Sixties rarities: bawdy fun with Kim, Susannah etc.

It’s a return to that bawdy, lusty 18th century with LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS, Peter Coe’s 1969 film of a stage show with songs, though the songs are gone here, as this vainly follows THE ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS in trying to capture the success of TOM JONES. It ramps up the squalor of the era and plays like a CARRY ON on speed – all it has going for it really is that cast. It basically follows the misadventures of three sailors on shore leave: Lusty (Jim Dale), Shaftoe (Tom Bell) and Ramble (Ian Bannen) who are all looking for some action – willing to provide it are Susannah York (Hilaret) who is rather underused here, Vanessa Howard (Hoyden) and Glynis Johns (Mrs Squeezum). Fabulous Fenella Fielding has the Joan Greenwood role as Lady Eager, allowing herself to be seduced at the theatre and ensuring her seducer has the correct window to call on later – Kathleen Harrison and Roy Kinnear are also funny as Lord and Lady Clumsey, and Roy Dotrice is the Gossip. Other familiar faces include Arthur Mullard, Peter Bull, Fred Emney and its good to see Georgia Brown (the original Nancy in the original OLIVER) as the local strumpet. Top billed though is another extraordinary performance by Christopher Plummer as Lord Fopington with a grotesque wig and what looks like a false nose and who can barely walk he is so effete - he is as stunning as his Inca king Atahualpa in the film of THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN, also that year.. Shot in Kilkenny, Ireland it is an amusing trifle to see at this remove.

THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS in 1965 was obviously following in TOM JONES' footsteps with Kim Novak in the lead as amorous Moll, but is good-humoured fun as Terence Young directs a good cast and practically every British comedian and character actor of the era. There is that terrific star quartet of Angela Lansbury and Vittorio De Sica having fun as impoverished aristocrats, Lilli Palmer as leader of the criminal underworld, and George Sanders as Moll's first husband. Kim was so iconic in the '50s [PICNIC, EDDIE DUCHIN STORY, VERTIGO, BELL BOOK AND CANDLE, STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET etc] but - rather like Carroll Baker - she seems diminished in the '60s as items like BOYS NIGHT OUT, OF HUMAN BONDAGE etc did her no favours. She plays along gamely here ... its still a laugh.

Fenella

A moment to celebrate the beyond marvellous Fenella Fielding, 90 this year. The fabulous Fenella is still working, in London theatre, and is not a relic of those CARRY ON films, She only did two in fact, the priceless CARRY ON SCREAMING and CARRY ON REGARDLESS. She, like Barbara Windsor and Shirley Eaton, Dilys Laye and the equally individual Rosalind Knight seem to be the only survivors of the CARRY ON gang, along with Jim Dale of course and Sheila Hancock and Amanda Barrie both from CARRY ON CLEO. She was a scream of course as the vampire in 1966's CARRY ON SCREAMING, 

Fenella's deep husky voice and languid, beyond-camp manner ensures that she will be long remembered and not only by CARRY ON fans. She also popped up in DOCTOR IN LOVE in 1960 and as another vamp with Dirk in DOCTOR IN DISTRESS in 1963, and was an amusing Gwendolen, teasing out Oscar Wilde's lines in a 1964 television THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (see Fenella label) and also did a Tony Curtis comedy and other television roles, and was the Loudspeaker Announcer in THE PRISONER series. She was a delightful Lady Eager in LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS in 1969. Its good to see Fenella is still around, with her voice as individual as Joan Greenwood's or Glynis Johns' or Babs Windsor. Long may she last. 

1960s: Armchair Theatre

A new old IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST! 

The blurb for Volume 4 of dvd pack (4 disks containing 12 plays and reasonably priced) of ARMCHAIR THEATRE says: "Pioneering, immensely influential and often challenging, ARMCHAIR THEATRE was (English) ITV's flagship drama anthology series. Bringing high-quality drama to the viewing public (back in the era when there were just two television channels and in black and white) the series easily demonstrated the network's potential to rival the BBC's drama output, with diverse and powerful plays showcasing some of Britain's most gifted writers and directors. This set comprises 12 plays featuring performances by some of the era's most celebrated and accomplished actors - including Susannah York, Colin Blakely, Ian Holm, Billie Whitelaw, Donald Pleasence, Terry-Thomas, Irene Handl, Patrick Macnee, Arthur Lowe and John Le Mesurier, among many others, including American import Carroll Baker (my pal Jerry will love this!). This volume includes early plays by both Jack Rosenthal, Ted Willis, Angus Wilson, Alun Owen, Len Deighton and John Hopkins, as well as Terry Southern." 

I just had to get this when I saw it included a production of Oscar's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST which I had not heard of before, from November 1964 (I was 18 then, new in London, in my bedsitter but with no television, so I missed it) with, for me, a dream cast to equal the 1952 Asquith film which of course had the definitive Lady Bracknell in Edith Evans, and with Joan Greenwood and Margaret Rutherford. 
Here in 1964 we have Pamela Brown (whom I like so much in I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING) who is a formidable Bracknell, with the fabulously camp Fenella Fielding (CARRY ON SCREAMING etc) as her daughter Gwendolyn and young Susannah York is a perfect Cecily. Then theres Irene Handl as Miss Prism and Wilfrid Brambell as the Canon. The boys are Patrick Macnee (THE AVENGERS) and Ian Carmichael. Perfect 1964 casting! and it all works a treat - they certainly do Oscar justice. Lovely art nouveau set too for Algernon's apartment. The script had to be tailored to fit a 90 minute slot, but the BBC did the same with their Oscar productions in that OSCAR WILDE COLLECTION, but al the lines we know and love are here ....

Susannah York also features in another play here. I may have to investigate the other 3 volumes as well!

They carried on ....

More popular cinema, after those sci-fi, fantasy classics? Here's CARRY ON  ....

An hour and a half of bliss was spent just watching CARRY ON CLEO again, maybe the best of those British CARRY ON films ... which began in the late '50s with TEACHER, SERGEANT and NURSE (as the Rank DOCTOR films, twee by comparison, were running of steam) and hit their stride as the '60s developed - along with Hammer Films they were a Great British Institution and we dutifully saw most of them on general release, often groaning at the obvious jokes and gags. But in 1964 when I was new in London, something odd happened - the CARRY ONs gained a modicum of critical respectability - I remember that review by the esteemed Penelope Gilliatt in THE OBSERVER actually praising CARRY ON SPYING, in fact in was a rave review.

CARRY ON CLEO was more of the same, during their great years, with decent production values, followed by CARRY ON SCREAMING (Fenella Fielding: "Do you mind if I smoke?", Kenneth Williams: "Frying tonight"), CARRY ON COWBOY - that's the one mainly shot in a muddy field in Surrey where Joan Sims as saloon madam asks the Rumpo Kid (Sid James) for his gun and says "My, thats a big one" to which he retorts "I'm from Texas, maam, we all have big ones there...". CARRY ON CRUISING/CAMPING were fun too, and they poked fun at Henry VIII, The French Revolution etc. I didn't much care for the hospital ones and of course they began running out of steam during the late '60s/early 70s when their kind of innocent smut was no longer in vogue in the counterculture era; British cinema then was churning out CONFESSIONS OF ... and rubbish like PERCY. The witless CARRY ON LOVING in 1975 was pitifully cheap tat.

The flicks were scripted by Talbot Rothwell, produced by penny-pinching Peter Rogers, and directed by Gerald Thomas, as the films got tattier.  CARRY ON ...UP THE KHYBER in 1968 must have been the last good one, with some terrific gags and situations, not least when the wonderous Joan Sims as Lady Ruff-Diamond says "I'm a little plastered", an ad-lib as the ceiling collapses on them .... Kenneth Williams of course is The Khasi of Kalabar, Sid is Lord Ruff-Diamond looking forward to his tiffin, Charles Hawtry is Private Widdle, and they are all perfect. 

CLEO though is wonderful and works as a peplum as Kenneth's Caesar screams "Infamy, Infamy, they've all got it in for me", Amanda Barrie is a dizzy Cleo in her bath of asses milk, and Jim Dale and Kenneth Connor are the resourceful British slaves, who are sold to Roman matrons and have to drag up as Vestal Virgins; there's also Sheila Hancock as Senna Pod, a shrew wife (left, with the square wheel) , and Joan Sims is bliss again as Calpurnia, Caesar's wife. Joan was a stalwart, along with Hattie Jacques, Kenneth and Hawtry through all the series best ones - Barbara Windsor, Frankie Howerd and others popped in and out. The series of course were made for peanuts, the cast never earned very much - no repeat fees for the endless showings of them or compilations of their best bits, particularly on bank holidays, when cable channels here screen them all day (if only Barbara had a royalty for every time her bra flew off!).  

Carry On plate & BBC CD

I got Kenneth's autograph once, when he was doing a Shaw play with Ingrid Bergman in 1971; he had quite a theatrical career (working with the likes of Edith Evans, Maggie Smith, Orson Welles) before getting too identified with the series, and of course we love his ROUND THE HORNE radio shows too, particuarly those "Julian and Sandy" episodes, (now happily on cd). [Aside: I was on a train to Brighton on Christmas Eve 1986 with my christmas shopping, when I realised the man sitting opposite me was Kenneth's radio pal Hugh Paddick - I regret now I did not tell him how much those radio shows meant to us, as teenagers in Ireland]. Williams' diaries of course are compulsive reading .... The Carry Ons like the Hammers even had stamps issued celebrating them ...

'60s treats (continued)

Catching up with some 1969 extravaganzas (and a '75) I didn't bother with back then...

It’s a return to that bawdy, lusty 18th century with LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS, Peter Coe’s 1969 film of a stage show with songs, though the songs are gone here, as this vainly follows THE ADVENTURES OF MOLL FLANDERS (already reviewed here) in trying to capture the success of TOM JONES. It ramps up the squalor of the era and plays like a CARRY ON on speed – all it has going for it really is that cast. It basically follows the misadventures of three sailors on shore leave: Lusty (Jim Dale), Shaftoe (Tom Bell) and Ramble (Ian Bannen) who are all looking for some action – willing to provide it are Susannah York (Hilaret) who is rather underused here, Vanessa Howard (Hoyden) and Glynis Johns (Mrs Squeezum). Fabulous Fenella Fielding has the Joan Greenwood role as Lady Eager, allowing herself to be seduced at the theatre and ensuring her seducer has the correct window to call on later – Kathleen Harrison and Roy Kinnear are also funny as Lord and Lady Clumsey, and Roy Dotrice is the Gossip. Other familiar faces include Arthur Mullard, Peter Bull, Fred Emney and its good to see Georgia Brown (the original Nancy in the original OLIVER) as the local strumpet. Top billed though is another extraordinary performance by Christopher Plummer as Lord Fopington with a grotesque wig and what looks like a false nose and who can barely walk he is so effete. Shot in Ireland it is an amusing trifle to see at this remove.

THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN – this and Attenborough’s OH WHAT A LOVELY WAR must have kept the British acting fraternity busy during that busy year 1969, as again, most of them turn up here, led by Laurence Olivier as Lord Dowding. Ralph Richardson has a splendid set-to squaring up to German office Curt Jurgens, and those valiant airmen include the likes of Robert Shaw, Michael Caine, Ian McShane, and Edward Fox, with Nigel Patrick, Michael Redgrave, Harry Andrews and Trevor Howard as assorted officers. Christopher Plummer and Susannah York are the married couple of forces personnel who can never find time to be together – good to see York reunited with Kenneth More (from THE GREENAGE SUMMER) and then of course there are those planes and the dogfights in the skies over England in 1940 as airmen wait to get airborne and there is that “Battle in the Air” by William Walton for the climactic fights. As produced by Harry Saltzman and directed by Guy Hamilton it is all high, wide and handsome and remains stirring stuff. Some odd lapses of period detail though – Shaw and McShane exit from a house with a very modern glass door, hardly the type used in 1940 and though the other women in the background have period hair and dress, Susannah York looks like she strolled in off the Kings Road with her very ‘60s hair and make-up. Frankly, the kind of film I did not bother with when young back in 1969 but fascinating to catch up with now, if only for that cast.



THE ROYAL HUNT OF THE SUN cries out for the epic treatment it deserves but does not get it here, but this 1969 film of the hit Peter Shaffer play remains curiously fascinating. As the blurb puts it: “Driven with the desire to find the mythical Kingdom of Gold, conquistador Fancisco Pizarro (Robert Shaw) sets sail for the Americas seeking riches beyond any man’s dreams. Far from being a land of savages, Pizarro encounters the magical Inca empire and their fabled leader Atahualpa (Christopher Plummer). The initial mistrust and suspicion between the two men is replaced by mutual faith and respect –emotions not held by other members of Pizarro’s exploration party, who are purely intent of claiming the Inca gold for themselves”. Empires collide indeed in this telling of the epic story of civilisations and beliefs clashing during that strange period of history when the Old World discovered the wealth of the New and began to savagely convert them to the Church, while of removing all that gold.

I have a personal interest in this one, as when I was 20 and new in London in 1966 one of my first theatrical experiences was seeing the original spellbinding production up in the cheap seats at the Old Vic with Robert Stephens incredible as the Inca king Atahualpa opposite Colin Blakely’s Pizarro. It was splendidly staged with the conquest of the Inca empire suggested and mimed, which works in the theatre but the film does not have the budget to show it. It is though efficiently directed by Irving Lerner and produced by Philip Yordan. Again, the cast is the thing as here Robert Shaw is the grizzled conquistador Pizarro, with Nigel Davenport, Michael Craig, Leonard Whiting (Zeffirelli’s Romeo) as young scribe Martin, James Donald as the Spanish king, Andrew Keir as the bloodthirsty priest and topping it all a totally extraordinary performance once again by Christopher Plummer as the Inca Atahualpa. His many admirers who saw this on account of his Captain Von Trapp must have been startled by his appearance here, toned and buff and gleaming with those costumes and the birdsong way of speaking and moving. It is totally daring and compelling. It boils down to a two hander between Pizarro and the king while the rest of the conquistadors wait to loot and pillage and melt down that gold, which we see happening in the background. It does quite well actually on a budget suggesting the might and splendour and strangeness of the Inca empire which did not resist the onslaught of the ravaging newcomers. The invaders have to kill Atahualpa but he believes he will rise again from death the next morning when the sun arises and Pizarro desperately needs to believe him, so instead of being burned his body is kept whole ... this was all stunning in the theatre, but somehow less so in the film, but then it was conceived for the theatrical medium. Shaffer of course wrote AMADEUS and EQUUS and this is more of the same with great language and ideas.

CONDUCT UNBECOMING was a stage play and a talky one at that, being basically a courtroom drama concerning the honour of a regiment in India in the days of the British Empire. Michael Anderson opens it out a bit and there is some location shooting but it does get rather stodgy. Again, it is the cast that holds the attention – Trevor Howard and Richard Attenborough as senior officers, Christopher Plummer and Stacey Keach as military personnel, James Donald as the doctor, Susannah York as the widow of the regiment’s hero who claims she has been assaulted (but has she really?) by young wastrel James Faulkner who just wants to be sent home. It falls to reluctant Michael York to defend him and discover the rather laboured truth. This one sank without trace back in 1975 and now one just wanted it to hurry up and finish.