The Breaking of Bumbo (1970)

The hilarious adventures of young Bumbo Bailey, who enlists in the Brigade of Guards and is based in the prestigious Wellington Barracks in London in the Swinging Sixties. He regards his social life as important as his military.

Director:

Andrew Sinclair

Writer:

Andrew Sinclair (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Richard Warwick, Joanna Lumley, Natasha Pyne

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Warwick	...	Bumbo
Joanna Lumley	...	Susie
Natasha Pyne	...	Sheila
Jeremy Child	...	Billy
John Bird	...	Jock
Donald Pickering	...	Jorum
Derek Newark	...	C.S.M. Peters
Don McKillop	...	R.S.M.
Peter Myers	...	C.O.
Simon Williams	...	Crutcher
Timothy Carlton	...	Bean
Edward Fox	...	Horwood
George Janson	...	Farquhar
Robert Swann	...	Machaffie
Peter Whitting	...	Downley

Storyline

The hilarious adventures of young Bumbo Bailey, who enlists in the Brigade of Guards and is based in the prestigious Wellington Barracks in London in the Swinging Sixties. He regards his social life as important as his military.

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Plot Keywords:

female nudity | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 1973 (Ireland)

Filming Locations:

Wellington Barracks, Westminster, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

EMI Film Productions, Timon Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Colour by) (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film has had a most curious history. It was intended that it should be directed by the team of Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, who had attracted attention with their amateur-made film "It Happened Here", which got cinema showings and general acclaim in 1966. But they left the project shortly before filming was due to begin and Andrew Sinclair, who had written the script from his own novel, was abruptly promoted to director. The film was made in the early summer of 1970 and was the opening-night attraction at the "Cinema City" exhibition at London's Round House in October of that year. (This exhibition, financed by the "Sunday Times" newspaper, was a celebration of 75 years of cinema). The film was very poorly received at this time, and plans to give it a cinema release were abruptly canceled. It went unseen in Britain until an isolated TV showing on the BBC five years later. Then it vanished again.

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Soundtracks

Springtime In the City
by the Graham Bond Organisation

User Reviews

Very much of its time

What went wrong with this would be satire of a newly commissioned Guards officer who soon finds the routine and social life tiresome and meaningless and is seduced into aiding a group of bourgeois revolutionaries? Well, apart from a rotten title, neither the script, adapted from director Andrew Sinclair's decade old novel, nor the direction are sharp enough and Richard Warwick's Bumbo is just too bland, making it difficult to care that much about him. And the feeble mockery of the establishment, in the form the Guards and their regimental rituals falls flat. There are compensations though, starting with Joanna Lumley as rich fun radical Suzie. Looking absolutely stunning, being particularly memorable in red mock snakeskin trousers, she gives a confident vivacious performance throughout, and the movies' prompt disappearance must have been a setback to her. I'm not sure how she'd regard it today though. Incidentally, at around the same time she made a sitcom with the wonderful title 'It's Awfully Bad For Your Eyes Darling' written by Jilly Cooper. Does it still exist? I presume John Bird was supposed to be an American; anyway he's quite funny, not always intentionally so. Better performances come from Donald Pickering as Bumbo's supercilious superior officer and Don McKillop and Derek Newark as the R.S.M. and C.S.M. respectively. There's a quite witty ditty 'Red is London' sung over the opening credits by Joan Hart, and a glimpse of the Chelsea crowd at Stamford Bridge in the 69-70 season, as well as footage of the Grosvenor Square rioters in 1968, now in some quarters, mocked and derided themselves.

The bottom line is, botched as it may be, this is quite watchable, and I'm sure some will love it, particularly if they're fans of Joanna Lumley and 'swinging sixties' movies. I've seen worse films, and in an era where double features were still the norm, its prompt withdrawal remains a mystery.