Charles Crichton
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Connections, in both directions
Remember 1945's Dead of Night or Richard Attenborough's 1978 thriller, Magic, starring Anthony Hopkins as a deranged ventriloquist?
The narrative, such as it is, is circular -- a construction that was probably used to creepiest effect in the horror anthology film Dead of Night (1945), but which has come back into vogue recently with the success of Pulp Fiction (1994) and Twelve Monkeys.
The nutty climax transforms kinetic stylistics from Tony Scott and John Woo into play, yet, for all the amplified rifle-cocking, the movie is as gently British as The Lavender Hill Mob or Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit -- there's real fondness not just for the crash-a-tons being referenced, but also for a homey, practically imaginary England that, filled as it is with buried skeletons, has more life than Shaun's literally zombified London.
Sometimes called omnibus films, these efforts often feature, as in 1945’s classic “Dead of Night,” a variety of directors.
Ted belongs to a long line of stories dealing with disconcertingly half-human creations, with pets and toys brought to life, which reaches from Pinocchio down through the ventriloquist's dummy in Dead of Night to Spielberg's AI and Chucky, the malevolent doll in Child's Play, alleged by the prosecution to have influenced James Bulger's killers.
She was barely detectable in movies like The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) before she got her big break in William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953) playing a princess on a goodwill tour.
Roman Holiday was the first feature rôle for ballet aspirant and fashion model Audrey Hepburn -- previous bit parts included the opening sequence of The Lavender Hill Mob -- won her an Oscar and the acclaim and love that continue down to today, nearly a quarter century after her death, as in photographs everywhere of her Holly Golightly.
The movie gives off something reminiscent of old caper romances like Charade, How to Steal a Million, A Fish Called Wanda, the Ocean’s movies, and the underrated Duplicity, in which Julia Roberts and Clive Owen keep their con going so long that what they’re left with is each other.
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Directed by Guy Ritchie
influenced by The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Visuals
"Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels'' is the kind of movie where you naturally play Spot the Influence: Tarantino, of course, and a dash of Hong Kong action pictures, and the old British crime comedies like "The Lavender Hill Mob.''
Instead, the writers put a half-assed effort into making us emotionally invested, and instead land in an awkward middle ground between a revenge narrative with a satisfying conclusion (à la The Italian Job), and a broad comedy heist caper (à la A Fish Called Wanda).
Shades of A Fish Called Wanda’s Otto, here’s a criminal mastermind who, if brains were dynamite, couldn’t blow his nose.
Examples that immediately leap to mind are some '80s faves like "Tootsie," "Fletch," "Trading Places," "A Fish Called Wanda," "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," and your pick of the John Hughes teenage years flicks.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Directed by Chris Columbus
influenced by A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Other performers and their characters, such as John Cleese ("The World is Not Enough," "A Fish Called Wanda") as the ghost Nearly Headless Nick, end up not amounting to much and easily could have been jettisoned with no ill effect on the overall story.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
Directed by Ben Stiller
influenced by The Battle of the Sexes (1960)
Plot
The 1959 British comedy “The Battle of the Sexes,” based on Thurber’s “The Catbird Seat,” may come closest.