''The Kitchen'' is a 1961 British

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

directed by James Hill and starring

Carl Möhner Carl Martin Rudolf Möhner (11 August 1921 – 14 January 2005) was an Austrian film actor, director, screenwriter and painter. He appeared in more than 40 films between 1949 and 1976. His most famous roles were as Jo "le Suédois" in the 19 ...

, Mary Yeomans, Brian Phelan, Tom Bell,

Eric Pohlmann Eric Pohlmann (german: Erich Pohlmann; born Erich Pollak; 18 July 1913 – 25 July 1979) was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor who worked mostly in the United Kingdom. He is known for voicing Ernst Stavro Blofeld, th ...

and

James Bolam James Christopher Bolam (born 16 June 1935) is an English actor. He is best known for his roles as Terry Collier in ''The Likely Lads'' and its sequel ''Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?'', Jack Ford in ''When the Boat Comes In'', Roy Fi ...

. The film follows the dozen staff in a restaurant's

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running water, a ...

during the course of one busy morning. The script is based on the 1957 stage play of the same name by

Arnold Wesker Sir Arnold Wesker (24 May 1932 – 12 April 2016) was an English dramatist. He was the author of 50 plays, four volumes of short stories, two volumes of essays, much journalism and a book on the subject, a children's book, some poetry, and oth ...

. The film was produced by

Sidney Cole Sidney Henry Cole (31 October 1908 – 25 January 1998) was a British film and television producer. Earlier in his career he worked as a film editor. Cole was educated at the London School of Economics (LSE), and entered the film industry a ...

for Act Films Ltd.Action! Fifty Years in the Life of a Union. Published: 1983 (UK). Publisher: ACTT. . ACT Films Limited - Ralph Bond p81 (producer listed as Sidney Cole) It features a musical interlude when all the staff dance to a song: "What's Cookin'" by

Adam Faith Terence Nelhams Wright (23 June 1940 – 8 March 2003), known as Adam Faith, was an English singer, actor, and financial journalist. A teen idol, he scored consecutive No. 1 hits on the UK Singles Chart with "What Do You Want?" (1959) and " Po ...

. There is no particular plot and it simply looks at the various relationships between different staff members. The kitchen staff is almost exclusively male and the waiting staff is exclusively female. The presence of one new member of staff allows each person to be introduced in turn. The owner wanders around checking things. The story looks at the bickering between staff, petty thievery, and rather excessive drinking of more than one staff member.

Cast

as Peter * Mary Yeomans as Monica * Brian Phelan as Kevin * Tom Bell as Paul * Howard Greene as Raymond *

as Mr Marango the owner *

as Michael * Scott Finch as Hans *

Gertan Klauber George Gertan Klauber (5 March 1932 – 1 August 2008) was a British bit part character actor. Klauber was born in Czechoslovakia, and after training at the Birmingham Theatre School, his stage appearances included with the RSC and the Nat ...

as Gaston *

Martin Boddey Albert Martin Boddey (16 April 1907 – 24 October 1975) was a British film and television actor. He was a founder member of the Lord's Taverners charity. Boddey started acting when he was nearly 40, often portraying irritable authority fi ...

as Max * Sean Lynch as Dimitri * Josef Behrmann as Magi * George Eugeniou as Nick * Frank Pettitt as Frank *

Charles Lloyd-Pack Charles Lloyd-Pack (10 October 1902 – 22 December 1983) was a British film, television and stage actor. Life and career Lloyd-Pack was born at Wapping, East London, to working-class parents. He was seen in several horror films produced by the ...

as Chef * Frank Atkinson as Alfred *

Rosalind Knight Rosalind Marie Knight (3 December 1933 – 19 December 2020) was an English actress. Her career spanned 70 years on stage, screen, and television. Her film appearances include ''Blue Murder at St Trinian's'' (1957), '' Carry On Nurse'' (1959), ...

as Waitress

References

External links

* 1961 films 1961 drama films British drama films 1960s English-language films Films directed by James Hill (British director) British films based on plays 1960s British films {{1960s-UK-film-stub