The Night We Got the Bird

Darcy Conyers directs this 1960s British comedy starring Brian Rix, Ronald Shiner and Reginald Beckwith. Set in Brighton, the film follows the escapades of surely the town’s most hapless gang of crooks. ‘Chippendale’ Charlie (Beckwith) forges antiques and relies on Cecil Gibson (Shiner) to sell them for him. The scam works for a time, but when Charlie and Cecil upset some local gangsters it seems they are in over their head. Enter Bertie Skidmore (Rix), the callow young man who marries Julie (Dora Bryan), a woman who was formerly involved with Cecil. Through the somewhat bizarre medium of a caged bird, Bertie finds himself mixed up in Charlie and Cecil’s scam and farce duly ensues.