Sir Henry at Rawlinson End (1980)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Steve Roberts

Writers:

Steve Roberts (writer)
Vivian Stanshall (writer)

Release Date:

7 November 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

The very eccentric English peer Sir Henry Rawlinson attempts, with the help of his mad family & servants, to exorcise the ghost of his brother Humbert. |

Plot Keywords:

Ghost | Eccentric | Recluse | Accidental Shooting | Alcohol

Cast

Trevor Howard	...	Sir Henry Rawlinson
Patrick Magee	...	Rev. Slodden
Denise Coffey	...	Mrs E - housekeeper
J.G. Devlin	...	Old Scrotum - butler
Harry Fowler	...	Buller Bullethead
Sheila Reid	...	Lady Florrie Rawlinson
Vivian Stanshall	...	Hubert Rawlinson / Narrator
Suzanne Danielle	...	Candice Rawlinson
Daniel Gerroll	...	Ralph Rawlinson
Ben Aris	...	Lord Tarquin of Staines
Liz Smith	...	Lady Phillipa of Staines
Jeremy Child	...	Peregrine Maynard
Susan Porrett	...	Porcelain
Gary Waldhorn	...	Max
Simon Jones	...	Joachim

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Gloucestershire, England, UK

Company:

Charisma Films

Trivia:

In first release, the movie was predominantly accompanied by the Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan short The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1960) which played before the feature.

Quotes:

Sir Henry: If I had all the money I'd spent on drink, I'd spend it on drink.

brilliant low-budget absurdism

I've seen this movie twice and yet still can't make head or tail of it. However, that doesn't prevent it from being near on brilliant, perhaps the lamentably late Vivian Stanshall's masterpiece. Trevor Howard as Sir Henry rambles on pompously (and nonsensically) and maintains a bunker which houses two guys who pretend it's still World War II for Howard's sake. There's some sort of plot involving exorcising Howard's brother's ghost (played by Stanshall) and a sub-plot involving Patrick Magee as a Reverend up to no good (can't figure out what sort of no good, however). The extremely low production values add to the feeling of run-down old money that make this dada narrative so damn funny. It's also got some good music and Howard in blackface on a unicycle. Director Steve Roberts was responsible for writing the Max Headroom TV show, of which I have extremely fond but vague memories.