The Wisdom in War
Norman Pitkin (Norman Wisdom) works for St. Godric's Borough Council where under the management of Mr. Grimsdale (Edward Chapman) he carries out road works. Unfortunately whilst carrying out road works just outside a military base Norman manages to get on the wrong side of a drill sergeant which is bad news when he then gets drafted alongside Mr. Grimsdale. With a talent for repairing roads they are sent to France to repair the damaged highways although they get on the wrong plane and end up parachuting in to enemy territory. It is there that Norman is mistaken for General Schreiber as he looks just like him.
Picture a drill sergeant barking at his squad as they march across the training ground only for someone to bark out different commands "left, left, left, left", "slow, slow, slow". It is one of the many priceless scenes in "The Square Peg", a Norman Wisdom movie from 1958 and to be honest it is because it is Norman Wisdom delivering those rogue orders with his usual giggly, mischievous mannerisms which makes it such an amusing scene.
The thing is that with "The Square Peg" being a Norman Wisdom movie it probably isn't a shock when I say that whilst we have this storyline which sees Norman getting to be a war hero as he looks like a German general most of the entertainment is gag driven. These gags range from Norman dressing as a woman to try and escape to acting up during his army medical as well as some unsurprising comedy during training. But like with so many Norman Wisdom comedies whilst there are supporting characters, here we have Honor Blackman as Lesley Cartland, it is all about Norman and sometimes it begins to get a bit repetitive, in need of someone else to bring some big laughs alongside Norman.
What this all boils down to is that if you are a fan of Norman Wisdom you are sure to love "The Square Peg" as we have plenty of army training humour. But like with many of Norman Wisdom comedies, it begins to become too much and needed someone else to provide some comedy even though this features Edward Chapman as Mr. Grimsdale.