There Was a Crooked Man (film)
There Was a Crooked Man is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Stuart Burge and starring Norman Wisdom, Alfred Marks, Andrew Cruickshank, Reginald Beckwith and Susannah York. It is based on the James Bridie play The Golden Legend of Schults. The film was one of two independent films in which Wisdom appeared in an effort to extend his range (along with The Girl on the Boat), as British audiences strongly identified him with his Gump character. The film's title is taken from that of the English nursery rhyme "There Was a Crooked Man". Plot
A naïve explosives expert is tricked into working for a criminal gang. Cast
 Norman Wisdom as Davy Cooper  
 Alfred Marks as Adolf Carter  
 Andrew Cruickshank as McKillup  
 Reginald Beckwith as Station Master  
 Susannah York as Ellen  
 Jean Clarke as Freda  
 Timothy Bateson as Flash Dan  
 Paul Whitsun-Jones as Restaurant Gentleman  
 Fred Griffiths as Taxi Driver  
 Ann Hefferman as Hospital Sister  
 Rosalind Knight as Nurse  
 Reed De Rouen as Dutchman  
 Brian Oulton as Ashton  
 Glyn Houston as Smoking Machinist  
 Percy Herbert as Prison Warden
 Edna Petrie as Woman at Assembly Hall 
 Jack May as Police Sergeant 
 Ronald Fraser as General Cummins 
 Ed Devereaux as American Colonel 
 Sam Kydd as Foreman 
 Redmond Phillips as Padre
 George Murcell as Receptionist at 'The McKillup Arms'

Production
Hugh Stewart, who produced several of Wisdom's films for the Rank Organisation, stated that the film was financed by United Artists based on the success of The Square Peg (1959). Reception
Kinematograph Weekly called There Was a Crooked Man a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960. Release and home media 
The film was commercially unavailable for many years. It was aired by ITV on Boxing Day 1965. Wisdom biographer Richard Dacre wrote that he, Wisdom and director Stuart Burge were present when the Barbican Centre Cinema in London presented the next known public screening at a "Wisdom Weekend" in 1998. In 2008, it was shown in Darwen, Lancashire, where location shots had been filmed in 1960. The film was released on DVD on 8 May 2017 and as a Blu-ray disc on 30 April 2018. References

External links
 
 
 

1960 films
1960s crime comedy films
British crime comedy films
British films based on plays
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Films directed by Stuart Burge
1960 comedy films
1960s English-language films
1960s British films
English-language crime comedy films