Brothers in Law is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Jill Adams. It was written by Boulting, Jeffrey Dell and Frank Harvey Jr., adapted from the 1955 novel Brothers in Law by Henry Cecil, a comedy set in the legal profession. The film is one of the Boulting brothers' successful series of institutional satires that began with Private's Progress in 1956.
Contents
Plot summary
Roger Thursby has just completed his barrister's examinations and has been called to the bar. He commences his pupillage in the London chambers of Kendall Grimes, but finds he learns more from Henry, his fellow pupil, and Alec, the chambers clerk. Although only supposed to 'shadow' Grimes, he finds himself on his feet before unsympathetic judges almost immediately.
Roger and Henry vie for the affections of Sally, a fellow lodger. She obtains his first brief for him from her father, a solicitor. It is an undefended divorce case, which Roger manages to lose, to the lady's fury. It doesn't help that Judge Ryman is presiding--Roger had been his inept partner in a charity golf match and the Judge holds a considerable grudge.
Roger slowly gains more confidence. He is given a 'dock brief', a case of fraud. Despite the odd behaviour of his client, Alfred Green, Roger gets him off. He also becomes the toast of his home town, when he appears in the local assizes court, and wins a case of slander, with his proud parents and their friends in the gallery. It was supposed to be Marshall's case, but he comically misplaces his wig; which he wouldn't be allowed in court without.
Sally marries Charles, a stockbroker friend, but Roger and Henry perk up with the arrival of two attractive girls as fellow lodgers.
Main cast
Richard Attenborough as Henry Marshall
Ian Carmichael as Roger Thursby
Terry-Thomas as Alfred Green
Jill Adams as Sally Smith
Miles Malleson as Kendall Grimes
Raymond Huntley as Tatlock
Eric Barker as Alec Blair
Nicholas Parsons as Charles Poole
Kynaston Reeves as Judge Lawson
John Le Mesurier as Judge Ryman
Irene Handl as Mrs. Potter
Olive Sloane as Mrs. Newent
Edith Sharpe as Mrs. Thursby
Leslie Phillips as shopkeeper
Brian Oulton as client
George Rose as Mark Frost
Kenneth Griffith as undertaker
Basil Dignam as Judge Emery
Henry Longhurst as Reverend Arthur Thursby
Maurice Colbourne as Official Referee
Hugh Moxey as Golf Club Secretary
Penny Morrell as Rosalie Biddle
John Schlesinger as Assize Court solicitor
Critical reception
Bosley Crowther in The New York Times compared the film unfavourably to Private's Progress, commenting that it was "blessed with little spark".
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The cloistered background of judges, barristers and clerks is at once convincing and comic. Script and performances are unusually sophisticated, and the comic invention is sufficient to make the film consistently entertaining. Roy Boulting's direction, though it could be more concise, succeeds in keeping the cast on the right side of caricature. Ian Carmichael, despite a tendency towards theatrical, rather than cinematic, mannerisms in moments of crisis, is generally more restrained than in Private's Progress, and confirms that he is one of the most talented of British light comedians. ... Among the remarkably assured cast, Terry-Thomas, Miles Malleson and Irene Handl give particularly bright performances, and Eric Barker's clerk is self-effacing and shrewdly observed."
Tony Sloman in the Radio Times wrote, "Carmichael is surrounded here by a cast of accomplished character actors, including the splendid Terry-Thomas and the redoubtable Richard Attenborough as a smarmy fellow barrister. This is still very funny and relevant today."
In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "very good", writing: "Funny follow-up to private progress, wittily written and confidently played."
Box office
According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was "in the money" at the British box office in 1957.