Penny Points to Paradise

The 1950s radio show The Goon Show is only known to devoted fans of British comedy in the U.S. but in England it is a classic that influenced A Hard Day’s Night, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, and many other comedy classics. Penny Points to Paradise would be an otherwise forgettable 1951 British comedy if it were not for the fact that it’s the first film featuring all three stars of The Goon Show: Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, and Harry Secombe. Secombe takes top billing and the leading role as Harry Flakers, winner of a sports lottery who moves back into his old boarding house with his roommate (Milligan), where they are targeted by a gold-digging blonde (Paddie O’Neil), a military veteran (Sellers) with dubious investment schemes, and a pair of counterfeiters who plan to swap their fake currency for Harry’s suitcase full of bills. It’s basically just a setting on which to hang a series of otherwise unconnected skits that play like acts in a variety show. Secombe performs a pantomime as a nervous surgeon, O’Neil does impressions of Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson, Sellers appears in a second role as a fast-talking salesman, and they all end up running around a wax museum in and out of costumes. Sellers gives the standout performance while the rest of the cast mugs through tired comedy bits typical of low-rent music hall burlesque. Extras include the bonus short film "Let’s Go Crazy" (1951), featuring Sellers and Milligan. Optional. (S. Axmaker)