The Misadventures of Mr. Wilt (1989)

An unlucky lecturer's wife goes missing and he's accused of her murder.

Director:

Michael Tuchner

Writers:

Tom Sharpe (novel), Andrew Marshall (screenplay adaptation)

Stars:

Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Alison Steadman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Griff Rhys Jones	...	Henry Wilt
Mel Smith	...	Inspector Flint
Alison Steadman	...	Eva Wilt
Diana Quick	...	Sally
Jeremy Clyde	...	Hugh
Roger Allam	...	Dave
David Ryall	...	Rev. Froude
Roger Lloyd Pack	...	Dr. Pittman
Dermot Crowley	...	Braintree
John Normington	...	Treadaway
Tony Mathews	...	Gladden
Charles Lawson	...	Cranham
Gabrielle Blunt	...	Mrs. Bulstrode
Edward Clayton	...	Mossop
Jeffrey Chiswick	...	Macari (as Geoffrey Chiswick)

Storyline

Henry Wilt is a more or less failure of a teacher who fantasizes about murdering his dominant, non-attentive wife Eva. At a party Wilt is stuck to an inflatable doll and makes a complete fool of himself. Eventually, he dumps the doll in a hole at a building site. However, he has been witnessed getting rid of the doll and when his wife disappears on the night after the party, the police with inspector Flint strongly suspect Wilt of being guilty.

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Plot Keywords:

inflatable doll | based on novel | independent film | 

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Taglines:

An inflatable love story!

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Genres:

Comedy | Crime

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 November 1989 (UK)

Also Known As:

The Misadventures of Mr. Wilt

Filming Locations:

Middlesex Polytechnic, Bounds Green, London, England, UK

Box Office

Gross USA:

$113,014

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Rank Organisation, London Weekend Television (LWT), Picture Partnership

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

Wilt was the first in a loose series of satirical novels featuring the character Henry Wilt written by Tom Sharpe; the others in the series were The Wilt Alternative, Wilt On High, Wilt in Nowhere and the Wilt Inheritance.

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Goofs

When Henry crashes into the phone box both his headlights are clearly intact and there is no serious damage to the panel work. This is also true when he drives off. Shortly after, we see his car has a broken headlight and severe panel damage.

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Quotes

Sally: I like men with small ones, they try so much harder.
Henry Wilt: You're obsessed with sex.

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Alternate Versions

A near identical version exists for TV broadcast that replaces all the strong profanity (such as the F word) with milder swear words such as 'bloody'. Closer examination shows that these scenes do not appear dubbed indicating that during filming some scenes were specially filmed again using the milder language. This version was broadcast on ITV in the UK in the 1990s and as this film was co-financed by an ITV network (LWT) this would appear to indicate that these changes were planned well in advance with television screenings in mind.

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Soundtracks

Love Hurts
Written by Felice Bryant and Boudleaux Bryant
Performed by Leo Sayer
Produced by Anne Dudley and Ted Hayton for Buffalo Music Ltd.
Published by Acuff-Rose Opryland Music Ltd.

User Reviews

Funny script

There are usually very good reasons why films like this one do poorly at the box office.

usual reason is the fact that they are not funny, being funny, is a very important prerequisite for a comedy films. The story by Mr Sharp, is funny, very funny, and the characters, as conceived by him, are crafted in the great comedy tradition. So why was the film very unfunny and not successful as a comedy film? Mr Smith and Mr Rhys Jones are tried and proved comedians, who have been very funny in the past, and since. The problem is that like the great Morecambe and Wise before them, they were not comedic actors, they failed to understand that the character in a comedy story has his own reasons for doing what he does, his own motivation and his own personal set of human feelings and desires. the comedic actor, unlike the comedian, does not have to make the character funny, he/she must play them out with love and respect for their foibles, which lead them constantly into scenes of unintentionally comic behaviour.

With Wilt, in the case of Mr Rhys Jones's character, the audience is often left asking itself why, and Mr Smith played the policeman without ever giving credence to how on earth he might have got to such a rank in the first place.