InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

jc-osms I really wanted to like this British comedy short from the mid-60's. Although just before my time, Tommy Cooper and to a lesser degree Eric Sykes could reasonably make me laugh on their TV variety or sit-com shows plus I came to this piece after watching a rather fawning TV biography of the recently deceased Sykes containing eulogies of praise from the surprising likes of Eddie Izzard, Michael Palin and others. Sykes wrote and directed this off-beat, near-silent short move about two dozy workmen's encounter with a plank of wood and peopled it with friends and colleagues of the time, including the inevitable Hattie Jacques and Jimmy Edwards, but also in small parts if you closely enough the likes of Bill Oddie, Jim Dale and Jimmy Tarbuck. But the humour really is quite dated. Sykes makes reasonable use of running gags but the sketch-like sequences often run on too long and much of the material is somewhat predictable and stilted, even resorting lazily to sexism as a young female hitch-hiker gets manhandled for her trouble.In its favour, the hitch-hiker section notwithstanding, the humour is clean, gentle and inoffensive. I didn't really think Cooper and Sykes gelled together in their roles as two chippies off the old block and while I acknowledge the debt paid to Sykes comedy heroes of the Silent Era, most obviously Laurel and Hardy, there the comparison ends, indeed I was reminded more of Crackerjack's Peter Glaze and Don MacLean (now they were my era!), hapless double-act more than the immortal Stan and Ollie.The film's a nice little document of old-school comedy of a bygone age but sad to say it hasn't aged well and in truth is more a museum piece nowadays than genuine entertainment.

screenman I saw this movie at the cinema long ago. In fact, it was so long ago that the main feature still included a B-movie companion. And here 'The Plank' was it. Oddly; I can remember this, but not the A-movie it supported.Eric Sykes' effort included a who's-who of British comedy from the time. Each of them become involved at some stage or another with this plank of wood in a series of banal set-piece gags. Frankly, I found it childishly contrived even then. Which is probably why I remembered it. Some 20 years later I saw it on television and the stunts were quite painful to behold. Sphincter-puckering is the term.It's a sort-of silent movie. It might even pass for surrealism at times. But the idea doesn't quite work. If the French had done this, I suspect the result would have been an absolute scream. But it's not the kind of concept we Brits are particularly good at. And this is the proof.There's the cream of comic talent at the director's disposal. Any one of several could have a theatre rolling in the aisles; but here they, and their unique skills, are each subordinated to Sykes' old-fashioned brand of predictable variety-hall humour, and they are simply wasted.Although it was released in 1967, it represented a simplistic, juvenile 'take' that had pretty-well run its course 10 years earlier. As nice a bloke as he was, Eric Sykes was a comedian who simply couldn't move with the times. If he were in light entertainment even today, this is still the stuff he would be producing. By 1969 came 'Monty Python', with modern comedians and fresh comedy. Both styles observed back-to-back represent two different generations yet separated by just 2 years.As a chance to play 'spot the comedian' this item is a quiz in itself, but as comedic entertainment it's a bit of a disaster, unless you're under 5 years old. I suspect they'll love it in Albania.

plucky_brit A film such as this shows that something can be funny without resorting to swearing to get a laugh. Also showing in the process that you don't even need to speak to have a giggle. Question: What is the most basic joke on the planet? Answer: Someone slips on a banana skin. For if you have no language, then the joke is funny the world over. This is the reason why characters such as Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean and Charlie Chaplin's tramp are universally popular and why performers like Jerry Lewis and Norman Wisdom are so adored in the countries of France and Albania respectively, when they can't speak a word of Albanian or French.The Plank is a master class in comedy from Messrs Sykes and Cooper. The timing is impeccable throughout and their constant fight not only with the legendary plank but also with their car and all manner of obstacles is hilarious.The cameos are never-ending: Jimmy Edwards, Roy Castle, Jimmy Tarbuck, Hattie Jacques, Bill Oddie! The list goes on and on! One major thing to remember is that there was no script. Let me just repeat that. There was no script! Everything you see was translated straight from Eric Sykes's brain onto film. Here is his explanation in an interview on the South Bank Show, talking to Melvyn Bragg: "How can you write a visual gag? You just can't."(Please feel free to correct me as I'm writing the quote from memory and as such I may have paraphrased.)A comedic film is supposed to make you laugh, does The Plank achieve this? Like heck it does! Hilarious! Riotous! Side splitting!

MattCobb This film is actually quite good. Eric Sykes and Tommy Cooper are brilliant. But I would say this film is not one I would buy but one that is good to watch on TV.A myriad of stars usually mean a film is rubbish but this film proves wrong. The stars all have funny little cameo roles that keep you going "ooh I know him" and having to go here to look for them!