Laughter in Paradise

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Laughter in Paradise
Directed by	Mario Zampi
Written by	Jack Davies Michael Pertwee
Starring	Alastair Sim George Cole Fay Compton Hugh Griffith Joyce Grenfell Eleanor Summerfield John Laurie Michael Pertwee
Music by	Stanley Black
Distributed by	Associated British Pathe
Release date(s)	June 13, 1951
Running time	93 min.
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
IMDb profile

Laughter in Paradise is the title of a noted British comedy film with a stellar cast released in 1951. The film stars Alastair Sim, Fay Compton, George Cole, and Guy Middleton. The film was remade in 1970 as Some Will, Some Won't.

[edit] Plot summary

When wealthy, well-known practical joker Henry Russell (Hugh Griffith) dies, four relatives find out that they stand to inherit considerable sums...provided they commit acts that are completely contrary to their natures. Law-abiding Deniston Russell (Alastair Sim) has to get himself arrested and jailed for 28 days. Difficult, snobbish Agnes Russell (Fay Compton) has to find work as a maid and keep her job long enough to qualify. She ends up with irascible Gordon Webb (John Laurie), who deduces that his new servant has to keep her job for some reason and proceeds to make her life difficult. Simon Russell (Guy Middleton) is a womanizing cad; his task is to marry the first woman he meets. Herbert Russell (George Cole) is assigned to rob the bank where he works.

[edit] Cast

Alastair Sim as Deniston Russell
Fay Compton as Agnes Russell
Guy Middleton as Simon Russell
George Cole as Herbert Russell
Hugh Griffith as Henry Russell
Ernest Thesiger as Endicott
Beatrice Campbell as Lucille Grayson, the woman Simon marries
Mackenzie Ward as Benson, Simon's butler
Joyce Grenfell as Elizabeth Robson, Deniston's fiancée
A.E. Matthews as Sir Charles Robson, Elizabeth's father
John Laurie as Gordon Webb
Veronica Hurst as Joan Webb, Gordon's daughter
Eleanor Summerfield as Sheila Wilcott, Deniston's secretary

Guy Middleton and Audrey Hepburn

A very young Audrey Hepburn makes a brief appearance, playing a cigarette girl. This was Hepburn's first professional appearance on film (save for a brief role in a 1948 Dutch film entitled Dutch in Seven Lessons. The filming of the scene in which Hepburn appears (somewhat against her later "type") was later recreated in the 2000 biopic The Audrey Hepburn Story starring Jennifer Love Hewitt.