Directed by:
Sidney GilliatScreenplay:
Bryan ForbesCinematography:
John WilcoxComposer:
Richard Rodney BennettCast:
Peter Sellers, Mai Zetterling, Frederick Piper, John Le Mesurier, Richard Attenborough, Desmond Llewelyn, Virginia Maskell, Raymond Huntley, Damaris Hayman (more)Plots(1)
Sort of a Welsh version of THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH, this film takes some very funny turns as we watch Sellers in another of his deft characterizations. Sellers is one of the staff at a Welsh library in Swansea. He is bored with his wife, Maskell, annoyed at his children, angry at living in cramped quarters overseen by his dragon of a landlady, Maudie Edwards, and just fed up in general. He escapes mentally by dreaming of affairs with gorgeous women. One day, a gorgeous woman actually does walk into his blase existence and knocks him for a loop. This is Zetterling, the rich, sensuous wife of dull Raymond Huntley, one of the towns leading lights. She finds Sellers intriguing, and they plan to have a fling. The middle of the movie concerns their abortive attempts to consummate this passion--therein lies the comedy. In one slapstick scene, Zetterling talks Sellers into taking a car ride with her instead of going to the theater, preventing him from writing his newspaper review of the local stage production. She has a brand new automobile with all sorts of newfangled stuff on it, and he presses all the wrong buttons. Theyd parked in a lonely field and thought they were totally alone, but along comes a cow peeking through the window. Then Huntley shows up. Sellers writes a review of the play he never saw, not knowing that the play didnt come off because the theater burned to the ground. His boss at the newspaper is enraged, but thats mitigated by Zetterling using her influence to get Sellers the job of head librarian. Meanwhile, Maskell has been having a casual flirtation with two-bit poet Attenborough. Sellers understands that if he takes the job he might be unable to do the little extra things he likes to do, so he says "Ta-ta" to the position and Zetterling and returns to Maskell. He will now run a mobile library that will keep him close to his wife and children. Anyone who has ever been in a dull marriage will recognize the reality of this funny movie. It never goes too far. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Peter Sellers
UK
Best movies:
Mai Zetterling
Sweden
Best movies:
Torment (1944)
Knock on Wood (1954)
Only Two Can Play (1962)
Frederick Piper
UK
Best movies:
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
The Woman Alone (1936)
John Le Mesurier
UK
Best movies:
Richard Attenborough
UK
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Jurassic Park (1993)
The Great Escape (1963)
Hamlet (1996)
Desmond Llewelyn
UK
Best movies:
Goldfinger (1964)
Hamlet (1948)
Cleopatra (1963)
Virginia Maskell
UK
Best movies:
Only Two Can Play (1962)
Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
The Man Upstairs (1958)
Raymond Huntley
UK
Best movies:
Room at the Top (1959)
À bout de souffle (1960)
The Dam Busters (1955)
Damaris Hayman
UK
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The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965)
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Kenneth Griffith
UK
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The Lion in Winter (1968)
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Charles Lloyd Pack
UK
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Meredith Edwards
UK
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Tiger Bay (1959)
The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
Only Two Can Play (1962)
Meg Wynn Owen
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Pride & Prejudice (2005)
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Victor Harrington
Malta
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Marjie Lawrence
UK
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Only Two Can Play (1962)
John Rees
UK
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Jungle Fighters (1961)
Tenniel Evans
Kenya
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The Confession (1970)
Dalziel and Pascoe (1996) (series)
Only Two Can Play (1962)
George Woodbridge
UK
Best movies:
The Red Shoes (1948)
Richard III (1955)
An Inspector Calls (1954)
Graham Stark
UK
Best movies:
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
Becket (1964)
Howell Evans
UK
Best movies:
Only Two Can Play (1962)
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