{{Use British English|date=December 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox film | name = My Learned Friend | image = "My_Learned_Friend"_(1943).jpg | caption = | director = Basil Dearden<br />Will Hay | producer = Michael Balcon<br />Robert Hamer | writer = John Dighton<br />Angus MacPhail | narrator = | starring = Will Hay<br />Claude Hulbert<br />Mervyn Johns | music = Ernest Irving | cinematography = Wilkie Cooper | editing = Charles Hasse | studio = Ealing Studios | distributor = Ealing | released = {{Film date|1943}} | runtime = 74 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = | gross = }}

'''''My Learned Friend''''' is a 1943 British black-and-white comedy film directed by Basil Dearden and Will Hay and starring Hay, Claude Hulbert and Mervyn Johns.<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=My Learned Friend |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150031887 |access-date=13 August 2025 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by John Dighton and Angus MacPhail and produced by Michael Balcon, Robert Hamer for Ealing Studios.

The film's title refers to a tradition in British law: when addressing either the court or the judge, a barrister refers to the opposing counsel using the respectful term, "my learned friend".

This was Hay's last film.

==Plot== William Fitch is a seedy lawyer who finds himself marked for assassination by a forger whom he previously defended unsuccessfully. He teams up with an incompetent solicitor to try to prevent the deaths of others involved. The film climaxes with a sequence where Fitch hangs from the hands of the clock face of Big Ben in an attempt to prevent a time bomb being detonated.

== Cast ==

* Will Hay as William Fitch * Claude Hulbert as Claude Babbington * Mervyn Johns as Arthur Grimshaw * Lawrence Hanray as Sir Norman * Aubrey Mallalieu as magistrate * Charles Victor as "Safety" Wilson * Derna Hazell as Gloria * Leslie Harcourt as barman * Eddie Phillips as Charles Edward "Basher" Blake * G.H. Mulcaster as Dr Scudamore * Ernest Thesiger as Ferris * Lloyd Pearson as Colonel Cudleigh * Gibb McLaughlin as Carstairs, the butler * Maudie Edwards as Ethel "Aladdin" Redfern * Ronald Shiner as man at Wilson's café [uncredited] * Ian Wilson as stagehand [uncredited] * Hy Hazell [uncredited]

==Reception== ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' wrote: "Angus MacPhail and John Dighton have written a wealth of craziness into this screen play which emerges as a farce in the best and most violent tradition.&nbsp;... Hay and Hulbert rush through their parts in rollicking irresponsibility which infects the whole cast."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1943 |title=My Learned Friend |volume=10 |issue=109 |pages=88 |id={{ProQuest|1305820571}} |magazine=The Monthly Film Bulletin}}</ref>

''Kine Weekly'' wrote: "The story visits a low dive In the East End, a theatre stage during the presentation of a pantomime, a lunatic asylum, the vaults of the House of Lords and the clock tower and face of Big Ben, yet, strangely enough, the majority of its laughs are promoted by cross talk rather than by action. Still, laughs there are and they are so rare these sombre days that they are very welcome. Anyway, the riotous slapstick climax does much to adjust box-office balance. Star and title values will do the rest."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=5 August 1943 |title=My Learned Friend |volume=318 |issue=1894 |pages=23 |id={{ProQuest|2676984345}} |magazine=Kine Weekly}}</ref>

''Picturegoer'' wrote: "It this has not all the sparkle one expects from a Will Hay picture it is because the actor was a very sick man when he was making it."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 October 1943 |title=My Learned Friend |volume=12 |issue= |pages=12 |id={{ProQuest|1771144669}} |magazine=Picturegoer}}</ref>

''Variety'' wrote: "Picture is slickly directed, never drags, and has a plausible excuse for many comic and improbable incidents. ... All the characters (practically all male) are perfect types, from the East End thugs to the tawdry personnel of a cheap provincial pantomime company. Mervyn Johns scores particularly in the role of the crafty maniac-crook. In the comedy field, excellent of its kind and no reason it shouldn't provide a novelty support in a dual program in the U.S."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=13 October 1943 |title=My Learned Friend |volume=152 |issue=5 |pages=10 |id={{ProQuest|1285841502}} |magazine=Variety}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20190306042955/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b1159be ''My Learned Friend''] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}} * {{IMDb title|0036184}}

{{Basil Dearden}} {{Michael Balcon}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:My Learned Friend}} Category:1943 films Category:1940s crime comedy films Category:British black-and-white films Category:British crime comedy films Category:Films directed by Will Hay Category:Films directed by Basil Dearden Category:Films produced by Michael Balcon Category:Ealing Studios films Category:Films set in London Category:Films set in Lancashire Category:1943 comedy films Category:1943 English-language films Category:1943 British films Category:Films scored by Ernest Irving Category:English-language crime comedy films