Rent I'm All Right Jack (1959)

An utter must-see British classic with a great cast - I'm All Right Jack review by PV

This film is a classic. Dates, yes - though it was made in 1958/9, though still relevant re the clash between union demands and the general public's common sense views (see the tube strike, where drivers who start on almost £50k a year are moaning and striking, delaying hardworking Londoners who earn less than half that).

A great cast Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Irene Handl and many more. One of Peter Sellers' very best roles, which he plays to perfection (though he was only 34 at the time but looks 57!)

Some classic lines, with the Soviet Union worshipping union shop steward played by Peter Sellers dreaming of 'all them cornfields, and ballet in the evenings.'

A terrible 'feem toon' - but hey, it was pre-Beatles 1959 and you can't have everything!

Worth a watch to see the way union/management relations really were in the 50s, 60s, 70s. That is why Thatcher was elected.

Lots of non-pc references to race in this film - which I suspect they cut before allowing it on TV< which is a shame. Let it stand as it is! To show how racist the left wing unions could be.

All Jeremy Corbyn fans should watch this too. This film has relevance to modern Britain alright.

In my top 50 movies of all time. Watch side by side with Dr Strangelove.

Classic British Comedy - I'm All Right Jack review by GI

A classic British comedy and one of the finest social satires that focuses on post-war industrial relations, class politics, family dynamics and casual racism. With the lovely, endearing Ian Carmichael as the hapless and naïve aristocrat who has to get a job as a normal factory worker and who inadvertently sparks off a General Strike. Peter Sellers won a BAFTA for his definitive take on the Union Shop Steward Mr Kite, and a great supporting cast of Terry-Thomas, Dennis Price, Richard Attenborough and a host of British actors who will be familiar to all fans of 50s British comedy especially the Carry On series. This is a really funny film and one that deserves a modern audience. All film lovers should make sure they see this at least once.

Satirical Comedy. - I'm All Right Jack review by Steve

Exuberant satire aimed at the stereotypes of labour relations which became entrenched after WWII. It's the workers versus the bosses and both sides are presumed to be dishonest and mercenary. Peter Sellers' performance as the trade union leader Fred Kite became a standard image of the shop steward; bumptious, intractable and defensive.

This is a sequel to the Boulting Brothers', Private's Progress, with most of the same cast; a formidable assembly of British comic talent from a golden age of character actors, including Terry-Thomas as middle management and Margaret Rutherford as a dotty aristocrat. Irene Handl stands out as Fred Kite's more conciliatory wife.

Ian Carmichael stars as a well meaning relative of the factory boss who takes a job on the shop floor, naively stirring up hostility to the benefit of the executives. While the film characterises everyone as self-interested, it is guilty of false equivalence; a factory worker seeking to hold on to his rights isn't really the same as a corrupt boss making a crooked fortune.

Perhaps the film actually did harm in embedding extreme caricatures. Unforgivably the workers are portrayed as stupid. Depressingly, there is a prohibition on black union members. But this England of factory chimneys is a long ago country now. This is a period piece with an interesting gallery of rogues, but only a few laughs.