The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins * (1971, Bruce Forsyth, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Roy Hudd, Julie Samuel, Harry Secombe, Leslie Phillips, Julie Ege) – Classic Movie Review 10,783

Director Graham Stark’s 1971 British film The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins is a compilation of comedy sketches based on the Seven Deadly Sins from a host of the most talented 70s British writers and stars.

The majority of the sketches are very ancient and very weak, but two or three are pretty good, and occasionally a giggle or two break through the gloom, though then mostly thanks to the performing. The segments Pride (with Ian Carmichael and Alfie Bass), Sloth (with Spike Milligan, Marty Feldman, Melvyn Hayes, Peter Butterworth, Davy Kaye, David Lodge, Cardew Robinson, Madeline Smith and Ronnie Barker) and Wrath (with Stephen Lewis, Ronald Fraser and Arthur Howard) and come off the best.

It features Bruce Forsyth, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims, Roy Hudd, Julie Samuel, Harry Secombe, Leslie Phillips, Julie Ege, Harry H Corbett, Ian Carmichael, Alfie Bass, Spike Milligan, Ronald Fraser, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Felicity Devonshire, Cheryl Hall, Suzanne Heath, Geoffrey Bayldon, June Whitfield, and Carmel Cryan.

Julie Samuel plays Petrol Attendant (segment “Avarice”) in her last film.

The segments “Pride” and “Lust” were TV playlets in the series Comedy Playhouse (1961).

The mainly silent segment “Sloth” is written by Spike Milligan. The segment “Lust” is written by Graham Staark and stars Harry H Corbett as the leering Ambrose. The segment “Envy” is written by Dave Freeman.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,783

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