In Praise of Alastair Sim

Thursday, 21st April 2011

There is, I confess, little pressing need to post this clip from The Happiest Days of Your Life beyond the fact that a) it is always good to see Alastair Sim in action and b) this thought was triggered by this, entirely unrelated, story* in the Scotsman which quotes the head of Universities Scotland - a chap named Alastair Sim.

The Happiest Days of Your Life, you will recall, is a splendid caper during which the exigencies of wartime demand a girls' school be sequestered at a boys' boarding school. Alastair Sim is the much put-upon headmaster and Margaret Rutherford the splendid headmistress. As always, Sim is the real star however.

I should declare a minor interest: Frank Launder, who wrote and directed the movie, was the grandfather of one of my best school-chums and great-grandfather of my godson.

*A story, incidentally, which reports that two-thirds of Scottish voters think students should pay what is coyly termed a "graduate contribution" towards the cost of their education. The Conservatives are the only party that supports this. Their level of support? No more than 15%. That's politics, Jock, that's politics.

Filed under: Cinema (67 more articles) , Scotland (500 more articles) , Students (19 more articles) , Tories (273 more articles)

Previous Back to Alex Massie Next

Blogs: Martin Bright | Susan Hill | Melanie Phillips | Coffee House | Faith Based

Actions: Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (2)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Tony E.

April 21st, 2011 2:25am Report this comment

Begorrah, Alastair Sim deserves more and higher praise than this!

A footnote query: Am I right in suspecting that the very good actor who does the voice of Homer Simpson's boss Mr Burns has modelled his vocal sound on that of Sims? If so -- now there's a legacy...

Jennie Laurie

April 23rd, 2011 10:08am Report this comment

I can still hear his voice speaking in A Christmas Carol...a very strong, controlled voice, better than Olivier's. And I was sad to see how far down the Google search list both their names appeared.

Post comment