Starring
IAN CARMICHAEL
TERRY-THOMAS
HUGH GRIFFITH
Directed by JOHN BOULTING
Produced by ROY BOULTING
Screenplay by PATRICK CAMPBELL
From the novel by KINGSLEY AMIS
The Jim of the title refers to Jim Dixon, a junior lecturer in history at a redbrick university, who throughout most of the film is anything but lucky.
In their adaptation of the Kingsley Amis novel, the Boulting brothers chose Ian Carmichael for the lead, marking their third collaboration with the actor. Lucky Jim (1958) was preceded by the highly successful Private's Progress (195 5) and Brothers-In-Law (1956).
When the film starts, Jim's probationary year is drawing to a close with every indication he is not going to be kept for a second. Not relishing the prospect of being unemployed, he embarks on a systematic campaign to insinuate himself into the good graces of his head of department, Professor Welch.
But our hero seems doomed from the beginning by his unparalleled ability to do the wrong thing at the worst possible time. In rapid succession he manages to antagonize the professor, his wife and his son.
The whole film revolves around Ian Carmichael's portrayal of the central character. In a tour-de-force performance, he puts his flair for comedy to maximum effect, producing the right facial contortion to match each new embarrassing situation.
Terry-Thomas provides splendid support in the part of the professor's obnoxious son with literary aspirations. Maureen Connell is also excellent in the cameo role of a neurotic colleague with designs on Jim. Watching the film today provides a charming evocation of England in the late 'fifties, an England of odd cars, beatniks, 'digs' and coffee bars.
This was also the era of 'angry young men'. Although Amis lacks the social pertinency of contemporaries such as Osborne or Wesker, Lucky Jim does have its share of side-swipes at pomposity, pretentiousness and hypocrisy. Yet, the film never sets out to deliver a message.
It is a breezy comedy, full of slap-stick, farce and fun. John Boulting keeps up the pace and comic incidents follow each other fast and furiously. Lucky Jim is consistently hilarious and provokes reactions which range from gentle chuckles to outright guffaws.
Linda Wood
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002