Private's Progress

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Private's Progress
Directed by	John Boulting
Produced by	Roy Boulting
Written by	Alan Hackney (novel) John Boulting Frank Harvey
Starring	Ian Carmichael Richard Attenborough Dennis Price Terry-Thomas Miles Malleson William Hartnell
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release date(s)	1956
Running time	95 min.
Language	English languageEnglish
IMDb profile

Private's Progress is a British comedy film of 1956, based on the novel by Alan Hackney. It was directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting, from a script by John Boulting and Frank Harvey.

The 1959 film I'm All Right Jack also featured many of the same actors and characters.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The action takes place during World War II and follows the adventures of a young undergraduate Stanley Windrush (Ian Carmichael) who is conscripted into the British Army. Unlike his friend Egan (Peter Jones), Windrush is a most reluctant soldier and struggles through basic training at Gravestone barracks. Failing his officer selection board, he is posted to a holding unit, under the command of Major Hitchcock. Most of the soldiers are malingerers and drop-outs.

Windrush is finally posted to train as a Japanese interpreter, where he becomes the prize pupil. He's then contacted by his uncle, now a senior officer in the War Office, to join a secret operation known only as "Hatrack". He is quickly commissioned and the operation is launched, ostensibly to recover looted artworks from the Germans, but in fact to steal the works and sell them to two very dodgy art dealers.

Windrush survives the operation, despite being briefly arrested by British forces whilst in German uniform, and is discharged from the army. He returns to University, but when some of the artworks are found to have identical copies in circulation, the game is up.

The film features many well-known British character actors, including Richard Attenborough, Dennis Price, Terry-Thomas, Miles Malleson, Thorley Walters, William Hartnell, Peter Jones and John Le Mesurier.

It was the first in a series of successful satirical comedies made by the Boulting brothers for their production company Charter Films. Their 1959 comedy I'm All Right Jack also featured many of the same actors and characters.