{{Short description|1965 British film by Robert Asher}} {{other uses|Early Bird (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}} {{Use British English|date=June 2015}} {{Infobox film | name = The Early Bird | image = "The_Early_Bird".jpg | caption = original UK Quad poster | director = [[Robert Asher (director)|Robert Asher]] | producer = [[Hugh Stewart (film editor)|Hugh Stewart]] | writer = [[Jack Davies (screenwriter)|Jack Davies]]<br> [[Norman Wisdom]] | starring = [[Norman Wisdom]]<br>[[Edward Chapman (actor)|Edward Chapman]]<br>[[Jerry Desmonde]] | music = [[Ron Goodwin]] | cinematography = [[Jack Asher]] | editing = [[Gerry Hambling]] | studio = [[The Rank Organisation]] | distributor = [[The Rank Organisation|Rank Film Distributors]] | released = {{film date|df=y|1965|11|30|London}} | runtime = 98 minutes | country = United Kingdom | language = English | budget = }}
'''''The Early Bird''''' is a 1965 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[Robert Asher (director)|Robert Asher]] and starring [[Norman Wisdom]], [[Edward Chapman (actor)|Edward Chapman]], [[Bryan Pringle]], [[Richard Vernon]], [[John Le Mesurier]] and [[Jerry Desmonde]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The Early Bird |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150030615 |access-date=25 April 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was the first Norman Wisdom film to be shot in colour and one of the last he made for Rank.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|date=11 August 2025|access-date=11 August 2025|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/forgotten-british-film-studios-the-rank-organisation-1965-to-1967/|title=Forgotten British Film Studios: The Rank Organisation, 1965 to 1967}}</ref> The title is taken from the expression "the early bird catches the worm".
==Plot== Norman Pitkin works for Grimsdale's Dairy as a milkman, in competition with Consolidated Dairies, an ever-growing rival company under the management of Walter Hunter.
Much of the humour centres on slapstick comedy, with Norman encountering various comedic escapades. These include being dragged around Mr Hunter's garden by an errant lawnmower and using the fire brigade's high pressure hosepipes to blast firemen off their ladders, after being called to a suspected fire at Consolidated Dairies' HQ.
==Cast== * [[Norman Wisdom]] as Norman Pitkin * [[Edward Chapman (actor)|Edward Chapman]] as Mr Thomas Grimsdale * [[Jerry Desmonde]] as Mr Walter Hunter * [[Paddie O'Neil]] as Mrs Gladwys Hoskins * [[Bryan Pringle]] as Austin * [[Richard Vernon]] as Sir Roger Wedgewood * [[John Le Mesurier]] as Colonel Foster * [[Peter Jeffrey]] as Fire Chief * [[Penny Morrell]] as Miss Curry * [[Marjie Lawrence]] as woman in negligee * [[Frank Thornton]] as drunken doctor * [[Dandy Nichols]] as woman flooded by milk * [[Harry Locke]] as commissionaire * [[Michael Bilton]] as nervous man * [[Imogen Hassall]] as Sir Roger's secretary * [[Tony Selby]] as Godfrey (uncredited)
==Production== In February 1964 Rank announced it would make eight films at a cost of £4.5 million, including ''Almost a Hero'' with Norman Wisdom.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pinewood carries on - with £9 million|newspaper=The Guardian|date=18 February 1964|page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Big boost for British films|newspaper=Thanet Times |date=3 March 1964|page=4}}</ref>
It was the last of several films Hugh Stewart produced for Wisdom. Stewart called the movie "very good" but said when reunited with Wisdom he "knew as soon as I saw him... that something had happened to him. The iron had entered into his soul. I could tell straightaway and so could Bob. Bob said, "He's not the same man." And we made our last film together."<ref name="hugh">{{cite web|url=https://historyproject.org.uk/interview/hugh-stewart|website=British Entertainment History Project|title=Hugh Stewart|date=22 Nov 1989}}</ref>
==Reception==
=== Box office === The film was one of the 15 most popular movies at the British box office in 1966.<ref>"Most popular star for third time." Times [London, England] 31 Dec. 1966: 5. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.</ref>
=== Critical === ''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "Routine Norman Wisdom vehicle, the only innovations being the use of colour, and the absence of a heroine who will see through her beau's clumsiness and regard him with loyal, loving admiration. The moments of pathos and sentimentality, evidently regarded as an essential ingredient in Wisdom's comedies, here mainly involve the horse, and are less embarrassing than the tasteless comedy with Mrs. Hoskins. As usual, the comedy relies heavily on crude slapstick, with a lengthy and repetitive prelude of tumbles downstairs, and two orgies of destruction – the first entailing the tearing-up of a garden by a runaway motor-mower, the second featuring an ordeal by water, foam and milk. These knockabout highlights are up to par, but the intervening material is weak, and the golf-course sequence with Wisdom impersonating a parson is particularly uninventive."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1966 |title=The Early Bird |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305825565 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=33 |issue=384 |pages=6 |id={{ProQuest|1305825565}} }}</ref>
''The [[Radio Times]] Guide to Films'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Well past his movie sell-by date, Norman Wisdom is powerless to prevent this dreary dairy comedy from turning sour. The satirical jibes at large scale automation are nowhere near sharp enough, while the tribute to Britain's fast-fading family firms is too twee. Regular straight men Jerry Desmonde and Edward Chapman are as solid as rocks and longtime director Robert Asher gives his star plenty of leeway."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=276}}</ref>
[[Leslie Halliwell]] said: "Star farcical comedy; not the worst of Wisdom, but overlong and mainly uninventive."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Film Guide |publisher=Paladin |year=1989 |isbn=0586088946 |edition=7th |location=London |pages=304}}</ref>
''[[TV Guide]]'' wrote, "most of the humor is slapstick, predictable, and only vaguely amusing."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://movies.tvguide.com/the-early-bird/review/113702 |title=The Early Bird Review |publisher=Movies.tvguide.com |date= |accessdate=2014-06-10 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
[[Allmovie]] called the film a "lively British satire".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-early-bird-v90207 |title=The Early Bird (1965) - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast |publisher=AllMovie |date= |accessdate=2014-06-10}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb title|0059143}} * {{BFI Screenonline title| 590025 }} * {{BritMovie title| The-Early-Bird_1965 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050126112251/http://www.mtv.com/movies/movie/57080/moviemain.jhtml ''The Early Bird''] at [[MTV]] * ''[https://www.reelstreets.com/films/early-bird-the/ The Early Bird]'' locations at [https://www.reelstreets.com Reelstreets] {{Robert Asher}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Early Bird, The}} [[Category:1965 films]] [[Category:1965 comedy films]] [[Category:1965 English-language films]] [[Category:British comedy films]] [[Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios]] [[Category:Films directed by Robert Asher]] [[Category:Fictional milkmen]] [[Category:Films scored by Ron Goodwin]] [[Category:1965 British films]] [[Category:English-language comedy films]]