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Too much of everything

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

This is a 'quiet' film that holds up well. Bill Naughton had two successful films close together, Alfie, with Michael Caine, and The Family Way with John Mills playing father-in-law to his real life daughter Hayley. Though not boasting quite the ensemble cast of Alfie it does well with Marjorie Rhodes, Avril angers, Liz Fraser, Barry Foster etc and offers an almost perfectly balanced mixture of laughter and tears among the working class of Bolton. Due to a combination of circumstances newly-wed Hywel Bennett is unable to consummate his marriage to Hayley Mills, a situation that persists for some ten weeks and finally comes to a head when virtually everyone and his Uncle Max is in on the quasi scandal. With scarcely a duff performance throughout this is a fine example of Northern grit.

Given Bill Naughton's reputation as a writer I am sure that the original play worked well - the structure, the staging and the casting all fell naturally into place. Here it is a very good cast and some good performances but this film version seems uncertain where its heading or what it's about. until the last 15 minutes when much if not all is revealed about Ezra (John Mills) and (Marjorie Rhodes) marriage - and that is how the film ends. In terms of structure, around half the film is fairly aimless: young couple get married but are obliged to live in the husband's parent's house. Then half way through it is revealed that the marriage has not been consummated, and the problem seems to be the young husband (we get no impression from Hywel Bennett if he is experienced or not. Its always the same Hywel Bennett from "Virgin Soldiers" to Joe Orton - clever agile but rather detached). From the very little he says on the subject it seems he was put off by his bride's laughter at particularly critical moment and still, 10 weeks later, nothing has progressed. In a rather knockabout section news of the problem spreads until the entire neighbourhood gets to know of it. The young husband gets mocked by his leering employer, fights with him, is sacked, comes home early and, his blood up, shows (for the first time?) passion for his wife and thereafter all goes like clockwork. At this point attention shifts to an oddity in his parent's marriage and something major is revealed and the film ends with Ezra sorrowfully reflecting on what has been revealed. But what was revealed didn't have a great bearing on the what the audience had sat through for an hour - the story of the rather feeble young couple. The film itself won no awards, just, and rightly so,one for Marjorie Rhodes great performance. And that accords with my view - apart from her powerful and coherent performance, the rest is rather floundering.I would be interested to read the play.

1966 was a busy year for writer Bill Naughton. In addition to Lewis Gilbert's 'Alfie' ( starring Michael Caine ), he also penned this wonderful, warm Boulting Brothers' comedy - based on his play 'All In Good Time' - a late addition to the cycle of 'kitchen sink' movies that began with 'Saturday Night & Sunday Morning' ( 1960 ). It opens on the wedding day of Lancashire couple Jenny Piper ( Hayley Mills ) and Arthur Fitton ( Hywel Bennett ). Things do not go right for them from the word go: the local travel agent ( Colin Gordon ) goes bust, losing them their honeymoon money, Arthur is beaten in an arm wrestling contest by his tanked-up father Ezra ( John Mills ), loud mouthed Joe Thompson ( Barry Foster ) plays a crude practical joke which results in the couples' bed collapsing as soon as they get into it, and worse, Arthur is stricken with impotence. News of his condition gets out, and he becomes the laughing stock of the street...Hard to believe now, but this was considered controversial back in its day. The fuss stemmed from a short scene in which Mills is seen taking a bath in the Fittons' kitchen. American audiences were used to seeing the actress in wholesome Disney pictures such as 'Pollyanna' and 'The Parent Trap' so the sight of her naked derrière on the big screen must have come as a shock. The performances are uniformly excellent; as well as Hayley and Bennett, there's John Mills as 'Ezra'. He hates seeing his son trying to improve his mind through reading and listening to Beethoven, and openly says so. Ezra is obsessed by his childhood friend 'Billy Stringfellow' whom he even took along on his honeymoon ( it is inferred that Billy once had a fling with Ezra's wife Lucy, and may in fact be Arthur's true father ) and talks about him constantly. Wilfred Pickles, John Comer, Avril Angers, Murray Head, Liz Fraser, Diana Coupland, Fanny Carby and Kathy Staff provide strong support, but for me the stand out performance comes from Marjorie Rhodes as Arthur's mother. Her exchanges with Ezra are priceless. Worried that the increasing Chinese population might cause a global food shortage, he says: "Someone should tell them to stop it!" to which she replies: "Why don't you? They might take notice!".Though primarily a comedy it manages to be incredibly poignant at times. There is an excellent sequence in which the impotent Arthur goes for a walk only to be bombarded by images promoting sex. Needless to say, everything works out well at the end, and Ezra gets to deliver one of the best final lines of any movie ever.Paul McCartney wrote the score. Unsurprisingly, some of it has a Beatles feel. One track, in particular, evokes 'Eleanor Rigby'.Mills and Bennett were reunited two years later for another Boulting Brothers picture - the very different 'Twisted Nerve'.

A wonderfully gentle, warm funny movie set in Lancashire. One of the best to come out in the 1960s, memorable performances from some fine British actors. There are scenes that I will never forget even though I have not seen the movie since it was released in 1966. Liz Fraser and Barry Foster were just hilarious, Marjorie Rhodes had tears streaming down my face and the late, lamented Sir John Mills was superb. I wish, I wish it were available to buy on DVD. So many of Hayley Mills' movies have not seen the light of day for so long that one wonders if there is some kind of embargo on them - fans of her work will no doubt know what I mean. She is sweet, tender, vulnerable and utterly charming as Jenny Fitton - very authentic northern vowels and an excellent performance. The character roles were by far the juicier ones and the excellent cast seize on their characters like ravening wolves - I never seen Marjorie Rhodes so electrifying. I suppose you probably need to be English and from the Manchester area to fully appreciate every nuance of expression and bask in the resonance of this great, smashing movie. On the other hand, I don't suppose it matters where you come from to appreciate young Hayley's scene in the bathtub when the camera lingers for a few heart-stopping moments on her perfect little bare bottom. Thank you, Hayley.