Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary *** (1953, Diana Dors, Bonar Colleano, Diana Decker, David Tomlinson, Sid James) – Classic Movie Review 11,118

Director Maurice Elvey’s amusing and spirited 1953 British black and white comedy Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary is based on Vivian Tidmarsh’s 1944 London West End hit play, originally starring Ralph Lynn and running for almost three years, with hit revivals in the Sixties.

Film rights were bought by Adelphi Films in February 1953 as a vehicle for Diana Dors, who was paid a fee of £1,000, the same as she was paid for her next film, another comedy, It’s a Grand Life (1953) with Frank Randle. To put it in context, in 1951 her fee was £250 as the female lead supporting Ronald Shiner in Worm’s Eye View, one of the year’s most popular movies in Britain.

The screenplay is by Talbot Rothwell, who went on to write 20 Carry On films.

Filming took place over four weeks in April at Nettlefold Studios, Walton-on-Thames.

Bonar Colleano stars as US Navy airman Commander Laurie Vining, who starts a post in London and is ready to enjoy his honeymoon there with his new wife Gillian (Diana Decker). Diana Dors also stars as his gorgeous blonde first wife Candy Markham, who threatens his marital bliss by claiming they are still married as the divorce was in California. Sid James plays faithful confidant Hank Hanlon, who tries to restore order, and David Tomlinson plays lawyer Frank Betterton, who intervenes.

The main cast are Bonar Colleano as Commander Laurie Vining, Diana Dors as Candy Markham, David Tomlinson as Frank Betterton, Diana Decker as Gillian Vining, Sid James as Hank Hanlon, Audrey Freeman as Lucy, Hubert Woodward as Hicks, MacDonald Parke as Admiral Fields and Lou Jacobi as Captain Noakes.

Dors had previously worked for Maurice Elvey in My Wife’s Lodger (1952) and The Great Game (1953), also made by Adelphi Films.

The play was still being presented in London’s West End starring Brian Rix in the mid-1960s, and he appeared as Lawrence Vining in the TV version BBC Sunday-Night Play: Brian Rix Presents: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary? on 21 February 1960.

Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary is on a DVD double bill with My Wife’s Lodger.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,118

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