John Le Mesurier is worth watching for what happens before he speaks. His pauses and courteous doubts make Dad’s Army funnier and kinder, though the familiar manner benefits from a little space between episodes.
Fi1m perspective
John Le Mesurier waits before answering, and Arthur Lowe’s Captain Mainwaring has time to sound rather too pleased with himself. As Sergeant Arthur Wilson in Dad’s Army (1968), Le Mesurier can question an order simply by taking a moment to consider it. We laughed at those hesitations because they make Mainwaring’s certainty look less secure without turning Wilson into a bully. The gentleness matters: the scene remains an exchange between people who must continue working together.
Film work had given him plenty of practice at playing authority. His supporting roles included the Defence Barrister in The Pink Panther (1963) and the Governor in The Italian Job (1969), within a film career largely spent in smaller parts. The Boulting Brothers were regular collaborators during the 1950s. A raised eyebrow or a lop-sided grin could suggest that the official understood perfectly well how little was under control, without requiring the scene to stop and attend to him.
Dad’s Army gave those small reactions room to develop across repeated encounters. David Croft’s direction allows the actors to listen, and Le Mesurier uses that time to consider what Mainwaring has said rather than merely wait for his next line. Lowe makes the captain’s need for respect painfully clear; Le Mesurier’s gentler delivery gives him something to push against. Neither needs to hurry, which is why an otherwise familiar exchange can remain funny even when the audience knows roughly where it is going.
The reservation is with repetition. Several episodes in succession can make Wilson’s hesitations, like the rest of the company’s familiar behaviour, feel overworked. Le Mesurier finds small variations, but even skilful timing cannot make the same relationship surprising indefinitely. He is worth watching for the smaller changes in a reply, though there are evenings when we would prefer the programme to give its actors something less familiar to do.
The serious lead in Traitor (1971) is a useful reminder that his work extended beyond this genial supporting manner. It makes a sensible next stop after Wilson, without another search through a large cast for a few minutes of Le Mesurier. Start with Dad’s Army, though, and pay attention while Lowe is speaking. We would leave a little time between episodes.
Biography
John Le Mesurier (born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley) was an English actor. He trained at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art and made his professional stage debut in 1934. During the Second World War he served as a captain in the Royal Tank Regiment in India before returning to acting.
Le Mesurier appeared in more than 120 films, usually in supporting roles, as well as numerous television and radio productions. He is best known for playing Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC sitcom Dad's Army (1968–1977). Other credits include Father Mowbray in the 1981 television adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, and small parts in films such as Ben-Hur (1959), The Pink Panther (1963) and The Italian Job (1969).
In 1971 he received a BAFTA award for Best Television Actor for his performance in the Dennis Potter play Traitor.
