It has become fashionable in recent years to belittle (sorry!) the talents of Norman Wisdom - and I can't think why. In his day, the slight talents of many "superstars" of today would have resulted in them being shown the door.
Back then, a "star" was expected to be multi-talented. And Norman WAS. If you don't believe me, check out the kinescope of the mid-sixties primetime live "Sunday Night At The London Palladium" where Norman and Bruce Forsyth wrote and did THE ENTIRE TWO-HOUR SHOW BY THEMSELVES.
Huh? Well, S.N.A.T.L.P. was HUGE then and because of a strike, it looked like it would be canceled - even though the strike had been settled, who could POSSIBLY put together a two-hour show in THREE DAYS? Brucie and Norman, that's who. They did songs, dance sequences, comedy sketches and various bits of business they had written and rehearsed in Bruce's HOUSE. The MILLIONS who watched said it was one of the BEST S.N.A.T.L.P.s EVER.
M'point is, in those days, to be a success you needed to be able to sing, dance, play instruments, act (comedy or straight) and it helped if you wrote - ALL of which Norman Wisdom DID.
And in "On The Beat", he demonstrated his talents to the full. It's a film of set-pieces - the opening, which satirises the British cop-shows of the time, the car-washing sequence, the "tube" sequence, him and Eric Barker as the Police Doctor (those eye-charts with the sharps and flats were put back into props and surfaced in other films of the time!) the "briefing" where he is "coached" in the mannerisms of "Julio Napolitani", the scenes with him AS the afore-mentioned Julio, the sequence where hundreds of coppers run round the streets of Herts - SURREAL! - and of course, the back-garden "steeplechase".
In its day, "On The Beat" was a tour-de-force, but today it stands as a work of GENIUS the like of which is rarely seen anymore.
Back then, a "star" was expected to be multi-talented. And Norman WAS. If you don't believe me, check out the kinescope of the mid-sixties primetime live "Sunday Night At The London Palladium" where Norman and Bruce Forsyth wrote and did THE ENTIRE TWO-HOUR SHOW BY THEMSELVES.
Huh? Well, S.N.A.T.L.P. was HUGE then and because of a strike, it looked like it would be canceled - even though the strike had been settled, who could POSSIBLY put together a two-hour show in THREE DAYS? Brucie and Norman, that's who. They did songs, dance sequences, comedy sketches and various bits of business they had written and rehearsed in Bruce's HOUSE. The MILLIONS who watched said it was one of the BEST S.N.A.T.L.P.s EVER.
M'point is, in those days, to be a success you needed to be able to sing, dance, play instruments, act (comedy or straight) and it helped if you wrote - ALL of which Norman Wisdom DID.
And in "On The Beat", he demonstrated his talents to the full. It's a film of set-pieces - the opening, which satirises the British cop-shows of the time, the car-washing sequence, the "tube" sequence, him and Eric Barker as the Police Doctor (those eye-charts with the sharps and flats were put back into props and surfaced in other films of the time!) the "briefing" where he is "coached" in the mannerisms of "Julio Napolitani", the scenes with him AS the afore-mentioned Julio, the sequence where hundreds of coppers run round the streets of Herts - SURREAL! - and of course, the back-garden "steeplechase".
In its day, "On The Beat" was a tour-de-force, but today it stands as a work of GENIUS the like of which is rarely seen anymore.