{"id":37749,"date":"2022-08-19T20:28:45","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T00:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=37749"},"modified":"2022-08-19T20:30:48","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T00:30:48","slug":"the-bootleg-files-the-plank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/19\/the-bootleg-files-the-plank\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: The Plank"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 812: <\/strong>\u201cThe Plank\u201d (1967 British comedy film). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO:<\/strong> None.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It never made it across the Atlantic for a commercial release.
\n
\nCHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE:<\/strong> Not in the U.S. market.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For every Benny Hill, Monty Python or \u201cAre You Being Served?\u201d that crossed the Atlantic, there are scores of British funnymen who either tried and failed to find an American audience or never gave it a go. Two of the most inventive and delightful British comics to find favor in their country, Eric Sykes and Tommy Cooper, are mostly unknown to Americans \u2013 and I might wonder if today\u2019s younger Britons are familiar with these yesteryear stars.
\n<\/p>\n

In 1964, Sykes was starring in the BBC sitcom \u201cSykes and a\u2026\u201d that included an episode where he played a bumbling carpenter trying to deliver a wooden plank needed to finish the installation of a floor. Sykes felt the material had the potential of being expanded beyond the confines of his half-hour series, and in 1967 he arranged for the episode to be made into a short feature film. He tapped Cooper, who was also a popular fixture on British television, to co-star with him.<\/p>\n

The 1964 episode was shot without dialogue, giving the impression of a contemporary riff on a classic silent film. For the 1967 film \u2013 which was titled \u201cThe Plank\u201d \u2013 dialogue is used sparingly, with the emphasis put on wordless physical humor.<\/p>\n

And this is where \u201cThe Plank\u201d wobbles. Sykes and Cooper were masters of comic punchlines, and limiting them to a state of quasi-mime diluted their respective effectiveness as performers. Sykes also took on the task of directing the film, a responsibility that was beyond his talents \u2013 much of the action is sluggish, lacking the zing needed for a slapstick romp.<\/p>\n

The concept of \u201cThe Plank\u201d is simple \u2013 Sykes and Cooper are carpenters who are finishing the construction of a floor in a new home when they realize they are one plank short of completing their project. They hop into Sykes\u2019 small car and head to a lumber yard where towers of wooden planks stand in ominous, almost Stygian power. After finally securing the plank they need, they fasten it to the top of their car and drive back to their project \u2013 but while on the road, almost everything that can go wrong occurs.<\/p>\n

The basic problem is having the comics trying to take on a Laurel and Hardy persona, with Cooper as the hopelessly dimwitted Laurel character and Sykes as the slightly more efficient but still inept Hardy role. Neither man is right for his role, but they gamely go through their paces despite this obvious handicap.<\/p>\n

Sykes also wrote the screenplay and he unfortunately allowed scenes to drag on to long. Potentially amusing sequences as the car doors opening whenever one door is slammed, the men trying to navigate the labyrinthine lumber yard or a prolonged drive with a delivery man balancing precariously on the edge of the rooftop-secured outstay their welcome long after the initial joke has played out.<\/p>\n

Sykes also sought to enliven \u201cThe Plank\u201d with celebrity cameos. However, he opted to bring in actors who were primarily known from their work in British television and were mostly unknown outside of their country. Some these cameos are genuinely amusing \u2013 Dermot Kelly as a sour-faced milkman, Jimmy Edwards as an inefficient policeman, Jim Dale as a house painter who coats an irate homeowner \u2013 but to today\u2019s viewer the majority of these blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-them appearances will not resonate.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Plank\u201d clocked in at 51 minutes, far shorter than the average feature film. However, the J. Arthur Rank Organization felt it was strong enough to play in British theaters. In 1974, the material was re-edited into a 44-minute piece for another release in British cinemas. As far as I can determine, it was never screened in the U.S., nor did it play on American television.<\/p>\n

Sykes realized he had the right idea but the wrong approach to \u201cThe Plank\u201d and he remade it in 1979, taking on Cooper\u2019s role with Arthur Lowe of \u201cDad\u2019s Army\u201d and \u201cBless Me Father\u201d fame playing his original part. That version ran 30 minutes and is widely considered superior to its longer predecessor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Plank\u201d is nowhere to be found in any U.S. home entertainment release, although an unauthorized upload is on YouTube. Die-hard Anglophiles might enjoy viewing this for completist purposes, but otherwise this curio can be passed by.<\/p>\n