Postman's Knock is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Robert Lynn starring Spike Milligan, Barbara Shelley, John Wood and Warren Mitchell. The screenplay concerns a country postman who is transferred to London, where he manages to foil a major robbery. According to MGM the film made a loss of $31,000. Plot Harold Petts is a conscientious village postman who receives a promotion that takes him to London to be trained at London's busiest post office. However, after his first day in the big city, he is soon in trouble. In the main sorting office, he succeeds in beating the new mail sorting machine at pigeonholing letters for delivery (the machine blows up in the process). As a result, he is placed safely out of the way in the parcels department, but sorts parcels at such speed that he puts everyone else in the department out of work. This leads him to a meeting with the staff psychiatrist, and then to Jean, an ambitious art student, and the pair find themselves the main suspects in a mail theft ring, with the police and post office officials hot on their heels. Cast Spike Milligan - Harold Petts Barbara Shelley - Jean John Wood - P.C. Woods Archie Duncan - Inspector Warren Mitchell - Rupert Lance Percival - Joe Arthur Mullard - Sam John Bennett - Pete Ronald Adam - Mr. Fordyce Miles Malleson - Psychiatrist Wilfrid Lawson - Postman Mario Fabrizi - Villager Bob Todd - District Superintendent Critical reception Britmovie noted "several promising satirical opportunities are sadly lost beneath a welter of frenetic slapstick"; while David McGillivray described the film in the Radio Times as "one of two comedies (the other is Invasion Quartet) created for Spike Milligan by John Briley and Jack Trevor Story, talented writers not noted for their eccentric humour (Briley went on to script Gandhi and Cry Freedom). Consequently the brilliant Goon flounders in the conventional, happy-go-lucky tale of a village postman who is transferred to London." References External links 1962 films 1962 comedy films 1960s English-language films Films directed by Robert Lynn British comedy films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films scored by Ron Goodwin British black-and-white films Films set in London Films with screenplays by John Briley Films about postal systems Films shot at MGM-British Studios 1960s British films