The Bed Sitting Room (1969)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Richard Lester

Writers:

John Antrobus (play)
John Antrobus (screenplay)

Release Date:

2 January 1970 (West Germany)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

WE'VE GOT A BOMB ON OUR HANDS ( *BOMB - a motion picture so brilliantly funny it goes over most people's heads.)

Plot:

Set in post-nuclear-holocaust England, where a handful of bizarre characters struggle on with their lives in the ruins...

Plot Keywords:

Bed | Cupboard | Parents | Nurse | Bizarre

Awards:

2 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

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

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:13 | UK:12 (DVD rating) | UK:AA | USA:M | USA:R (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Chobham Common, Surrey, England, UK

Company:

Oscar Lewenstein Productions

Trivia:

The revised National Anthem lyrics are.... 'God save Mrs Ethel Shroake, Long live Mrs Ethel Shroake, God save Mrs Ethel Shroake of 393A High Street, Leytonstone'

An absurdist classic

This is a wonderful surreal comedy based on the play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus. You know that it is going to be an odd film right at the beginning, when the opening credits list the cast in order of their height. The film begins with the BBC (Frank Thornton) telling us through the facade of an old television that this is the third, or is it the fourth?, anniversary of the shortest war in history, lasting 2 hours and 28 minutes. England is now a barren landscape, littered with derelict cars and buildings, hills of old boots, broken crockery, and other debris. Forty million people perished and there are only 20 known survivors. The Queen did not survive, and of the 20 known survivors the next in line for the throne is a Mrs Ethel Schroake of 393a High Street, Leytonstone. Among the other survivors are Ralph Richardson (O Lucky Man!) as Lord Fortnum of Alamein, who isn't looking forward to his impending mutation into a bed sitting room. Michael Hordern is Bules Martin, who wears a 18-carat Hovis bread ring. Spike Milligan is a postman who wanders around and delivers some memorable dialogue, for example: "And in come the three bears - the daddy bear said, 'Who's been sleeping in my porridge?' - and the mummy bear said, 'that's no porridge, that was my wife' ". Arthur Lowe is slowly turning into a parrot (which is then eaten by Spike Milligan), while his wife, the owner of her own death certificate, turns into a wardrobe. His daughter is pregnant with a strange creature, which she has held inside her for seventeen months. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore are a pair of policemen who perpetually tell the others to "keep moving!". Moore growls a lot and turns into a dog at the end. Marty Feldman is a wellington-boot-wearing nurse. It's a hilarious, absurdist treat, and one of my treasured filmic pleasures.