The Best House in London * (1969, David Hemmings, Joanna Pettet, George Sanders) – Classic Movie Review 11,247

‘From top to bottom… it’s the best place in town!’ Director Philip Savile’s saucy 1969 British comedy film The Best House in London is a curious piece from the pen of Denis Norden, who must have thought it would be ‘alright on the night’, but it wasn’t.

‘From top to bottom… it’s the best place in town!’

Director Philip Savile’s saucy 1969 British comedy film The Best House in London is a curious piece from the pen of Denis Norden, who must have thought it would be ‘alright on the night’, but it wasn’t. Nevertheless, it features  a lovely gang of people, headed by David Hemmings, Joanna Pettet, George Sanders, Warren Mitchell, John Bird, Maurice Denham and Bill Fraser.

David Hemmings gives a stiff and uncomedic turn, failing to amuse in either of his two roles: a Victorian villain trying to organise a British Government whorehouse in London to solve the problem of street prostitution, and a hero trying to rehabilitate the streetwalkers.

Norden’s iffy script provides some laughs, but not many. George Sanders, Joanna Pettet, Warren Mitchell, Dany Robin, William Rushton, John Bird and Bill Fraser also star. John Cleese has a walk-on role. The subject matter earned this innocuous thing an X-certificate in its day.

Also in the cast are Maurice Denham, Wolfe Morris, Martita Hunt, Arnold Diamond, Hugh Burden, Jan Holden, Mike Lennox, Arthur Howard, Clement Freud, Neal Arden, Walter Brown, Suzanne Hunt, Carol Friday, Marie Rogers, Tessie O’Shea, Avril Angers, and Betty Marsden, with Peter Jeffrey as Sherlock Holmes (uncredited) and Thorley Walters as Doctor Watson (uncredited).

It is the second of four times Thorley Walters played Watson, with a different actor as Holmes each time: also Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace (1962) with Christopher Lee, The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother (1975) with Douglas Wilmer and The Sunday Drama: Silver Blaze (1977) with Christopher Plummer.

Denis Norden wrote his final It’ll Be Alright on the Night 20 TV Special in 2006. Denis Norden was born on February 6, 1922 in Hackney, London, and died on September 19, 2018, age 96.

The Best House in London is directed by Philip Saville, runs 97 minutes, is made by Bridge Film, is distributed by MGM, is written by Denis Norden, is shot by Alex Thomson, is produced by Kurt Unger and Philip M Breen, and is scored by Mischa Spoliansky.

Release date: June 1969 (UK) and July 30, 1969 (New York).

It was shot in February 1968 at Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England.

It was planned as The Best House in Milan to star Sophia Loren.

It was the first MGM release to get an MPAA X rating.

It was the last film of Martita Hunt, who died on 13 June 1969.

The cast are David Hemmings as Benjamin Oakes / Walter Leybourne, Joanna Pettet as Josephie Pacefoot, George Sanders as Sir Francis Leybourne, Dany Robin as Babette, Warren Mitchell as Count Pandolfo, John Bird as Home Secretary, Jan Holden as Lady Dilke, William Rushton as Sylvester Wall, Bill Fraser as Inspector MacPherson, Maurice Denham as Editor of The Times newspaper, Wolfe Morris as Chinese Trade Attaché, Martita Hunt as Headmistress, Arnold Diamond as Charles Dickens, Hugh Burden as Lord Tennyson, Avril Angers as Flora’s Mother, Betty Marsden as Felicity, Tessie O’Shea as Singer, Arthur Howard as Mr Fortnum, Clement Freud as Mr Mason, Peter Jeffrey as Sherlock Holmes, Thorley Walters as Doctor Watson, John Cleese as Jones, Margaret Nolan as Prostitute, Penny Spencer as Evelyn, Veronica Carlson as Lily, Neal Arden, Walter Brown, Suzanne Hunt, Carol Friday, and Marie Rogers.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,247

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