''What Changed Charley Farthing?'' (also known as ''The Bananas Boat''), is a 1975

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Sidney Hayers Sidney Hayers (24 August 1921 – 8 February 2000) was a British film and television director, writer and producer. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hayers began his career as a film editor. Among the films he directed are '' Circus of Horrors'' (1 ...

, starring

Doug McClure Douglas Osborne McClure (May 11, 1935 – February 5, 1995) was an American actor whose career in film and television extended from the 1950s to the 1990s. He is best known for his role as the cowboy Trampas during the entire run from 1962 to 1 ...

Lionel Jeffries Lionel Charles Jeffries (10 June 1926 – 19 February 2010) was an English actor, director, and screenwriter. He appeared primarily in films and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, Golden ...

, and

Hayley Mills Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills (born 18 April 1946) is an English actress. The daughter of Sir John Mills and Mary Hayley Bell and younger sister of actress Juliet Mills, she began her acting career as a child and was hailed as a promisi ...

. It was written by David Pursall and Jack Seddon based on the 1965 novel of the same title by John Harris (as Mark Hebden).

Premise

Roaming sailor Charley Farthing is paid to give safe passage out of revolutionary Cuba to a young woman and her fathere.

Cast

as Charley Farthing *

as Houlihan *

as Jenny *

Warren Mitchell Warren Mitchell (born Warren Misell; 14 January 1926 – 14 November 2015) was an English actor best known for playing bigoted cockney Alf Garnett in television, film and stage productions from the 1960s to the 1990s. He was a BAFTA TV A ...

as MacGregor *

Dilys Hamlett Dilys Hamlett (31 March 1928 in South Tidworth, Hampshire – 7 November 2002 in Cupar, Fife) was a British actress. Early life Dilys Hamlett was born on 31 March 1928 in South Tidworth, Hampshire (now in Wiltshire), and developed an early int ...

as Miss Parchment * Alberto de Mendoza as Jumbo *

Victor Israel The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...

as Christmas *

Fernando Sancho Fernando Sancho Les (7 January 1916 – 31 July 1990) was a Spanish actor. Biography He was born in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain on 7 January 1916 and died at Hospital Militar Gómez Ulla in Madrid on 31 July 1990 from a liver failure during or ...

as Lupez *Luis Marín as Hatta *

Ricardo Palacios Ricardo López-Nuño Díez (2 March 1940 – 11 February 2015), better known as Ricardo Palacios, was a Spanish actor, film director and screenwriter. Born in Reinosa (Cantabria), Palacios graduated from the Official Film School in Madrid as an ...

as Greek captain

Production

The film was shot at

Pinewood Studios Pinewood Studios is a British film and television studio located in the village of Iver Heath, England. It is approximately west of central London. The studio has been the base for many productions over the years from large-scale films to t ...

near London, and on location in Aguilas in Spain, which filled in for Havana. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Lionel Couch Lionel Couch (1913–1989) was a British art director. He was nominated for two Academy Awards in the category Best Art Direction. Selected filmography Couch was nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction: * '' Sons and Lovers'' ( ...

and

Enrique Alarcón Enrique Alarcón Sánchez-Manjavacas (1917–1995) was a Spanish film art director and set decorator. He worked on over two hundred films, mostly Spanish, but also in foreign films shot in Spain, such as ''King of Kings'' (1961). Alarcón recei ...

Release

''What Changed Charley Farthing?'' was not released in the United States until January 1976.

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: "this is a comedy: a fact signified by having the characters sit down on prickly cacti, drop heavy cases on each other's toes and – at various intervals amid the "hilarity" – scuttle around with uncovered, blushing buttocks. This dreary romp sadly misuses the comic potential of Lionel Jeffries and Warren Mitchell, recalls more successful Cold War comedies of the Sixties ("Cumbra" standing in for Cuba), and makes one wish Doug McClure (last seen in '' The Land that Time Forgot'') would return to his TV Westerns." ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' called the film "a total misfire." ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'' called it "a nice piece of slapstick". ''

Filmink ''FilmInk'' is an Australian film magazine published by FKP International Exports. It was founded by current publisher Dov Kornits and Colin Fraser in July 1997, in Sydney. The magazine has been through many changes over the course of its exist ...

'' called it "a painful attempt at an African Queen-type jaunt... with Mills attempting an odd accent and seeming unhappy."

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: "Weirdly ineffective comedy actioner which never gets started and should never have been thought of."

References

External links

*
What Changed Charley Farthing?
at Letterbox DVD
What Changed Charley Farthing?
at BFI {{Sidney Hayers 1975 films 1975 comedy films British comedy films Spanish comedy films Films shot at Pinewood Studios Films directed by Sidney Hayers Films set in Cuba 1970s English-language films 1970s British films Films scored by Kenneth V. Jones