# The Wrong Arm of the Law
*The Wrong Arm of the Law* is a 1963 British comedy crime film directed by Cliff Owen, in which London's criminals and the police form an uneasy alliance to catch a rival gang that robs crooks while disguised as police officers. It stars [Peter Sellers](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-sellers) as the Cockney crime boss "Pearly" Gates, [Lionel Jeffries](https://www.edgepedia.org/lionel-jeffries) as Inspector Fred "Nosey" Parker, and [Bernard Cribbins](https://www.edgepedia.org/bernard-cribbins) as rival gang leader Nervous O'Toole.[1](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7fc1ec29-36a7-5ccf-8ffc-28f03f35138f/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / producer | Cliff Owen; produced by Aubrey Baring for Romulus Films, presented in association with M. Smedley Aston[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7fc1ec29-36a7-5ccf-8ffc-28f03f35138f/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) • [3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20character%3Cbr%3Ethe%20films%20of%20peter%20sellers/2025/08/12/wrong-arm-of-the-law/) |
| Writers | Screenplay by Ray Galton, Alan Simpson, and John Antrobus, from a screenplay by John Warren and Len Heath and an original story by Ivor Jay and William Whistance Smith[1](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) |
| Release | BBFC cinema classification 30 October 1962; UK release 29 March 1963, distributed by British Lion Films[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynzuxota) • [5](https://www.bfiplayerclassics.com/videos/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) |
| Format | Black and white, 94 minutes, aspect ratio 1.66:1; music by Richard Rodney Bennett, cinematography by Ernest Steward, editing by Tristam Cones[1](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) |
| Box office | One of the 12 most popular films at the British box office in 1963[6](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law) |
| Ratings | IMDb 6.7/10 from about 2,700 votes; Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer 60% from 4 reviews[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wrong_arm_of_the_law) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
London's underworld operates on an understood arrangement: no one carries guns and no one resists the police. That order is broken when a new gang, three [Australians](https://www.edgepedia.org/australians) led by Jack Coombes (Bill Kerr), dresses as police officers, "arrests" other gangs at the scene of their crimes, and confiscates the loot. Pearly Gates, who runs his syndicate from behind the cover of a French couturier's fashion house, and his rival Nervous O'Toole each suspect the other of treachery before discovering they are both being scammed by the same impostors, whom the film calls the I.P.O. mob (Impersonation of a Police Officer).[6](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law) • [8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wrong_arm_of_the_law)
To restore the prevailing order, Gates joins forces with [Inspector](https://www.edgepedia.org/inspector) "Nosey" Parker of Scotland Yard and the other crime bosses. [Scotland Yard](https://www.edgepedia.org/scotland-yard) announces a 24-hour truce between the law and organized crime, and the allies use an armored car robbery as bait to trap the impostors.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wrong_arm_of_the_law) A subplot involves Valerie ([Nanette Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/nanette-newman)), a young woman who has befriended one of the crime bosses and feeds information to the Australian gang.[9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056704/) One highlight, noted in the BFI's program notes, is a general meeting of the crime syndicate conducted by Gates and O'Toole as if it were a democratic trade union.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20character%3Cbr%3Ethe%20films%20of%20peter%20sellers/2025/08/12/wrong-arm-of-the-law/)
## Cast and production
Sellers plays Gates with a double identity: suave French-accented boutique owner Monsieur Charles Jules in public, snarling Cockney when the law appears. He uses his wealthy matronly clients' travel plans to schedule robberies of their empty houses. The character keeps his gang content with luncheon vouchers, home movies, and paid holidays in Spain, which Time Out's review described as a "welfare state criminality" undermined by the Australian arrivals.[10](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) • [11](https://www.citizencaine.org/films/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/)
The film reunited Sellers, Jeffries, and Cribbins from the successful *Two-Way Stretch* (1960).[11](https://www.citizencaine.org/films/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/) The writing team combined the creators of radio's *Hancock's Half Hour*, Galton and Simpson, with Goon Show scriptwriter John Antrobus and Warren and Heath, who had also scripted *Two-Way Stretch*.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20character%3Cbr%3Ethe%20films%20of%20peter%20sellers/2025/08/12/wrong-arm-of-the-law/) Supporting players included Davy Kaye as Trainer King, John Le Mesurier as the Assistant Commissioner, Graham Stark as Sid Cooper, Ed Devereaux as Bluey May, and Reg Lye as Reg Denton.[12](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/cast/2000275972/) Tutte Lemkow's character Siggy Schmoltz was voiced by Sellers.[9](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056704/) A young [Michael Caine](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-caine) appears uncredited in the [Battersea Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/battersea-park) funfair sequence, and [Dick Emery](https://www.edgepedia.org/dick-emery), John Junkin, and Cardew Robinson also appear uncredited.[6](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law)
Many robbery scenes were filmed around [Beaconsfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/beaconsfield) and Uxbridge: the early Post Office robbery at Burkes Parade and Post Office Lane in Beaconsfield, the gang meeting at Havens Court in Ealing, the bullion transport robbery at Cowley Mill Road and Waterloo Road in Uxbridge combined with Bushy Park Road in Teddington, and the escape flight from Denham Airport. The film features a 1961 Aston Martin DB4 GT, which Sellers liked so much that he bought it after shooting, contingent on the engine being replaced with a 4.0-liter Lagonda Rapide unit.[6](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law)
## Reception
The film was one of the 12 most popular films at the British box office in 1963, according to *The Times*; *Kine Weekly* listed it in the alphabetical run of popular titles behind the year's four biggest films, *From Russia with Love*, *Summer Holiday*, *Tom Jones*, and *The Great Escape*.[6](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law) In *The New York Times*, Bosley Crowther, the paper's longtime film critic, wrote a positive review, calling it "strictly lightweight clowning, longer on plot than on wit and wholly dependent on the archness of Mr. Sellers to give it a cachet," while praising Lionel Jeffries as the cop.[6](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law) A 1964 [New Zealand Listener](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-zealand-listener) review called it "one of the best British comedies of recent years" and compared it to Ealing's *The Lavender Hill Mob*.[13](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19640214.2.25.1.3) On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 60% Tomatometer score from four reviews, with recent critics rating it 3/4 and 4/5; a dissenting Esquire review by Dwight MacDonald described feeling "hit over the head by blunt instruments for two hours."[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wrong_arm_of_the_law)
The [British Board of Film Classification](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-board-of-film-classification), which passed the film for cinema release in October 1962, describes it as a comedy in which "a criminal fraternity enters into an uneasy alliance with the constabulary to eliminate a rival gang that are posing as police officers to intercept stolen goods," with content advice noting only very mild violence, language, innuendo, and discrimination.[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynzuxota)
## Legacy and availability
The BFI's program notes place the film's humor in a distinctly British line, combining "a dash of Ealing (particularly *The Lavender Hill Mob*, 1951) and the energetic absurdity of the Goons."[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20character%3Cbr%3Ethe%20films%20of%20peter%20sellers/2025/08/12/wrong-arm-of-the-law/) Time Out's retrospective review reads it as "a sly portrait of Britain slowly emerging from the 'Never Had It So Good' days into the Wilson era."[10](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) A restored version was released on Blu-ray and digital on 2 May 2022 by [StudioCanal](https://www.edgepedia.org/studiocanal).[14](https://film-authority.com/2022/05/05/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/)
The film is available on BFI Player and BFI Player Classics, for rent or purchase on Prime Video, and on Netflix in several European countries including Italy, Spain, Finland, [Greece](https://www.edgepedia.org/greece), Croatia, and the Czech Republic; it is not on Netflix in the United States.[7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) • [15](https://pinmovies.com/movie/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law-70010596)
## Dating
Sources disagree on the production year. The BFI and the BBFC catalog the film as 1962, consistent with the October 1962 cinema classification, while most streaming guides, IMDb, and contemporary reviews date it 1963, the year of its March release.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7fc1ec29-36a7-5ccf-8ffc-28f03f35138f/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law) • [4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynzuxota) • [7](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
## References
1. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, Rialto Pictures catalogue](https://www.rialtopictures.com/catalogue/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
2. [The Wrong Arm of the Law (1962), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/7fc1ec29-36a7-5ccf-8ffc-28f03f35138f/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
3. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, BFI Southbank Programme Notes](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/in%20character%3Cbr%3Ethe%20films%20of%20peter%20sellers/2025/08/12/wrong-arm-of-the-law/)
4. [The Wrong Arm Of The Law, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0ynzuxota)
5. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, BFI Player Classics](https://www.bfiplayerclassics.com/videos/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
6. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, The Goon Show Depository](https://www.thegoonshow.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=The_Wrong_Arm_of_the_Law)
7. [The Wrong Arm of the Law streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
8. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/wrong_arm_of_the_law)
9. [The Wrong Arm of the Law (1963), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056704/)
10. [The Wrong Arm of the Law review, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law)
11. [The Wrong Arm of the Law (1962), CitizenCaine](https://www.citizencaine.org/films/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/)
12. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, Full Cast & Crew, TV Guide](https://www.tvguide.com/movies/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/cast/2000275972/)
13. [The Wrong Arm of the Law, New Zealand Listener, 14 February 1964, Papers Past](https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19640214.2.25.1.3)
14. [The Wrong Arm of the Law review, film-authority.com](https://film-authority.com/2022/05/05/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/)
15. [Is The Wrong Arm of the Law on Netflix?, PinMovies](https://pinmovies.com/movie/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law-70010596)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of the 1960s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license