''The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins'' is a 1971 British
sketch comedy
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...
film directed and produced by Graham Stark. Its title is a conflation of ''
The Magnificent Seven
''The Magnificent Seven'' is a 1960 American Western film directed by John Sturges. The screenplay, credited to William Roberts, is a remake – in an Old West-style – of Akira Kurosawa's 1954 Japanese film '' Seven Samurai'' (itself init ...
'' and the
seven deadly sins
The seven deadly sins (also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins) function as a grouping of major vices within the teachings of Christianity. In the standard list, the seven deadly sins according to the Catholic Church are pride, greed ...
. It comprises a sequence of seven sketches, each representing a
sin
In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...
and written by an array of British comedy-writing talent, including
Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Py ...
,
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...
,
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer (23 March 1935 – 25 January 2022) was an English writer, comedian, and actor. As well as performing on stage, radio and television, Cryer wrote for many performers including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory B ...
and Galton and Simpson. The sketches are linked by animation sequences overseen by
Bob Godfrey
Roland Frederick Godfrey MBE (27 May 1921 – 21 February 2013),Roy Budd, cinematography by Harvey Harrison and editing by Rod Nelson-Keys and Roy Piper. It was produced by Tigon Pictures and distributed in the U.K. by Tigon Film Distributors Ltd.
The cast features three
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
"Avarice", is written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. In this segment, a 50p coin falls down a drain and Elsinore, a pompous rich man, orders his chauffeur Clayton to retrieve it. A fisherman attempts to fish it out. The chauffeur's efforts result only in the coin dropping farther down into the sewer. Other people become involved in the search, including a policewoman and one of the workers in the sewer. In the end the rich man, seeing the sewage on the chauffeur, fires him but then falls straight into the open sewer. The chauffeur drops the coin in after him and after replacing the manhole cover, walks away with a purposeful stride.
Cast
*
Bruce Forsyth
Sir Bruce Joseph Forsyth-Johnson (22 February 1928 – 18 August 2017) was an English entertainer and television presenter whose career spanned more than 75 years.
Forsyth came to national attention from the late 1950s through the Associated Te ...
"Envy", is written by Dave Freeman. Stanley and his wife Vera are winners of the
football pools
In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may enc ...
and are looking to buy a huge house. His wife spots one and decides she must have it.
The owners enjoy a quiet life there and do not wish to sell. So Stanley decides to employ a series of schemes to force the owners of the house to sell their home so that they can buy it; one of these schemes involves creating a mock edition of the local newspaper that purports to tell the story of a new motorway that will go straight through their garden.
The owners sell to Stanley and wife. As they move in a mechanical digger is seen coming towards the house as it turns out the 'story' is actually true.
June Whitfield
Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television and film actress.
Whitfield's big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme ...
Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Py ...
and
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer (23 March 1935 – 25 January 2022) was an English writer, comedian, and actor. As well as performing on stage, radio and television, Cryer wrote for many performers including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory B ...
. In this sketch Dickie works for a health food firm selling slimming biscuits, but secretly is a compulsive eater who has food hidden all around his office. Matters get worse when Ingrid, the firm's sexy vice president, invites him for dinner.
Cast
*
Leslie Phillips
Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. He appeared in the '' Carry On'' ...
"Lust", is written by Graham Stark from a story by
Marty Feldman
Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was known for his exophthalmos, prominent, strabismus, misaligned eyes.
He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on th ...
. Ambrose Twombly is determined to find a partner and chats up a woman in an adjoining telephone box by looking through the glass, dialling the number of her telephone and convincing her that he is someone from her past who just happens to be on a "crossed line" by some extraordinary coincidence, cleverly prompting her with some personal details he has managed to spot. She seems quite excited about the prospect of meeting up with him, but before he gets the chance to arrange a meeting she tells him over the phone that there is a man looking at her with a face that looks like "a monkey" in the adjoining phone box (which is, of course, Corbett). The segment ends with a shot of a dangling handset. This was a reworking of the writers' ''Here I Come Whoever I Am'' episode in the fourth (1965) series of '' Comedy Playhouse''.
Bill Pertwee
William Desmond Anthony Pertwee (21 July 1926 – 27 May 2013) was an English actor and comedian. He is best remembered for playing Chief ARP Warden Hodges in ''Dad's Army'' and P.C. Wilson in '' You Rang, M'Lord?''.
Early life
Pertwee was bo ...
"Pride", is written by Alan Simpson and Ray Galton. In it, two motorists meet facing each other on a narrow country road, and neither is willing to pull aside to let the other pass. In the end, neither wins.
This was a reworking of the writers' ''Impasse'' episode in the second (1963) series of '' Comedy Playhouse''. It was remade again in 1996 as an episode of '' Paul Merton in Galton & Simpson's...''.
Cast
*
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, (18 June 1920 – 5 February 2010) was an English actor who Ian Carmichael on stage, screen and radio, worked prolifically on stage, screen and radio in a career that spanned seventy years. Born in Kingston upon ...
as Mr. Ferris
*
Alfie Bass
Alfie Bass (born Abraham Basalinsky, 10 April 1916 – 16 July 1987) was an English actor. He was born in Bethnal Green, London, the youngest in a Jewish family with ten children; his parents had left Russia many years before he was born. He a ...
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...
. It features a series of silent black and white film clips, with dialogue captions, where people chose to be inactive rather than pursuing a logical course. In particular a tramp who refuses to take his hands out of his pockets, as he is holding his walnuts. The captions incorporate a
running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are no ...
on the word "walnut".
Cast
*
Spike Milligan
Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002) was an Irish comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an English mother and Irish father, he was born in British Raj, British India, where he spent his ...
as tramp
*
Melvyn Hayes
Melvyn Hayes ('' né'' Hyams; born 11 January 1935) is an English actor and voice-over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner (later Bombardier) "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'', for ...
Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as ''Porridge (1974 TV series), Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', ...
*
Peter Butterworth
Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth (4 February 1915Marty Feldman
Martin Alan Feldman (8 July 1934 – 2 December 1982) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was known for his exophthalmos, prominent, strabismus, misaligned eyes.
He initially gained prominence as a writer with Barry Took on th ...
Cardew Robinson
Douglas John Cardew Robinson (14 August 1917 – 28 December 1992) was a British comic whose career was rooted in the music hall and Gang Shows.
Early life and career
Born in Goodmayes, Essex, Robinson was educated at Harrow County Schoo ...
Graham Chapman
Graham Chapman (8 January 1941 – 4 October 1989) was a British actor, comedian and writer. He was one of the six members of the Surreal humour, surrealist comedy group Monty Python. He portrayed authority figures such as The Colonel (Monty Py ...
and
Barry Cryer
Barry Charles Cryer (23 March 1935 – 25 January 2022) was an English writer, comedian, and actor. As well as performing on stage, radio and television, Cryer wrote for many performers including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory B ...
.
Two men in a public park are angered by the park keeper (Lewis plays his character Inspector Blake from '' On the Buses'' in all but name) telling them off for littering, so they try to kill him. Most of their schemes fail, but in the end they succeed, by planting a bomb in a washroom. However, this is only accomplished at the cost that they themselves die too. They think that they are in
heaven
Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...
, and plan to litter it too, but instead they find themselves in
hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location or state in the afterlife in which souls are subjected to punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history sometimes depict hells as eternal destinations, such as Christianity and I ...
, and the man they tried to kill is actually the devil.
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Henry Lewis (born November 11, 1937) is a Canadian politician, public speaker, broadcaster, and diplomat. He was the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations in the 1980s and was the leader of the social democratic Ontario New Democr ...
as Jarvis, the park keeper
*
Arthur Howard
Arthur Howard (born Arthur John Steiner; 18 January 1910 – 18 June 1995) was an English stage, film and television actor.
Life and career
Born in Camberwell, London, Howard was the younger son of Lilian (née Blumberg) and Ferdinand "Frank" ...
as Kenneth
Critical reception
''
The Monthly Film Bulletin
The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...
'' wrote: "Given the film's format, most of the burlesque of the seven featured sins (linked by brief animation sequences) inevitably inflates them into something like morality play abstractions (with formula doses of poetic, instead of divine, retribution). On the other hand, they no longer have the fatal attraction of forbidden fruit, simply the lure of permissible vanities and indulgences – much like the invitation of modern advertising, in fact. The exceptions to this mostly mild and unremarkable humour are two episodes that seem least tailored to the format: Lust, which has previously featured as an episode in a television series, and Sloth, inimitably tailored by Spike Milligan as a sepia-tinted, running, jumping and (only infrequently) standing still film."
''The
Radio Times
''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...
Guide to Films'' gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Having packed his short film '' Simon, Simon'' 970with cameos by his famous friends, comic actor Graham Stark enticed even more comedians and comic writers to contribute to this, his only feature. It comprises seven sketches, each one a mildly amusing illustration of a deadly sin. The film is very much a product of its time, with familiar television faces performing glorified sitcom (two of the segments are adaptations of TV episodes), while busty starlets remove their clothes."
British film critic
Leslie Halliwell
Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic, encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV, the British commercial network, and Channel 4. He is best known for his reference guides, '' Fi ...
said: "Compendium of comedy sketches, a very variable ragbag of old jokkes."