Is A Fish Called Wanda still funny?

A restored version of the 1988 heist farce screens at the Berlin Film Festival later this month, and what works has as much to do with the craft of John Cleese and director Charles Crichton as the squashed lapdogs and swallowed fish, says Geoffrey Macnab.

Never a dull moment in Charles Crichton's lovely Ealing-esque comedy. A gallery of rogues includes barrister Archie (ohn Cleese) - who falls for gangster's moll Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) - stooge Michael Palin and, most of all, Kevin Kline as Wanda's psychotic boyfriend, Otto: he wants his jewels back, and he'll eat goldfish to get them.

John Cleese interview

Chatting about writing, The Muppets, DreamWorks, Clockwise and Charles Crichton, all with Mr John Cleese...