The Bespoke Overcoat
UK (1956): Short
Nikolai Gogol's classic short story "The Overcoat" was adapted for British consumption into The Bespoke Overcoat. Comic actor Alfie Bass plays a clothing-store clerk who'd like to own one of the sales items in his store. He is denied this pleasure by his hardhearted boss (Alan Tilvern), so the clerk persuades a tailor friend (David Kossoff) to whip up a duplicate overcoat. When the clerk dies of pneumonia, his ghost materializes before the tailor, persuading him to steal the overcoat the clerk had wanted in the first place. Written by Wolf Mankowicz and directed by Jack Clayton, the 33-minute film won a 1956 Academy Award® for "best short subject". Another, equally enjoyable version of the Gogol story appeared on the TV anthology "Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Presents" in 1951, with Buster Keaton as the persistent clerk. (Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide)
1 nomination, 1 Award
· Best Short Subject (Two-reel) 1956: Go Pictures, Inc. Romulus Films. George K. Arthur, producer.