
How High
2001
Jim Dixon feels anything but lucky. At the university he has to do the bidding of absent-minded and boring Professor Welch to have any hope of keeping his job. Worse, he has managed to get entangled with unexciting but neurotic Margaret Peel, a friend of the Professor's. All-in-all, the pub is the only friendly place to be. His misery is completed at a dreadful weekend gathering of the Welch clan by the arrival of son Bertrand. Not so much that Betrand is loud-mouthed and boorish - which he is - but that he has as companion Christine Callaghan, the sort of marvellous and unattainable woman Jim can only dream about.
John Boulting
Margaret Peel
Bertrand Welch
Christine Callaghan
Mrs. Welch
Professor Welch
Jim Dixon
2/15/2023
6/10
I think this is what they call a "loose" adaptation - this time of Kingsley Amis' eponymous novel - that follows the largely mis-adventures of young schoolmaster Ian Carmichael ("Jim Dixon") as he tries to teach his pupils, keep his job, arrange a vice-chancellor's ceremony and get the girl! The comedy is quickly paced, if a bit too obvious for my liking, and a great ensemble of British stalwarts including Hugh Griffith as his boss ("Prof. Welch) who bears a startling resemblance to the school gargoyle; Sharon Acker as the object of his clumsy affections ("Christine"), Margaret Connell, Reginald Beckwith and a scene-stealing performance from Terry-Thomas as the gently obnoxious "Bertrand" keep this heading, albeit somewhat bumpily, in the right direction until a bit of an excruciating ending. It's unlikely fans of the book with appreciate Patrick Campbell's adaptation here, but it's still a watchable semi-farce with some good efforts to enjoy.
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