This 1963 British crime caper stars Peter Sellers mere months before his debut outing as The Pink Panther’s Inspector Clouseau, with Sellers trying on multiple accents including a very familiar French one. Here he plays a top British thief with the colorful moniker Pearly Gates, orchestrating his group’s criminal activities from behind his cover as a French haute couture shop owner. It’s also a reunion for Sellers and co-stars Bernard Cribbins and Lionel Jeffries, who played similar roles in the 1960 film Two-Way Stretch.
Buy The Wrong Arm of the Law Blu-rayThe title refers to a rival trio of crooks from Australia who pose as cops to pull off heists. This upsets the carefully honed balance between Pearly’s gang and the local cops on the take, forcing both parties into an even tighter partnership to locate and shut down the foreign intruders. Cribbins features as a fellow crook in Pearly’s group, while Jeffries plays a cop assigned to supervise Pearly’s efforts to ensnare the Australians.
With all of the parties in play, it’s only a matter of time before the shrewd, calculating Pearly tries to come up with a profitable angle. That opportunity presents itself when the cops front Pearly a large sum of cash to entice the Australians, with the strict limitation that the assigned agent of the police (Jeffries) must remain in contact with the cash at all times. It’s obvious that Pearly will look for a workaround, and that plan ends up being his attempt to split the cash with the cop.
As always with Sellers, it’s a treat to see him disappearing behind his accents, here primarily limited to Pearly’s native Cockney, faux French, and posh Londoner. Whenever he slips into French, it’s impossible not to think of his run as Inspector Clouseau, making those lines even funnier than they would be on their own. I also enjoyed seeing Cribbins as a relatively young man, as my only real prior exposure to him was his recurring role on the modern run of Doctor Who as companion Donna Noble’s grandfather, which ultimately became his final role during Tennant’s recent return. Jeffries rounds out the main trio well, even as he’s forced to play the straight man until his character considers taking a piece of the criminal action.
The black-and-white film is presented in 1.66:1 aspect ratio. No restoration information is provided, but the transfer is crisp and free of any substantial defects. Special features include a commentary track, an interview with the screenwriter, and the theatrical trailer.
