in all of his films- very human. The puppy-dog eagerness, willingness to do anything set before him, ability to make a mistake and then go on to make it worse- are, of course, the very stuff of the comic character that he sets up for us to laugh at. But his genius lies in the ability to make us identify with him, to 'live the life' with him, even as we guffaw.In the Bulldog Breed there are stock characters aplenty, and the players act their roles accordingly, but Wisdom- like a wicked imp- seems to dodge and dart round the convention & hierarchy that still- in 1960- characterized much of the English way of doing things. He is like the benign counterpart of a poltergeist: causing disruption, certainly, but not as an alien or supernatural incursion, rather a human intervention into a stiff and inhuman environment. The sequence in which he gets a whole ship's crew into the water is an excellent example of this.One thing that often goes unremarked in Wisdom's films is the sexual presence there. There is almost always some lubricious lovely in the line-up and, in this case, Wisdom (after some other amorous adventures) ends up on the beach with a girl in a grass skirt, being told to 'carry on'. By contemporary standards what is there is so laughably little that it seems distinctly odd to regard it as 'sex interest' but, in historical context, it is definitely that, and as much a part of the humour as 'dirty postcards' were a part of the English seaside holiday of the time.Bear in mind, by the way, that in the years running up to the first moon-landing, this film is also a comment on Britain's presence in space!