The Bed Sitting Room *** (1969, Rita Tushingham, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook) – Classic Movie Review 9506

The public of the day was more mystified than amused by director Richard Lester’s 1969 The Bed Sitting Room, but it does entertain sporadically and sustain a level of interest when viewed now on TV.

The absurdist nonsense stage play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus becomes a puzzling Pythonesque fantasy with a great cast of funny actors (including Milligan) struggling to raise even a few laughs.

The plot is the kind of Samuel Beckett thing that works well on stage but not so well on film about London survivors of a nuclear war transforming into things like domestic pets and home items, and one of them (that’s Ralph Richardson) becomes a bed sitting room!  They sing ‘God Save Mrs Ethel Shroake, Long Live Mrs Ethel Shroake’ and that’s Dandy Nichols. Lester regular Roy Kinnear plays Plastic Mac Man, Ronald Fraser plays The Army and Frank Thornton plays the BBC.

Director Lester tries very hard to make his film engaging, and some of it is. If you are curious at all, give it a try. Overall, and with hindsight, it still manages to be interesting and even oddly amusing and appealing.

The screenplay is by John Antrobus, with adaptation by Charles Wood.

The main cast are Ralph Richardson, Rita Tushingham, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Mona Washbourne, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Roy Kinnear, Richard Warwick, Ronald Fraser, Dandy Nichols, Jack Shepherd, Bill Wallis, Cecil Cheng, Edward Malin, Chris Konyils, Frank Thornton, Henry Woolf, Ronnie Brody, Gordon Rollings, Marty Feldman and Jimmy Edwards.

The Bed Sitting Room is directed by Richard Lester, runs 91 minutes, is made by Oscar Lewenstein Productions, is released by United Artists, is written by John Antrobus (screenplay) and Charles Wood (adaptation), is shot by David Watkin, is produced by Oscar Lewenstein and Richard Lester, is scored by Ken Thorne, and is designed by Assheton Gorton.

It is released by British Film Institute (BFI) (2009) (UK) (DVD) and MGM Home Entertainment (2011) (US) (DVD).

In the opening credits, the cast is listed in the credits in order of height.

Rita Tushingham was born in Liverpool on 14 March 1942, and made her film debut as a teenager in Tony Richardson’s A Taste of Honey (1961), winning a BAFTA, Golden Globe and the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.  A Taste of Honey (1961), Girl with Green Eyes (1964) and The Knack …and How to Get It (1965) are her highspots.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9506

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