The Bulldog Breed

1960 "From The Army's Funniest Private...To The Navy's Most Riotous Seaman!"
6.1| 1h37m| en
Details

Norman Puckle, a well-meaning but clumsy grocer's assistant, can't seem to do anything right. After being rejected by Marlene, the love of his life, he attempts suicide, but can't even do that. He is saved from jumping off a cliff at 'Lover's Leap' by a Royal Navy petty officer. He persuades Puckle to join the Royal Navy, where he'll meet 'lots of girls'. Life in the Navy proves not to be as rosy as it's been described, and Puckle fails at every task during basic training. But despite this, he's regarded by the Admiral in charge of a rocket project to be a 'typical average British sailor', and chosen to be the first man to fly into outer space in an experimental rocket.

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Reviews

Diagonaldi Very well executed
Janae Milner Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.
Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Aaron Hassard In the bulldog breed, Norman is tricked into the navy, after many attempts at committing suicide (which were quite funny!) but as soon as he joins, the navy isn't all gorgeous girls as he was tricked into thinking..... .....instead it's a hard life where Norman gets into all sorts of trouble, getting is fellow Naval men three weeks leave for his hilarious mistakes but they get the three weeks deducted off later on.... ....he has been chosen to be the first man to enter space, but, has to go through some rigorous training, which he fails miserably! Which means that someone else had to be chosen for the expedition.... ...but Norman finds his way onto the Space Craft after chasing a dog and a rabbit onto the rocket (the dog and rabbit escape unharmed) but Norman is left to man a space craft and successfully makes it back to earth, crashing near an island which has a very beautiful girl on it, Norman had to stay on the island for a fews hours, i'm sure he didn't mind!So overall i'd give this film a 6/10 because it didn't have as many laugh out loud moments as any other Norman Wisdom film i've watched, but still very good
Andrei Pavlov Well, kind of, because it's freaking funny. Why? It's about the first man in space. "The Russians?" Even worse. The laughable disaster of "Pitkin" kind.Again I'm writing a few words about a Norman Wisdom movie. And again I've got nothing bad to say. A great comedy from the good old black-and-white era. Finally in my DVD collection. I especially like the way this movie jumps from one subject to another (while some other reviewers are tend to consider it a drawback). Delivery service - suicide topic - Royal Navy - space travelling. And Mr Norman Wisdom delivers. He delivers his top-notch performance from the beginning of this picture till the very end adding ridiculous "Aye aye, sir" to his character's incompetent actions. And I was thoroughly surprised by the ladies' actions. The scene where some hot chick lures Norman into love-making is dynamite. How daring for 1960.Congratulations, Mr Norman Wisdom. You've made me laugh again. And not just once or twice during the movie but continuously. The fabulous highlights of the film for me are: Norman's collision with the local band, the three ways of "doing oneself in", the famous "man overboard" scene (I especially like the gun play here), the three ways of Norman's "trials" (gymnastics, diving-costume, mountains), the ridiculous "Attention!" boxing scene and a bit further - a reprise of it, and space travel with Norman pushing every button to get any result. The movie has also a very neat bunch of puns (look up the reference of this comment – it is a brilliant example).And don't tell me the movie's rating is lower than 7 out of 10. It must rub shoulders with Mr Charlie Chaplin's films on the top list. That's what I think.10 out of 10 (yes, I know it is too subjective, so what?). Thanks for attention.
tedg I swore I would never watch another Norman Wisdom movie. They are all much the same and any are a waste of time — unless your standards for amusement are dangerously low.In this one, he is tricked into joining the Navy, apparently only because the filmmakers had a deal with a real ship and its crew. Wisdom is again his standard character: part clueless disaster, part earnest innocent. Again you see his errors creating broad slapstick. He pushes men overboard, for instance. Ho hum.The odd thing was how many such movies he made. There must have been a market for such a thing in the UK. There's no redeeming value here.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.
MARIO GAUCI Entertaining but disjointed star farce in which Norman joins the Navy after being jilted by the girl of his dreams; in fact, the plot takes in all of the following and more: a scuffle outside a cinema (one of the bullies who beat up Wisdom is none other than Oliver Reed!), several hilarious attempts at suicide (by far the best scenes in the film), the star doing conjuring tricks, some rather silly shipboard shenanigans (as when Norman throws the entire crew overboard), an amusing court-martial sequence (featuring John Le Mesurier as the Prosecutor), a lengthy mountain-climbing episode and even a climax which sends the star into outer space! The film's trick effects utilize some crudely effective animation, and a reliable supporting cast highlights Ian Hunter (as the ship's Admiral), David Lodge (usually the brunt of Wisdom's antics), Edward Chapman (as the inventor of the rocket) and Liz Fraser (from the delightful Peter Sellers vehicles I'M ALL RIGHT, JACK! [1959] and TWO WAY STRETCH [1960]).