All the organs of his body were working - bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming - all toiling away in solemn foolery.
There is a surfeit of ham acting, rowdy revelry, capering foolery, groaning couplets, slapstick and silliness, but the experience is an energising one and sweetly stirring, too.
While comedy is a bawdy and political form that has the power to get beneath the skin of ideology, here its foolery lessens the film's overall project and impact.