Let's Get Married (1960 film)
| Let's Get Married | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Peter Graham Scott |
| Written by | Ken Taylor |
| Based on | novel Confessions by Ken Taylor |
| Produced by | John R. Sloan |
| Starring | Anthony Newley Anne Aubrey Hermione Baddeley |
| Cinematography | Ted Moore |
| Edited by | Ernest Walter |
| Music by | Edwin Astley |
Production company | Viceroy Films |
| Distributed by | Eros Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 91 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Let's Get Married is a 1960 British comedy drama film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Anthony Newley, Anne Aubrey and Hermione Baddeley.[1] It was written by Ken Taylor. The film features Newley singing the song "Do You Mind", which reached #1 in the British Hit Singles chart the same year.[2]
Director Graham said it was " not a good film – not my script and not my scene."[3]
Plot
Dickie Bird is a medical student. After being thrown out of his university he ends up working in a laundry and rebuilds his confidence with a relationship with a fashion model.
Cast
- Anthony Newley as Dickie Bird
- Anne Aubrey as Anne Linton
- Bernie Winters as Bernie
- Hermione Baddeley as Mrs O'Grady
- James Booth as photographer
- Jack Gwillim as Doctor Saunders
- Lionel Jeffries as Marsh
- Diane Clare as Glad
- John Le Mesurier as Dean
- Victor Maddern as works manager
- Joyce Carey as Miss Finch
- Sydney Tafler as Pendle
- Betty Marsden as Miss Kaplan
- Cardew Robinson as salesman
- Meier Tzelniker as Schutzberger
- Nicholas Parsons as RAF officer
- Paul Whitsun-Jones as Uncle Herbert
- Margaret Tyzack as Staff Nurse
Production
The film was based on a novel by Ken Taylor called Confessions about a single model who discovers she is pregnant. Warwick bought the rights and turned it into a musical comedy.[4]
The film was shot at MGM British Studios in Elstree with sets designed by the art director Ken Adam. It was known as Confessions and made by Viceroy Films which had links to Warwick Films.[5] Filming started 26 October 1959.[6]
Reception
Kine Weekly reported it "was doing extremely well" at the box office.[7]
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "After an amusing hospital scene, what might have been a charming, romantic little fable declines into slapstick and weak jokes. Some of the fooling displays imagination, but too often it is just a case of characters grimacing, falling, spraying each other with water – not to mention all manner of tasteless variations on the hardly uproarious theme of unmarried motherhood. Anthony Newley, giving a broader performance than usual, is given songs to sing, regardless of their relevance to the story. Lionel Jeffries provides yet another of his impressive caricatures. Like Newley, he awaits better material."[8]
Variety wrote: "Neither Newley nor the rest of the cast can do much with the grim dialog and erratic situations. ... This corny setup blends uneasily with slapstick that is crashed home whenever the plot is sagging plus with two or three songs brought in extraneously and not very well put over. In fact, so many different styles have created a flat hodge-podge faced instead of the lighthearted lark that was obviously expected."[9]
References
- ^ "Let's Get Married". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ "Do You MInd? by Anthony Newley". Official Charts (UK). Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ McFarlane, Brian (1997). An autobiography of British cinema : as told by the filmmakers and actors who made it. p. 520. ISBN 978-0-413-70520-4.
- ^ Bardsley, Garth (2003). The biography of Anthony Newley: Stop the world. Oberon Books. p. 73.
- ^ "Around the studios". Kinematograph Weekly. 26 November 1959. p. 7.
- ^ "In production". Variety. 4 November 1959. p. 17.
- ^ Billings, Josh (19 May 1960). "Your films". Kine Weekly. p. 14.
- ^ "Let's Get Married". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 27 (312): 54. 1 January 1960. ProQuest 1305826361.
- ^ "Let's Get Married". Variety. Vol. 218, no. 5. 30 March 1960. p. 6.