After experiencing setbacks in sports, losing his girlfriend to an unpleasant person, and constantly being taken advantage of, Henry Palfrey resolves to change things and signs up for the College Of Lifemanship to learn how to improve himself. School For Scoundrels draws its inspiration from a set of humorous self-help books by Stephen Potter—Gamesmanship, Lifemanship & Oneupmanship—resulting in a cleverly amusing send-up with plenty of awareness. Ian Carmichael takes on the central role of Henry Palfrey; while he’s been in many funny and successful British comedies, I wouldn't usually consider him a naturally assured leading man, but here he does a good job, which I suspect is largely due to having Terry-Thomas around to bounce off. Terry-Thomas embodies a delightfully roguish character as Henry’s romantic competitor Raymond Delauney, a very funny person who has us practically pleading for Henry to outwit him by the film's conclusion. There are some genuinely amusing moments, from their tennis games to Henry turning the tables on an unethical car salesperson. School For Scoundrels is consistently humorous. Despite this, the movie isn’t flawless; Alistair Sim doesn’t have a significant amount of screen time as Henry’s advisor, Professor Stephen Potter, and that ultimately feels like a missed chance. The direction also seems uneven, which makes sense when you look into it. Robert Hamer would have been an ideal choice to direct, given his previous work on the excellent Kind Hearts And Coronets. However, Hamer was dismissed early in production due to a relapse into alcoholism (he passed away three years later), so Hal Chester and Cyril Frankel finished the film. Even with its imperfections, School For Scoundrels remains enjoyable today, especially when you consider how poor the 2006 remake turned out. This offering from 1960 is something of a comedic treasure to be appreciated for years to come. Hard cheese old boy 8/10

Source on TMDB