Make Mine Mink(1960) starring Terry Thomas
Make Mine Mink — a farce about some middle-aged people who decide to break up their boring lives by … Stealing minks, and donating the proceeds to charity. Starring Terry Thomas
Review of Make Mine Mink
I will admit to not being the largest fan of Terry Thomas — he typically plays the scoundrel (Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River for one of many examples), the outright villain (Munster Go Home for one of many examples). I frankly enjoyed him more when he plays a character outside of these roles (The Abominable Dr. Phibes, for example) — and definitely here in Make Mine Mink.
Terry-Thomas plays a retired military man, who has nothing to do. And he takes his boredom out on the other people in his boarding house by attempting to micro-manage the house schedule. The other retirees are likewise bored and have no purpose in their lives. Until one of them accidentally brings home a mink that doesn’t belong to them. The movie segues into these lovable retirees, plus a likable young lady. She is an ex-con who is initially ignorant of the scheme. And becomes love interest to a police officer. They attempt to steal minks from the idle rich and sell them, using the money for charity. It’s enjoyable, with the not-quite-incompetent group’s growing sets of attempted robberies. And how they get out of it. I recommend it, and rate it 4 stars out of 5.
Editorial review of Make Mine Mink, courtesy of Amazon.com
Make Mine Mink (1960) was adapted from a West End stage farce, Breath of Spring. In a mansion block in Knightsbridge, a gang of middle-aged biddies decide to brighten up “the dullness of the tea time of life” by staging a series of robberies on furriers, then donating the proceeds to charitable concerns. Terry Thomas as a retired army officer leads the gang, which includes Athene Seyler and Hattie Jacques, on a series of capers that nearly go awry when their maid, Billie Whitelaw, an ex-con and also a resident of the block, falls for a police officer.
Among many funny scenes is a particular gem between Seyler and Kenneth Williams, her nephew to whom she hopes to palm off a stolen mink, and another where Terry Thomas enters a low-down dive to the accompaniment of the Harry Lime theme. The playing of the whole cast is second to none under the direction of Robert Asher, who with his cameraman disguises the stage origins of the piece very adeptly.
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