The Wrong Box

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The Wrong Box
Film poster
Directed by	Bryan Forbes
Produced by	Bryan Forbes Jack Rix Larry Gelbart Burt Shevelove
Written by	Larry Gelbart Burt Shevelove
Starring	John Mills Ralph Richardson Michael Caine Nanette Newman Peter Cook Dudley Moore
Music by	John Barry
Cinematography	Gerry Turpin
Editing by	Alan Osbiston
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	27 May 1966
Running time	107 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

This article is about the film. For the novel see The Wrong Box (novel).

The Wrong Box is a 1966 British comedy film made by Salamander Film Productions and distributed by Columbia Pictures. It was produced and directed by Bryan Forbes from a screenplay by Larry Gelbart and Burt Shevelove, based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne. The film is notable for using intertitles to describe the action, a technique usually associated with silent films.

It stars a number of Britain's best comic actors of the time, including John Mills, Ralph Richardson, Michael Caine, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Peter Sellers, Irene Handl and Tony Hancock.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Trivia 4 External links

[edit] Plot

The plot concerns two brothers (John Mills and Ralph Richardson) who are the last surviving members of a tontine, an investment scheme set up many years before in which the last surviving member stands to receive a fortune. This sets up the premise with Mills' character trying to kill Richardson's, by various fantastical means. Michael Caine plays Mills' grandson, a dim-witted medical student, and Peter Cook and Dudley Moore play Richardson's two greedy nephews.

[edit] Cast

• John Mills as Masterman Finsbury
• Ralph Richardson as Joseph Finsbury
• Michael Caine as Michael Finsbury
• Peter Cook as Morris Finsbury
• Dudley Moore as John Finsbury
• Nanette Newman as Julia Finsbury
• Peter Sellers as Dr. Pratt
• Tony Hancock as Detective
• Wilfrid Lawson as Peacock
• Thorley Walters as Lawyer Patience
• Cicely Courtneidge as Major Martha
• Irene Handl as Mrs. Hackett
• John Le Mesurier as Dr. Slattery

[edit] Trivia

• The first film of Peter Cook
• The first film of Dudley Moore
• The last film of Tony Hancock, who only made 5 films
• Patrick Cargill was cut out of the film
• At his request, Ralph Richardson wore the same jacket as he did for his role of Alexander Gromeko in Doctor Zhivago
• Made at Pinewood Studios and on location in the Royal Crescent in Bath

[edit] External links

• The Wrong Box BFI Film & TV Database
• The Wrong Box Article from Railway Cuttings, a website about Tony Hancock
• The Wrong Box Britmovie article
• The Wrong Box Radio Times review