Crime Rules, House Rules, and Unwritten Rules

Read Time:5 Minute, 37 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
The Wrong Arm of the Law (Blu-ray)
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Genre: Comedy, Crime
Year Released: 1963, Kino Lorber Blu-ray 2025
Runtime: 1h 34m
Director(s): Cliff Owen
Writer(s): Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, John Antrobus
Cast: Peter Sellers, Lionel Jeffries, Bernard Cribbins, Nanette Newman, John Le Mesurier, Graham Stark
Where to Watch: available now, order your copy here: www.kinolorber.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: THE WRONG ARM OF THE LAW sits in that distinct pocket where caper mechanics and manners share top billing. A crew of impostors dressed as police keeps robbing the robbers, forcing London’s crooks and the Yard to cooperate just to restore the “proper” order of things. That inversion is where the film lives—less in a belly-laugh sort of way and more in the absurdity of villains and cops negotiating work rules like rival trade unions.

Peter Sellers plays Pearly Gates with restraint. Yes, there’s an alter-ego flourish (the couturier persona is used as a comic device), but he isn’t chasing the spotlight; he’s anchoring the ensemble so the jokes can breathe. That choice makes room for Lionel Jeffries, who charges in as Inspector Parker and promptly walks away with half the movie. Jeffries’ insistence, coupled with the character’s professional insecurity, fuels the film’s funniest exchanges and tips each scheme from clever to comical. Bernard Cribbins, warm and jittery as “Nervous” O’Toole, supplies the film’s constant humor—his propriety about seatbelts and sniffles undercuts the tough-guy posturing at every turn. Nanette Newman’s Valerie is more than a “moll;” she’s a pressure point in the plot’s information economy, and her scenes help the script’s double-cross engine hum.

Galton & Simpson (with Antrobus) lace the premise with by-the-book comedy. The criminal “AGM” is a standout: a formal meeting of thieves who announce themselves like executives before debating the governance of robbery. That meeting encapsulates the film’s target: a society so enamored with etiquette that even its lawbreakers codify decorum. When the Yard and the gangs shake hands to catch the impostors, the film plays the alliance not as a shock but as a logical outcome in a culture obsessed with keeping up appearances. If there’s a thesis here, it’s that British institutions—above or below board—function best when everyone agrees on the script.

The heist plotting arrives in tidy, escalating rounds. There’s a training-film gag about “how to be better crooks,” a running exchange of intelligence, and finally a staged trap that puts uniforms and authority on trial. The laughs are built on incongruity and etiquette violations more than on pratfalls: being lined up by fake coppers; a crook politely explaining the process; and a policeman who cares how the workforce looks as much as what they do. The best beats come from timing—exchanges that pause just long enough for the implication to land before the next ruse kicks in.

The ensemble is the selling point. Sellers finds a quiet lane and sticks to it; Jeffries’s comic rhythm gives the film its stride; Cribbins brings humanity to uneasiness; character-actor cameos land like grace notes—faces that deepen the world with a smirk or a raised brow. The script’s shared authorship shows: situation-led comedy rather than one-person showcases, set within a city that’s recognizably lived-in even when the plot is openly artificial.

The presentation’s hook is simple and collector-friendly: a 2023 HD master sourced from a 4K scan of the 35mm OCN, plus a new audio commentary by film journalist Laurence Lerman, a screenwriter interview featurette (The Long Arm of the Screenwriter) with John Antrobus, the trailer, and optional English subtitles. For fans of British caper comedies, that commentary is the value-add—it contextualizes the writing lineage and pinpoints why the film’s tone differs from brasher American heist farces. The restoration’s crispness flatters the period textures and suits a movie where so much comedy is in the faces and micro-reactions.

As a piece in Sellers’ pre-Hollywood filography, THE WRONG ARM OF THE LAW is a snapshot: a performance about balance rather than dominance, in service to a premise that treats crime, policing, and propriety like three chairs at the same table. It’s witty, well-paced, and buoyed by performers who know exactly how lightly to tread. If you come for fireworks, you’ll get sparklers—consistent, pleasing, and sometimes unexpectedly elegant. If you reach for the well-oiled mechanics of a caper that values manners as much as mischief, you’ll leave grinning.

A genuinely entertaining, sturdily built ensemble comedy that never outstays its welcome, even if it rarely swings hard enough to become top-tier. For collectors, the 2025 disc adds just enough archival and commentary texture to make the revisit feel fresh; for new viewers, it’s a brisk primer on what made ’60s British capers so affable—rules, rogues, and the peculiar joy of watching both pretend to play fair.

Product Extras:
2023 HD Master – From a 4K Scan of the 35mm Original Camera Negative
NEW Audio Commentary by Film Journalist Laurence Lerman
The Long Arm of the Screenwriter: Interview with Screenwriter John Antrobus
Theatrical Trailer
Optional English Subtitles

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