During the Second World War, Norman Pitkin, Norman Wisdom a roadmender with the St Godric's Borough Council, takes quiet pleasure in needleThe soldiers at the nearby British Army camp — even the camp’s general. His mischief draws the blunt attention of his boss, Mr Grimsdale, Edward Chapman the Borough Engineer, and of Colonel Layton, John Warwick the camp commander, who decide to discipline him by dragging him into the Pioneer Corps.
Pitkin and his supervisor begin training at the same camp under the watchful eye of Sergeant Loder, Campbell Singer, a former victim of Pitkin’s pranks. The arrangement isn’t entirely grim for Pitkin, because there’s a bright spot in his otherwise steady routine: Lesley Cartland, [Honor Blackman], an attractively capable ATS officer who seems poised to go behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied France. Her presence adds a flutter of romance to the otherwise rigid, rule-bound military life.
The pair’s sense of misadventure intensifies when they accidentally board the wrong lorry and parachute into France. Instead of joining a front-line push, they find themselves assigned to odd jobs repairing roads four miles deep inside enemy territory. Grimsdale is quickly separated from Pitkin and ends up being captured and taken to the local château’s headquarters. Meanwhile, Pitkin, out of uniform, heads to Fleury to buy sugar and eggs, only to discover German soldiers saluting him because he resembles the ruthless local commander, General Otto Schreiber, Norman Wisdom.
In a small café, Pitkin stumbles upon Lesley Cartland again, and the irony of his double life lands him in trouble when she, and the café owner, are arrested after Pitkin’s mistaken identity threatens to blow her cover. The resistance movement in the area sees its chances hinge on Pitkin’s ability to outwit the Germans, so Henri Le Blanc, the local resistance leader, Brian Worth, teams up with Pitkin for a daring escape plan. He and Henri attempt a tunnel break into the château to reach the prisoners, but Henri is captured in the process, leaving Pitkin to improvise on his own.
Back in the château, Pitkin makes a bold move: he slips into Schreiber’s suite, and Gretchen, the general’s opera-singer girlfriend who seems to revel in dramatic moments, Hattie Jacques arrives. Schreiber has laid down strict orders to avoid any disturbances, but the chaos in the next room unfolds as Pitkin, unaware of the danger, scopes the situation. He watches the dining scene through a keyhole and suddenly finds himself compelled to mimic Schreiber, even as Gretchen and the real Schreiber eventually collide with the odd reality of their doppelgänger.
The scene escalates into a vivid comic sequence, including a moment that nods to the Marx Brothers’ Duck Soup, which Pitkin navigates with surprising luck. Gretchen is startled by the uncanny resemblance and collapses, allowing Pitkin to proceed with freeing the prisoners in a manner that hinges on wit rather than force. The escape, however, does not unfold smoothly: Pitkin is caught again and faces a death sentence at dawn. In a twist of fate, the camouflaged tunnel he had dug collapses into the path of his execution, letting him slip away.
The aftermath is almost dreamlike in its reversal. Schreiber returns to his former self, slipping back into his glasses and the role of Mr Grimsdale, while Pitkin—who has proven himself wily and resourceful—ends up in a position of leadership and reputation, becoming the mayor after the war. The film uses a blend of screwball comedy, mistaken identity, and a touch of romance to explore how a single comic misstep can alter the fortunes of a small-town man and a town’s administrator in the tense atmosphere of wartime Europe.
- The tone remains light, balancing slapstick and warmth as Pitkin blurs lines between enemy and ally, officer and civilian, inflicting a personal reckoning on everyone who underestimated him.
- The love story with Lesley Cartland provides an emotional throughline that keeps the humor grounded and gives Pitkin a clear motive beyond mischief.
- The plot hinges on a series of near-misses and improvisations, from a tentative rescue attempt to a daring impersonation, all set against the backdrop of a war that demands discipline while inviting ridiculous courage.
- The supporting ensemble—Grimsdale, Layton, Loder, Gretchen, Henri Le Blanc—adds texture to the comedy, giving Pitkin a web of relationships that shape his unlikely path to redemption.
The result is a warm, folksy wartime farce that never loses sight of its central character’s humanity, even as it revels in the absurdity of a man who finds himself wearing the clothes of a tyrant, singing a tune with a temperamental opera star, and somehow managing to outwit an entire fortress of soldiers.
