School for Scoundrels (1960)
Directed by Robert Hamer
Genres - Comedy |
Sub-Genres - Satire, Comedy of Manners |
Release Date - Mar 24, 1960 (USA - Unknown) |
Run Time - 94 min. |
Countries - United Kingdom |
MPAA Rating - NR
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
In the British farce School for Scoundrels, Ian Carmichael plays a naïve young loser, Henry Palfrey, who is anxious to get ahead in the world. He enrolls in a "school" that specializes in teaching one-upmanship -- the slogan is "How to win without actually cheating." Through fair means and foul, Henry learns how to come out top dog in any situation, with such experts as (the real-life) Stephen Potter (Alastair Sim) as his guide. A perceptive series of comic blackouts exposing the essential hypocrisy in all walks of life, School for Scoundrels was based on the book by Potter.
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Keywords
course [education], self-improvement, corporate-ladder, how-to, improvement, learning-skills, school, upward-mobility, career, loser, naivete, strategy, student, Britain, car-salesman