Monday 4 August 2014

Don't Bother to Knock (1961 Cyril Frankel)

Not the Marilyn Monroe thriller; instead the energetic Richard Todd is a randy slut who falls out with his girlfriend June Thorburn because she won't shag him, then goes round Europe, rather easily getting into the knickers of Nicole Maurey, Elke Sommer and other women, who then all come to stay in his Edinburgh apartment (luckily of a reasonable size) and thereby complicate matters further with aforementioned Thorburn. That is, incredibly, Rebecca's Judith Anderson as his swinging older lady friend, plus Ronald Fraser and John Le Mesurier in support, with fleeting appearances by Graham Crowden, John Laurie, Kynaston Reeves and Carry on Cleo's Amanda Barrie. We thought we also recognised Fulton Mackay as a waiter, but he's not credited as such.

Music is by Elisabeth Lutyens - it's rather different from the norm. She was a pioneer of discordant music and thus I suppose wrote the very strange bit that is performed to an audience of about two! Anne Coates cut it, invisibly, and Geoffrey Unsworth is on camera. More about those two later... Interestingly Frederic Raphael provided additional dialogue...

Must have been quite risqué when released.


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