One of my favourite films is in the roster of TalkingPicturesTV. There are so many delights in this Ned Sherrin production: the comedy on all levels from the physical through double-meanings to social satire, the nods to classic movies of the past, the animations of Richard Williams (and I trust tomorrow night's BBC-4 survey of British animators gives him his due) and early big screen appearances of stars like Penelope Keith and Frances de la Tour. There is an uncredited Alan Bennett and I thought I caught a brief glimpse in last night's showing of Judy Geeson in a non-speaking part which not even IMDb has picked up. IMDb does acknowledge the contributions to the script of Barry Took and Marty Feldman (who were an established team writing for radio at the time) as well as Denis Norden, who died not so long ago. Muir and Norden were much in demand as script-doctors as Clement & La Frenais were to be nearer our own time. The unembarrassed (Barry Took seems to have been the only goy on the writing team) sending-up of Jewish stereotypes was a joy and I am sure I missed some subtle ones.
Sadly, the version of the film shown by TalkingPicturesTV is less than sparkling. This is probably down to the quality of the original in Eastmancolor, a Kodak process which was one of the better cheaper alternatives to Technicolor, but which is less resistant to the effects of ageing. I am sure that Studio Canal did their best with the transfer to digital media. Also showing its age was the target of the film's satire, using sex to sell product on TV. It is something we take for granted nowadays, but at least most of the gags stand up well.
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