'A JOLLY BAD FELLOW'.......WHICH NOBODY CAN DENY......

A Jolly Bad Fellow (a.k.a. They All Died Laughting) (1964)   Devoted Anglophile that we are, we chased after this ultra-obscure little film for over 50 years.........

              From all the descriptions we read, it seemed to possess everything we'd adore in a British comedy........dark, quirky humor ( a la "Kind Hearts And Coronets" and "The Ladykillers").....and two of our all-time favorite Brits.......that irascible treasure, Leo McKern and the gone-too-soon, star-crossed starlet Janet Munro.........

              When we finally stumbled over a chopped up, raggedy print, our expectations fell a little short.......

               McKern, as always, was brilliant as an imperious, rapier-witted University scientist who accidentally concocts a chemical that drives people into a brief state of euphoric madness.....followed by sudden, medically undetectable death.

                 And Munro alluring and sexy, more than matched McKern as his combination lab assistant and predatory mistress. She's far, far away from her Disney ingenue days of "Darby 'O Gill And the Little People".....

                McKern's pissed-off Prof despises the bulk of humanity......with no qualms about weeding out unproductive, undesirable people....(he's like a more amped-up version of James Stewart's character in Hitchcock's "Rope")   Now armed with his new toxic poison, he goes about offing some folks who rub him the wrong way........a busybody, intrusive gossipmonger, a faculty rival........and finally, even the hot-to-trot Munro, who's gotten a little too possessive for comfort......

                Sadly, the movie itself never pulls off  that tricky balancing act of subdued, slightly sick humor that British comedies were famous for.  The film seems tentative and uncertain about what it's attempting......whether it's laughs, suspense or drama.

                Even the ironic, inevitable twist-of-fate awaiting McKern comes out as flat and uninspired.......and all too predictable.

                The first two victims afford a few chuckles in their death throes as they wildly babble in front of astounded spectators before the poison finishes them off. Janet Munro, however, makes the most of her grand exit......she delivers a stunning bit of acting in the moment when she's consumed with both rage and horror at what's been done to her.......a wonderful bravura scene that she never got in the few other films she made before her untimely death at age 38.

               Not quite the sparkling British gem we imagined......but we're not sorry that we at long last made its acquaintance.......for the always great McKern and Munro, 2 & 1/2 stars. (**1/2)