Nice ironies - Life follows Art

Archie Rice has lost his moral compass (if ever he had one - which is eminently debatable!). As an entertainer he is small on talent & big on corn. The contempt we have for him is perhaps softened slightly by the film's end with the full exposure of just how pathetic & hopeless a creature he is! Wonderfully ironic touch with Plowright (soon after this film to become Olivier's third wife) playing his (Archie's) daughter Jean ... the irony is even more underscored in the scene where Archie coyly asks Jean what she'd think if "a man of his age were to marry a girl of her age" (in fact what Archie is contemplating is whether he should marry a girl, Tina who is barely 20, played by Shirley-Anne Field who is 9 years younger than Plowright! Loved the scene where Archie is MC-ing the Miss GB beauty contest - Rice announces that one of the slim-hipped beauties' favourite like is 'steak'! Also, none of them appear to have any hobbies - emphasising how vacuous it all is.
Stretching credibility to breaking-point moment: Archie's wife Phoebe in shop can't recognise him from 2 metres away(!?!), turning to Jean for clarification who discreetly concurs with her step-mother that it certainly was not the serially philandering Archie.