Show Notes
Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall is a 1973 British comedy film directed by Norman Cohen and starring Jim Dale, Arthur Lowe and Spike Milligan. It is based on Milligan's best-selling first volume of war memoir of the same name but differs markedly in several respects.
It was adapted by Milligan, Cohen and Johnny Byrne; Byrne said of the film: “We want to get away from the idea that Milligan is a clown. He is a clown but first of all he is a human being. As this is a film about the early Milligan, Milligan was more of a human being than a clown at that time.”
The casting of Jim Dale as young Spike was inspired, and he received a BAFTA nomination.
While the film prioritises comedy, it occasionally crowbars in a clunky 'war is hell' narrative and it struggles to find the right tone. Nevertheless it is a serviceable 90 minute 70s British comedy with a host of familiar faces such as Bill Maynard, Tony Selby, Geoffrey Hughes, Pat Coombs and Windsor Davies.
Joining Tyler this week to discuss the film is comedy writer Matt Owen who can be found at https://www.mathew-owen.co.uk/
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Jet Storm, also known as Jet Stream or Killing Urge, is a British thriller directed and co-written by Cy Endfield and starring Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baker, Patrick Allen and Virginia Maskell. It is an early example of what would become the aviation disaster-film genre, preceding films such as Airport by more than a decade. Released in October 1959, it centres almost entirely on a transatlantic flight from London to New York and the psychological and moral crisis that develops among its passengers when one of them threatens to destroy the aircraft.
Broadcast on Channel 4 on 2nd December 1985, The Last Laugh Before TV-am was Spike Milligan’s attempt to bring his particular vein of humour to a new generation... although very little about it suggested that Milligan had changed his approach since the early Q series.