SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

Spikeopath Meet Mr. Lucifer is directed by Anthony Pelissier and adapted to screenplay by Monja Danischewsky from Arnold Ridley's (later to play private Godfrey in the long running situation comedy) Dad's Army) play (Beggar My Neighbour). It stars Stanley Holloway, Peggy Cummins, Jack Watling, Barbara Murray, Joseph Tomelty, Humphrey Lestocq and Gordon Jackson. Music is by Eric Rogers and cinematography by Desmond Dickinson.Out of Ealing Studios, Meet Mr. Lucifer is one of that great studio's lesser lights. Homing in on a sort of fear of the new home entertainment of the 50s, that of the TV set, plot features a television set that moves from owner to owner and causes nothing but trouble for said owners. This of course is the work of Old Nick himself, here essayed with a glint in his eye by Holloway. Sadly the attempts at satire miss the mark, leaving us with a somewhat uneven mix of comedy and seriousness. On the plus side it opens the eyes to the iffy quality on the TV in the early 50s, while there's a roll call of fine British actors in the supporting (cameo) slots.Interestingly the Ealing hierarchy were very wary of the themes at the core of the picture, which explains why Pelissier was fetched in to direct. Knowing they themselves were uncommitted to the production goes some way to explaining the flat feel to it all. 5/10

cmcastl Just seen it again after many years, and what now impresses me is a a surprisingly good and sharp script. The script's critique of the negative effects of TV addiction is excellent and prescient for its day, considering how early this film was made into the march of TV (1953) which would eventually supplant film as the medium for our diet of social media.Incidentally, my parents had a set for the 1953 British Coronation, amongst the first in their neighbourhood and thus became that day a focal point for all those who did not yet have a TV.The Miss Lonelyhearts segment would work today in the way it could manipulate all those Mr. Lonelyhearts out there. Kay Kendall was never so alluring.Having said that, TV is today as important to me as it is to anyone else, at least where news and documentaries are concerned. There are, probably, some good effects in the ubiquity of TV, but I personally wonder what the final balance is. It is interesting that the science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke observed how, along with Marshall Mcluhan, the Canadian media commentator, that TV has created a 'global village' and even the poorest of households will own a TV, even in the worst of slums or favelas, as they are known in South American. Indeed, I suspect that the social glue holding Latin American countries together are its soaps. That may hold good for the West, too. But back to the film; the ensemble acting is excellent, with Stanley Holloway as its focal point, but, goodness me, how gorgeous a young Barbara Murray and Peggy Cummings are, how they brighten the dreariness and blight of a post-war Britain all too slowly recovering from its wounds.

ShadeGrenade Interesting curio from Ealing Studios. Based on a play by Arnold Ridley ( better known as 'Private Godfrey' from 'Dad's Army' ), 'Meet Mr.Lucifer' is a whimsical fantasy warning of the potential dangers of television. In 1953, few people in Britain had sets, but its popularity was on the rise, and film makers such as Michael Balcon were worried enough to make a movie of this kind. Stanley Holloway is 'Sam Hollingsworth', a drunken actor reduced to playing 'The Devil' in a tatty pantomime version of 'Robinson Crusoe', and even that is doing poor trade as audiences are staying at home and watching the goggle box.After a few drinks during the interval, Sam goes back on stage, only to be knocked unconscious as he tries to use the trapdoor. He imagines he is in Hell itself, where the Devil - also played by Holloway - claims that the wheel and the telephone were both inventions of his to make everyone's lives miserable, and the television is his latest idea. But it is not doing the job quick enough, so Sam is recruited as Satan's helper.We then follow the lives of a group of people as a television set changes their lives for the worse. First up is 'Mr.Pedelty' ( Joseph Tomelty ) who gets a set as a retirement gift. He becomes obsessed by the thing, watching anything and everything. When there is a dancing programme on, he invites people in off the street and gives them free drinks ( all obtained on credit from his local pub ). As the debts mount, he decides he has had enough and so bequeathes it to a young couple ( Jack Watling and Peggy Cummins ). He is studying to become a chemist, and her television viewing habits spoil his concentration. To save their relationship, they pass the set on to Hector McPhee ( Gordon Jackson ), who becomes infatuated by a beautiful singer ( Kay Kendall ) known only as 'The Lonely Hearts Girl'...It is not the programmes that come under attack, but the medium itself. Its power as a force for good is barely mentioned, making this a bit one-sided. My biggest complaint is that there is too little of Stanley Holloway. The film is only really engaging when he is around. Also, the satire - if that's the right word - could have been stronger. I suppose television had not been around long enough for a major assault on the medium to be justifiable. Fun cameos from Ian Carmichael and Joan Sims, plus celebrities of the time such as Gilbert Harding and MacDonald Hobley. Eric Rogers - of 'Carry On' fame - did the music, and some of it was reused in 'Carry On Spying' ( 1964 ). Just before the end credits roll, the film takes a pot-shot at 3-D movies!

JohnHowardReid This anti-television vehicle commences its tirade most promisingly. The characters are introduced in capital style, while the proposition that TV is an instrument of the devil will fall on many a sympathetic clerical ear. Unfortunately, the producer has obviously blown most of his budget on the earlier scenes, and then spent his reserves on the concluding sequence in which a myriad number of workers in an enormous office are employed sending out lonely heart letters.The rest of the action, alas, wallows in tedious additional dialogue and small-budget clichés which are now and again relieved by the welcome entrance of Stanley Holloway.All the same, the film does present some worthwhile ideas. True, the conclusion seems like an arbitrary appendage to the main plot, but the real problem is that none of the three stories actually do justice to their fascinating characters.All the players are excellent. Stanley Holloway, Joseph Tomelty and Peggy Cummins never deliver less than top-notch performances, but the real surprises are a charismatic Jack Watling and normally dull Gordon Jackson (of all people) doing full justice to a character role.At times, Pelissier's direction seems admirably imaginative, especially in the panto sequences.