On the Beat (1962 film)

Plot

Norman Pitkin (Norman Wisdom) works at Scotland Yard as a car cleaner, but dreams of becoming a policeman as his late father was. The police reject his request to join the force, but later recruit him to work undercover in disguise. He has turned out to be the double of a suspected jewel thief, an Italian crime boss in London. In addition to his criminal activities, this man is a ladies' hairdresser.

Norman disguises himself as the suspect and gains entry to his salon. Once inside, after some inevitable mishaps, he manages to find the stolen goods, knock out the suspect, wrap him up in a curtain/wall rug, and bring him to justice.

As a reward, he is offered a permanent place in the police and marries his love, the ex-girlfriend of the man he brought to justice (whom had he rescued earlier in the film when she was attempting to commit suicide by jumping in the river).

Cast

Reception

The film was one of the 12 most popular movies at the British box office in 1963.

Music

A slightly different arrangement of the film's title theme, by composer Philip Green, was recorded for a production music library, and may be heard in many American animated cartoons of the early 1960s, particularly those from Hanna-Barbera Productions.