Of late I have been helping direct slapstick and this sweet film with Tommy Cooper and Eric Sykes' The Plank keeps popping up in the creative process. Its a slapstick Odd-yssey and a classic.
The Plank is a 1967
British slapstick comedy short film made by Associated London Films. It
follows the misadventures of two builders who require a floorboard. It
was written and directed by Eric Sykes, and produced by Jon Penington. The story was based on an episode of Eric Sykes BBC comedy series Sykes and A... from 1964, called 'Sykes and A Plank'.
Although not strictly a silent film it is unusual in having little
spoken dialogue, instead the film is punctuated by grunts, other vocal
noises and sound effects. {wiki}
The film is a series of "plank jokes" elaborating on the "man with a plank" slapstick routine seen in vaudeville and silent films,
and adding new ones. For instance, at one point the plank is tied to
the top of the car and projects backward into the open back of a large
van. A man enters the back of the van and sits down. The van drives
away, leaving him suspended in mid-air sitting on the end of the plank.
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