Sir Norbert Smith, a Life (1989)

Fantastic!

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"Norbert Smith, A Life" is a 1989 Mockumentary charting the life and career of the fictitious British actor Sir Norbert Smith. It stars Harry Enfield in the title role.It was first transmitted on Channel-4 on 3 November 1989. The programme was written by Harry Enfield and Geoffrey Perkins and superbly directed by Geoff Posner.The show is an absolutely priceless send-up not only of British films over the years, but of the worshipful documentaries that cable and public TV companies crank out endlessly seemingly from a sausage factory.Using Melvyn Bragg as the narrator, doing exactly the kind of thing he was doing at the time on The South Bank Show was an inspiration, and kudos to Lord Bragg for being a good sport to create this Mockumentary, which even sends hims up in a way.The film parodies are all spot-on, but the scene from the World War II action flick with Sir Norbert finding an excuse to guzzle a glass of wine in every single shot, and the identical scenes from each of Sir Norbert's composer Bio-Pics (Beethoven, Man of Music, Lizst, Man of Music and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Man of Music were heavenly inspired.There's a perfect representation of Will Hay films then they go on to cover staid institutions such as Olivier's Shakespeare and even Carry-On films. Enfield is well supported by Renee Asherson playing the long- suffering Lady Norbert. Moray Watson has spots as a recurring interviewee called Sir Donald Stuffy, whose recollections of the theatre seem much more interesting to him than us and he usually realises this himself when he gets to the end of his story. Then there's the crass joke-cracker Dick Doty played by Mike Kelly. Stop me if you've seen this sort of character before.This is a 3/4 hour masterpiece no British film fan, Harry Enfield devotee, Melvyn Bragg supporter or British Comedy aficionado should miss.

Thinking back to this now, it is hard to believe that Harry Enfield would go onto produce such low grade trash. This spoof documentary is an absolute piece of comic genius. Packed with loads of truly clever subtle jokes about the nature of the film, television and theatre world. Sir Norbert is a composite of a number of well known giants of the thespian world. They have lovingly spoofed some of the greatest films from a range of different film genres. If you are British you will have great fun working out just who and what the writers are referencing. Everything is done to perfection. The look and feel of each "film" is spot on. The best has to be the early 60's working-class-life film, "It's Grim Up North". Quote, "I'm going out to fly me whippets". I used to have this on tape too, but it's long gone and as far as I know has never been repeated. A great shame.

Harry Enfield came to fame with his long running characters Stavros and Loadsofmoney on British TV's copy of Saturday Night Live. Subsequently, his own sketch show (with a host of new characters) ran successfully for many seasons. But in between he made this brilliant spoof documentary, about the life of the "legendary British actor", Sir Norbert Smith.In just an hour, Enfield mercilessly parodies every genre of the much -maligned British film industry (my personal favourite being his take on the dour realist films of the early 60s, with the northern father asking his family: "When's that baby going to grow up and get himself a proper job?"). But it's all great stuff. In between the cod clips, he meanwhile paints a touching (and even more hilarious) portrait of senility. Perfectly judging the line between the sublime and ridiculous, "Norbert Smith" is a wonderful creation. This material could have run and run: instead, it ended where it started (though some of Enfield's later creations were clearly developed from ideas first tried here). A masterclass of comic creativity.

Norbet Smith, A life is a wonderful fake documentary about a made-up British actor who reminisces about his distinguished career. Harry Enfield and Geoffrey Perkins have written the definitive send up of the British film industry focusing on the premiere films of the last 70 years. The parody starts with a perfect representation of Will Hay films then goes onto make fun of great institutions such as Olivier's Shakespeare's and even Carry on films. This is a masterpiece no British film fan should miss