Two-Way Stretch
It wasn’t what “Dodger” Lane, Lennie “the Dip” Price and explosives expert “Jelly” Knight had in mind when they hatched the plan with “Soapy” Stevens, he the only one with a hard alibi and the three of them left carrying the can when the law came a-knocking and landed them three years in Her Majesty’s Prison Huntleigh, yet they have made the best of it, with perks and privileges and a soft warden who has given Dodger in particular the run of the castle.
An unexpected visitor close to release day brings an offer from the Lord, Soapy disguised as a vicar making charitable rounds but actually with an eye on a two million diamond heist, if only the gang can get out and back inside overnight without attracting attention, their residence at Her Majesty’s Pleasure their own perfect alibi were it not for the transfer in of a new Chief Prison Officer, the notorious “Sour” Crout, a stern disciplinarian it will be hard to distract.
Peter Sellers already an ascendant star of comedy courtesy of The Goon Show and The Ladykillers, it was in 1960 that he appeared as Dodger alongside another ensemble for Robert Day, director of The Green Man, joined by Bernard Cribbins, David Lodge and Wilfred Hyde-White as Lennie, Jelly and Soapy for a Two-Way Stretch, with Lionel Jeffries and Maurice Denham as Crout and horticulturalist governor Horatio Bennett, his doomed prize marrow of more concern to him than his devious charges.
The script credited to John Warren, Len Heath and Vivian Cox with additional dialogue by Alan Hackney, the lines of demarcation may be blurred but the situations and lines are as sharp as the Best-of British-comedy cast, particularly Irene Handl as matriarchal Mrs Price, aghast her son was caught and has made no attempt to escape, and Liz Fraser as Dodger’s fiancé Ethel, taking little persuasion to get in the diamond business with her patience running thin after three years and no ring on her finger.
Sellers’ performance understated despite his star billing, the scams inside and out are carefully orchestrated and rehearsed, but for all their planning the eventual breakout is a simple ruse, as is the efficiently achieved heist, though both are dependent on the propensity of the British authorities to be conditioned to respond to directives and orders without question, and built around a series of near misses and reversals the game is played to the final scene, one stroke of bad luck enough for it all to fall apart and land them inside for a longer stretch.
Joining StudioCanal’s Vintage Classics collection on Blu-ray, the new edition of Two-Way Stretch, sometimes known under its working title of Nothing Barred, is supported by a commentary by comedy historians Gemma and Robert Ross, a look at the production of the film from Peter Lydon and Vic Pratt, and archive interviews with many who knew and worked with Sellers originally shot for the 1992 Channel Four documentary Seller’s Best.
Two-Way Stretch will be available on Blu-ray from StudioCanal from Monday 4th August
Both Two-Way Stretch and Heavens Above! are screening as part of the BFI season In Character: The Films of Peter Sellers at the BFI Southbank from Saturday 2nd to Saturday 30th August
