In Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, there are unions, or “guilds”, for everything. There’s a beggars’ guild, for example. Another is for assassins. Then there’s the one for thieves. You have to wonder what their operation is like. You know, meetings, dues collection. The boring stuff.
I wonder if it is similar to the thieves’ union portrayed in 1963’s The Wrong Arm of the Law. Peter Sellers is the head of the organization and calls an emergency meeting to discuss a new threat its members are facing, that being the robbers and being robbed by men posing as police officers. Funny, but the meeting seems to be very similar to any gathering of that type for a legitimate business. It appears to even follow Robert’s Rules of Order.
Sellers also has a legitimate business, as he runs his theft ring out of his wedding apparel shop. He gets information from unsuspecting customers about upcoming weddings and which wealthy people will be in attendance. Then he knows which places to rob. His assistant at the store is Nanette Newman, and she is passing along to the fake cops the info about those upcoming heists, for them to intercept the criminals.
It’s a clever set-up, and it leads to a scheme with much potential for comedy, that being a plan for cooperation between police and thieves. Now I’m wondering if that’s what that Clash song is about. Assumptions real cops will be mistaken for the imposters will be fulfilled. And the cops going undercover on the site of a staged heist are fooling anybody. A kid buying an ice cream cone at a truck manned by two such officers asks them why there’s so many cops around.
Lionel Jeffries will be the inspector chosen to go undercover with the thieves. He plays the role of the buffoon he usually took in fare like this. His overearnestness and overzealousness makes him a nuisance to both the criminals and to John Le Mesurier, as his superior. Sellers treats him with nothing but disdain, dismissing his accusation of trying to bribe him with: “I’m not trying to bribe you, mate. I don’t carry any loose change on me.” At work, things aren’t much better for the beleaguered inspector, such as his attempt to share a brainstorm with his boss: “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!” “I hope it’s not contagious.” Le Mesurier also doesn’t respond well to Jeffries’s claim he would stake his reputation on his idea, saying that doesn’t mean much at the moment.
In addition to the bigger comedic set-pieces, there are many enjoyable little moments. I like how the criminals embarrass the police by arranging for a meeting on a carousel. The plan that is hatched involves the thieves collectively agreeing to not commit any crime for 24 hours. In that time, there are no calls into the police station, resulting in every copper at a phone fighting sleep. The minute this truce expires, every phone starts ringing.
In addition to the actors mentioned so far, I always appreciate another appearance by Bernard Cribbins. Here, he is the leader of one of the main gangs, but he is quite affable. He shows Sellers pictures of kids and brags about how they’re doing. He’s also a germophobe, which doesn’t result in as many gags as I expected.
There is much to enjoy in The Wrong Arm of the Law. It has a good setup and it pays off. Even better, it has many of those little moments that really make a movie. These are criminals with whom I enjoyed spending time. They do things like watch heist movies together. Admittedly, they do so for educational purposes, taking notes on such works as Rififi. As a fellow lover of heist movies, though for different reasons, I wouldn’t mind watching them with this lot.
Dir: Cliff Owen
Starring Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, Bernard Cribbins
Watched on StudioCanal UK blu-ray (region B)