Two London con artists – a conniving little Cockney (Alfred Lynch) and an amiable, brawny gypsy (a pre-Bond Sean Connery) – enlist in the RAF, one to avoid going to jail and the other for a rest cure.
The duo turns every tour of duty into a money-making scheme, selling fake passes, establishing a profitable connection with a local butcher when they have access to provisions, and running a supply truck when they are sent to France.
The day of reckoning for these enterprising lads finally arrives when the pair wander into the path of the German army and, after killing a number of Nazis, are pinned down inside a shack as darkness descends.
Knowing the Germans can overcome them easily at night, Connery fashions a wick which touches off a fire in their tyre-laden truck. This fire brightens the darkness and keeps the Germans away.
RAF officers, meanwhile, are compiling quite a record of the duo’s financial dealings and are about to put paid to their activities when they learn that the American army, which found Lynch and Connery on the battlefield, are preparing to honour them for gallantry in combat.
This is too much for the astounded RAF brass, who quickly dispose of the past records of the wayward airmen and also bestow medals on Lynch and Connery.
A touch of sex comedy completes the broad humour of this spoof on British military life. Various roles are played by Cecil Parker, Stanley Holloway and Wilfrid Hyde-White, with bit parts from Liz Fraser, Hugh Lloyd, Barbara Windsor, Jack Smethurst, Patsy Rowlands, Lance Percival, Michael Sarne, Bill Owen, Arthur Mullard and Miriam Karlin.
Known as Operation Snafu in the USA.
Horace Pope
Alfred Lynch
Pedlar Pascoe
Sean Connery
Huxtable
Harry Locke
Hixon
John Le Mesurier
Group Captain Bascombe
Cecil Parker
Trowbridge
Wilfrid Hyde-White
Mr Cooksley
Stanley Holloway
Mrs Cooksley
Kathleen Harrison
Sgt Buzzer
Alan King
Mavis
Barbara Windsor
Doctor
Eric Barker
Sister
Viola Keats
Dai Tovey
Jack Smethurst
Evie
Patsy Rowlands
Mr Pope
Peter Sinclair
Lil
Edna Morris
