''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' is a 1970 British

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

film directed by

Douglas Hickox Douglas Arthur Hickox (10 January 1929 – 25 July 1988) was an English film and television director. Biography Hickox was born in London, where he was educated at Emanuel School. He started in the film industry at age 17, working at Pinewood S ...

. The screenplay by

Clive Exton Clive Exton (11 April 1930 – 16 August 2007) was a British television and film screenwriter who wrote scripts for the series '' Poirot'', ''Jeeves and Wooster'' and '' Rosemary & Thyme''.play of the same title by

Joe Orton John Kingsley Orton (1 January 1933 – 9 August 1967), known by the pen name of Joe Orton, was an English playwright, author, and diarist. His public career, from 1964 until his murder in 1967 committed by his partner, was short but highly i ...

. This was the second adaptation of the play, the first having been developed for British television and broadcast by

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

on 15 July 1968. In the film, a lonely woman invites a recent acquaintance to become her lodger and her lover. Her brother likes him as well, and the new arrival plays the siblings against each other. But the lodger is eventually blackmailed into becoming both their prisoner and their shared lover, in a

ménage à trois A () is a domestic arrangement or committed relationship consisting of three people in polyamorous romantic or sexual relations with each other, and often dwelling together. The phrase is a loan from French meaning "household of three". ...

Plot

Murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

bisexuality Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, ...

nymphomania Hypersexuality is a proposed medical condition said to cause unwanted or excessive sexual arousal, causing people to engage in or think about sexual activity to a point of distress or impairment., according to the website of '' Psychology T ...

, and

sadism Sadism may refer to: * Everyday sadism, the derivation of gratification from the physical pain or humiliation of another person * Sadomasochism, the giving or receiving of pleasure from acts involving the receipt or infliction of pain or humiliatio ...

are among the themes of this black comedy focusing on a brother and sister who become involved with a young, sexy, amoral drifter with a mysterious past. Kath is a lonely middle-aged woman living in the London suburbs with her aging father, Kemp, referred to as DaDa. When she meets Mr Sloane sunbathing and exercising on a grave in the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

near her home, she invites him to become a lodger. Soon after he accepts her offer, Kath

seduce In sexuality, seduction means enticing someone else into sexual intercourse or other sexual activity. Strategies of seduction include conversation and sexual scripts, paralingual features, non-verbal communication, and short-term behavioural ...

s him. Her

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

brother, Ed, makes him the

chauffeur A chauffeur () is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or a limousine. Initially, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to s ...

, complete with a tight

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

uniform, of his pink 1959

Pontiac Parisienne The Pontiac Parisienne is a full-size rear-wheel drive vehicle that was sold by Pontiac on the GM B platform in Canada from 1958 to 1986 and in the United States from 1983 to 1986. Right-hand drive models were locally assembled in Australia, New ...

convertible A convertible or cabriolet () is a Car, passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary across eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air drivin ...

. Kemp recognizes Sloane as the man who killed his boss years before and stabs him in the leg with a gardening tool. Sloane takes delight in playing brother against sister and tormenting the elderly man. He gets Kath

pregnant Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

and a jealous Ed warns him to stay away from her. When Mr Sloane murders Kemp to protect his secret, they

blackmail Blackmail is a criminal act of coercion using a threat. As a criminal offense, blackmail is defined in various ways in common law jurisdictions. In the United States, blackmail is generally defined as a crime of information, involving a thr ...

him by threatening to report him to the police unless he agrees to participate in a

, in which he becomes not only a

sexual partner Sexual partners are people who engage in sexual activity together. The sexual partners may be in a committed relationship, either on an exclusive basis or not, or engage in the sexual activity on a casual basis. They may be on intimate terms ( ...

but their

prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

as well.

Cast

Beryl Reid Beryl Elizabeth Reid (17 June 1919 – 13 October 1996) was a British actress. She won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for '' The Killing of Sister George'', the 1980 Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for '' Born in th ...

as Kath *

Peter McEnery Peter Robert McEnery (born 21 February 1940) is a retired English stage and film actor. Early life McEnery was born in Walsall, Staffordshire, to Charles and Ada Mary (née Brinson) McEnery. He was educated at Ellesmere College, Shropshire. Hi ...

as Sloane *

Harry Andrews Henry Stewart Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (10 November 1911 – 6 March 1989) was a British actor often known for his film portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson in '' The Hill'' (1965) earned And ...

as Ed * Alan Webb as Kemp

Production

Background and financing

Douglas Hickox was a TV commercials director who wanted to get into feature films. He and Doug Kentish set up a company called Canterbury Films which mostly made commercials. They had to buy the rights off a German company. Hickox admitted "Orton is not a subject I would have picked" normally, but "it was my opportunity." They spent two years trying to raise finance for what would be Canterbury's first feature. Producer Kentish said casting was "difficult" but they could afford to pay the actors "a little more" as there were only four, and there were only a few locations. Finance was raised in part from

Anglo-Amalgamated Anglo-Amalgamated Productions was a British film production company, run by Nat Cohen and Stuart Levy, which operated from 1945 until roughly 1971 (after which it was absorbed into EMI Films). Low-budget and second features, often produced at ...

. It was one of the first of a slate of films under the supervision of

Nat Cohen Nat Cohen (23 December 1905 – 10 February 1988)William D. Rubinstein, et al (eds.''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'' Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p.171 was a British film producer and executive. For over four decades he was one of t ...

who had set up a unit at

EMI Films Canal+ Image International (formerly known as EMI Films, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment, Lumiere Pictures and Television, and UGC DA) was a British-French film, television, animation studio and distributor. A former subsidiary of the EMI congl ...

Filming

Filming commenced on 18 August 1969, with three weeks of location work and four weeks in the studio. The film was produced at Intertel Studios in Wembley and on location at

Brockley Brockley is a district and an wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. It has been named the best area of London to live in. It is an area rich in Vi ...

, at

East Dulwich East Dulwich is an area of South (London sub region), South East London, England in the London Borough of Southwark. It forms the eastern part of Dulwich, with Peckham to the east and Camberwell to the north. East Dulwich is home to the Dog Kenn ...

, and at the lodge in

Camberwell Old Cemetery The two Camberwell cemeteries located close to each other in Honor Oak, south London, England, are notable for their burials and architecture. They have been an important source of socioeconomic data documenting the historical growth and changin ...

Honor Oak Honor Oak is an inner suburban area principally of the London Borough of Lewisham, with part in the London Borough of Southwark. It is named after the oak tree on One Tree Hill that Elizabeth I is reputed to have picnicked under. Overview One ...

Music

The theme song was sung by

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the only B ...

. Fame released it as the B-side of his 1970 single "

Somebody Stole My Thunder Somebody may refer to: Music Albums * ''Somebody'', by Connie Dover, 1991 * ''Somebody'', by Philip Michael Thomas, 1988 Songs * "Somebody" (Aerosmith song), 1973 * "Somebody" (Bonnie McKee song), 2004 * "Somebody" (Bridgit Mendler song), 20 ...

Release

Attended by

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

, the Royal World Premiere took place on 1 April 1970 at the Carlton Cinema in London. Beryl Reid later wrote in her memoirs that "though it wasn’t an immediate success commercially, ''Entertaining Mr Sloane'' has become a cult film: everybody tries to get videos of it, which is quite surprising. It has always been my favourite film and certainly it was brilliantly adapted for the screen from Joe Orton’s play by Clive Exton, with Douglas Hickox doing a marvellous job."

Critical reception

''Variety'' said the film "blends morbid humor, an obsession with sex, and an underlying pathos and result is interest that is always held. It’s no detraction from the rest of the cast to say that it is firmly Beryl Reid's picture." ''The Guardian'' felt it was "a pretty coarse version of the play which persists in rubbing our noses in what Orton hinted at." The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "an outrageous, hilarious, pitch black English comedy."

Roger Greenspun Roger Greenspun (December 16, 1929 – June 18, 2017) was an American journalist and film critic, best known for his work with ''The New York Times'' in which he reviewed near 400 films, particularly in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and for '' ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' observed, "I think that the play's real interest lies precisely in its

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German, as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

avoidance of the depths with which the movie is so vividly familiar. But in most of its particulars the film succeeds—with a superb cast, Douglas Hickox's inventive and generally restrained direction, and a screenplay by Clive Exton that . . . opens up the action mainly to enlarge the characterization of Ed, a real virtue if only for allowing more time and scope to the wonderful Harry Andrews. To a degree the drama has been realized on film . . . and this seems worth the effort and the occasional

misdirection Misdirection may refer to: * Misdirection (magic), a technique used when performing magic tricks * Misdirection, a technique used for the purpose of pickpocketing * Misdirection (pickleball), a deceptive strategy when hitting the ball * Misdirec ...

s, and the nervous

discomfort Comfort is a state of physical or psychological ease, often characterized by the absence of hardship. Individuals experiencing a lack of comfort are typically described as uncomfortable or in discomfort. A degree of psychological comfort can b ...

that is likely to be an audience's most immediate response." ''Time Out'' thought the original play "loses much of its savoury charm in this movie version. Clive Exton's script opens out the play conventionally, to little effect, and Hickox's direction shows little flair for

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

in general or Orton in particular." ''Filmink'' called it "a brave, artistic choice for atCohen, another of the (many) rebuttals that he made “safe” movies." Veteran actor

Dudley Sutton Dudley Sutton (6 April 1933 – 15 September 2018) was an English actor. Active in radio, stage, film and television, he was best known for his role of Tinker Dill in the BBC Television comedy/drama series ''Lovejoy''. Early life Sutton was b ...

originated the role of Sloane in the premiere London and New York stage productions, and was friends with Orton. He was sharply critical of the film version in a 2016 interview with Dr Emma Parker of the

University of Leicester The University of Leicester ( ) is a public university, public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park, Leicester, Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, Univ ...

, and complained strongly about what he saw as the film's weak presentation of Sloane's character:

"The thing about Sloane is that he's ... ''lumpen'' ... he's not a lightweight. When they made that atrocious film ... God rest 'em ... they made Sloane a lightweight, and he isn't like that. Sloane is kind of monosyllabic, and he's heavy, he's lumpen ... leaden ... he's a geez."

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

Cinema Club 2 Entertain Video Limited, trading as BBC Studios Home Entertainment, is a British video and music publisher founded in 2004 following the merger of BBC Video and Video Collection International by BBC Worldwide and the Woolworths Group respec ...

on 20 June 2005. In May 2025,

Severin Films Severin Films is an American independent film production and distribution company known for restoring and releasing cult films on DVD and Blu-ray. It is considered a boutique Blu-ray and DVD label. History The label was created in 2006 in Los A ...

will release a restored

2K resolution 2K resolution is a generic term for display devices or content having a horizontal resolution of approximately 2,000 pixels. In the movie projection industry, Digital Cinema Initiatives Digital Cinema Initiatives, LLC (DCI) is a consortium ...

version of the film, with bonus material, on

Blu-Ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

DVD.

References

External links

*
British Film Institute database
{{Douglas Hickox 1970 films 1970 black comedy films 1970 comedy-drama films 1970 LGBTQ-related films 1970s pregnancy films Bisexuality-related films British black comedy films British comedy-drama films British LGBTQ-related films 1970s English-language films Films about dysfunctional families Films about siblings British films based on plays Films directed by Douglas Hickox Films shot in London LGBTQ-related black comedy films LGBTQ-related comedy-drama films British pregnancy films Films with screenplays by Clive Exton 1970s British films English-language black comedy films