''Every Home Should Have One'' is a 1970 British
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Jim Clark
James Clark Jr. OBE (4 March 1936 – 7 April 1968) was a British Formula One racing driver from Scotland, who won two World Championships, in 1963 and 1965. A versatile driver, he competed in sports cars, touring cars and in the Indianapol ...
and starring
Marty Feldman. It was released in the United States in theatres and on home video under the title ''Think Dirty''.
The overall concept is in direct ridicule of the then ongoing campaign by
Mary Whitehouse
Constance Mary Whitehouse (; 13 June 1910 – 23 November 2001) was a British teacher and conservative activist. She campaigned against social liberalism and the mainstream British media, both of which she accused of encouraging a more permiss ...
on gratuitous sex in advertising and other fields. Certain sections such as the parish council watching entire programmes by which they are offended to count the offensive incidents, parodies Mary Whitehouse's infamous behaviour of the time.
Plot
An advertising man is assigned by his boss to come up with a sexy new image for Mrs McLaughlin's Frozen Porridge. While his wife runs a clean-up-TV campaign organized by the local vicar, he has an affair with the au-pair girl.
The overall concept is that adverts play out before their lives connecting to the products to hand.
The various porridge advertising campaigns get more and more extreme: the most relevant being the
Goldilocks and the Three Bears campaign. This leads to a secondary campaign to search for "Miss Goldilocks".
Cast
*
Marty Feldman as Teddy Brown
*
Judy Cornwell as Liz Brown
* Garry Miller as Richard Brown, their son
*
Shelley Berman
Sheldon Leonard Berman (February 3, 1925 – September 1, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer.
In his comedic career, he was awarded three gold records and he won the first Grammy Award for a spoken comedy reco ...
as Nat Kaplan
*
Hy Hazell
Hyacinth Hazel O'Higgins (4 October 1919 – 10 May 1970), stage name Hy Hazell, was a British actress of theatre, musicals and revue as well as a contralto singer and film actress. AllMusic described her as "an exuberant comic actor and lively ...
as Mrs. Kaplan
*
Julie Ege
Julie Ege (; 12 November 1943 – 29 April 2008) was a Norwegian actress and model, who appeared in many British films of the 1960s and 1970s.
Early life
Ege was born in Sandnes, the daughter of brickyard worker Marton Ege and Hjørdis Halv ...
as Inga Giltenburg
*
Penelope Keith
Dame Penelope Anne Constance Keith, (née Hatfield; born 2 April 1940) is an English actress and presenter, active in film, radio, stage and television and primarily known for her roles in the British sitcoms '' The Good Life'' and ''To the Man ...
as Lotte von Gelbstein
*
Moray Watson as Chandler
*
Jack Watson as McLaughlin
* Mark Elwes as Rokes
*
Harold Innocent as Jimpson
*
Dinsdale Landen
Dinsdale James Landen (4 September 1932 – 29 December 2003) was an English actor. His television appearances included starring in the shows ''Devenish'' (1977) and ''Pig in the Middle'' (1980). ''The Independent'' named him an "outstanding ac ...
as Reverend Geoffrey Mellish
* John McKelvey as Colonel Belper
* Charles Lewsen as Arthur Soames
*
Maggie Jones as Hetty Soames
*
Frances de la Tour
Frances J. de Lautour (born 30 July 1944), better known as Frances de la Tour, is an English actress. She is known for her role as Miss Ruth Jones in the television sitcom ''Rising Damp'' from 1974 until 1978. She is a Tony Award winner and thr ...
as Maude Crape
*
Patrick Cargill
Patrick Cargill (3 June 191823 May 1996) was an English actor remembered for his lead role in the British television sitcom ''Father, Dear Father''.
Career
Cargill was born to middle-class parents living in Bexhill-on-Sea, Sussex. After educati ...
as Wallace Trufitt,
MP
*
Patience Collier
Patience Collier (born Irene Marjorie Ritscher; 19 August 1910 – 13 July 1987) was a British actress.
Career
Patience Collier began her theatrical career in Manchester.
In 1956 she played Maria in Denis Cannan and Pierre Bost's ''The Power a ...
as Mrs. Monty Levin
*
Annabel Leventon as Chandler's secretary
*
Sarah Badel as Joanna Snow
*
John Wells as Tolworth
*
Michael Bates as Magistrate
*
Dave Dee
David John Harman, known professionally as Dave Dee (17 December 1941 – 9 January 2009), was an English singer-songwriter, musician, A&R manager, fundraiser and businessman. He was the frontman for the 1960s pop band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, M ...
as Wednesday Play Star
*
Judy Huxtable as Frankenstein Heroine
Production
The film's titles and animated sequences were provided by
Richard Williams.
[ ]
Filming
The film was produced at Shepperton Studios
Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused w ...
in England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
Music
The feature's theme song, "Every Home Should Have One", was written by John Cameron, Caryl Brahms
Doris Caroline Abrahams (8 December 1901 – 5 December 1982), commonly known by the pseudonym Caryl Brahms, was an English critic, novelist, and journalist specialising in the theatre and ballet. She also wrote film, radio and television scripts ...
, and Ned Sherrin, arranged by Alan Tew
Alan Tew is a British composer and arranger.
He got his start in the 1950s as the pianist and arranger for the Len Turner Band based in London.
Tew is known as a composer of library music, including the theme tunes for British television prog ...
, produced by Jackie Rand, and sung by Millicent Martin
Millicent Mary Lillian Martin (born 8 June 1934) is an English actress, singer, and comedian. She was the lone female singer of topical songs on the weekly BBC Television satire show ''That Was the Week That Was'' known as TW3 (1962–1963), a ...
.[ The song was released as a single to promote the film.
]
Reception
The film was one of the most popular movies in 1970 at the British box office.
However according to Sidney Gilliat
Sidney Gilliat (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English film director, producer and writer.
He was the son of George Gilliat, editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1928 to 1933. Sidney was born in the district of Edgeley in Stoc ...
who was on the board at British Lion, the film lost money.
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, 0065709
1970 films
Films about advertising
1970 comedy films
British comedy films
British Lion Films films
Films scored by John Cameron
Films set in London
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
1970s English-language films
1970s British films