The Bed Sitting Room (1969)

Set in post-nuclear-holocaust England, where a handful of bizarre characters struggle on with their lives in the ruins, amongst endless heaps of ash, piles of broken crockery and brick, ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

John Antrobus (screenplay), Charles Wood (adaptation),

Stars:

Rita Tushingham, Ralph Richardson, Peter Cook

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rita Tushingham	...	Penelope
Ralph Richardson	...	Lord Fortnum of Alamein
Peter Cook	...	Inspector
Dudley Moore	...	Sergeant
Spike Milligan	...	Mate
Michael Hordern	...	Bules Martin
Roy Kinnear	...	Plastic mac man
Richard Warwick	...	Allan
Arthur Lowe	...	Father
Mona Washbourne	...	Mother
Ronald Fraser	...	The Army
Dandy Nichols	...	Mrs Ethel Shroake
Frank Thornton	...	The BBC
Harry Secombe	...	Shelter Man
Jimmy Edwards	...	Nigel

Storyline

Set in post-nuclear-holocaust England, where a handful of bizarre characters struggle on with their lives in the ruins, amongst endless heaps of ash, piles of broken crockery and brick, muddy plains, and heaps of dentures and old boots. Patriotically singing "God Save Mrs. Etheyl Shroake, Long Live Mrs. Etheyl Shroake", they wander through this surrealistic landscape, forever being warned by the police to "keep moving", and prone to the occasional mutation into a parrot, cupboard, or even, yes, a bed sitting room with "No Wogs" scrawled in the grime on it's windows. In particular, this story revolves around the odd "love story" of a girl who lives with her parents in one compartment of a London Underground train, the commuter in the next compartment, and the doctor they meet after returning above ground in search of a nurse for the heavily pregnant girl.

---

Plot Keywords:

bed | wasteland | subway | parents | bomb | 

---

Taglines:

"The Great Nuclear Misunderstanding Lasted 2 Minutes And 28 Seconds (including the peace treaty)"

---

Genres:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

---

Certificate:

M

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

2 January 1970 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

A szoba-konyha

Filming Locations:

Chesil Bank, Dorset, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Oscar Lewenstein Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The words "bomb" and "war" are very rarely said in the dialogue. Instead, with quintessentially English euphemism, the terms "misunderstanding", "unfortunate incident" etc are used.

---

Quotes

Sergeant: [at various points in film, shouting out of police car] Keep moving!

---

Crazy Credits

In the opening credits, cast members are listed in order of height.

User Reviews

Plot, visuals, script all equally disrupted by nuclear war- but an oddly touching black comedy!

Buried in the sheer oddity and downright perversity of the humour there is a deep pathos. People of all classes from Lord to lunatic try through activities and language to cling to a civilization represented by heaps of objects. The horrors of holocaust are tempered by humour arising mainly from the ridiculous pretensions of the cast. Every mainstay of British middle and upper class culture has been made absurd - some of the characters are busy mutating into absurd objects - a bed sitting room, a wardrobe, a parrot. The humour is zany, the one-liners often mixing double entendre, understatement and naievity with real pathos. Arthur Lowe as the pompous father, Mona Washbourne as the all-sympathetic mother can bring a lump to the throat.

The nearest rival to Milligan's and Antrobus' satire is to be found in Swift. Lampooning society after it has endured the very worst of tragedies and demonstrating through a torrent of absurdities, that human decency survives is something difficult to sustain in text, but this Fellini-like panorama could never be contained by the pages of a book. It almost defines one of the things which film can do best.

It is ragged and patchy - but a film which includes Harry Seacombe as a 'regional seat of government' defies conventional criticism!