Diamonds for Breakfast | |
---|---|
Directed by | Christopher Morahan |
Written by | Ernesto Gastaldi Ronald Harwood Pierre Rouve N. F. Simpson |
Produced by | Carlo Ponti |
Starring | Marcello Mastroianni |
Cinematography | Gerry Turpin |
Edited by | Peter Tanner |
Music by | Norman Kay |
Production companies | ABC Films Bridge Films |
Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | $1.3 million [1] |
Diamonds for Breakfast is a 1968 British comedy film directed by Christopher Morahan. [2] [3] The film opened in London but was never released in the US. It recorded an overall loss of $1,445,000. [1]
Grand Duke Nicholas Wladimirovitch Goduno is a hard-up Russian aristocrat who owns a London boutique. At an art exhibition he slips on a banana skin and, recovering, hears the ghosts of his ancestors suggesting he steals the imperial diamonds. He assembles a team of female accomplices and posing as models they steal jewels by attaching them to carrier pigeons. However Nikolas's aunt ambushes the pigeons, and loses everything gambling in Monte Carlo.
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Unswervingly vulgar and soporific comedy whose principal joke is the sexual fatigue that overwhelms the hero in his patriotic attempts to keep his lady accomplices happy. The fantasy element is clumsily inserted (with great-grandfather's ghost looking remarkably like an extra from Ivan the Terrible (1944)), and N. F. Simpson's contribution to the script is discernible only in the accurately clichéd comments of the visitors to the Soviet exhibition and in the conversation of the elderly English Duke who boasts of having "slept through two World Wars". Mastroianni seems as embarrassed by his slapstick gags as Rita Tushingham does by the combination of Liverpudlian kookiness and romantic initiative with which the script burdens her; and only Warren Mitchell as the perspiring Russian (quoting Marx dogmatically, but still crossing himself for luck) strikes the right farcical note." [4]
Two-Way Stretch, also known as Nothing Barred, is a 1960 British comedy film directed by Robert Day and starring Peter Sellers, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Lionel Jeffries and Bernard Cribbins. The screenplay is by Vivian Cox, John Warren and Len Heath. A group of prisoners plan to break out of jail, commit a robbery, and then break back into their jail again, thus giving them the perfect alibi – that they were behind bars when the robbery occurred. However, their plans are disrupted by the arrival of a strict new Chief Prison Officer.
Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20th-century, who played leading roles for many of the country's top directors, in a career spanning 147 films between 1939 and 1996, garnering many international honours including two BAFTA Awards, two Best Actor awards at the Venice and Cannes film festivals, two Golden Globes, and three Academy Award nominations.
The Wrong Arm of the Law is a 1963 British comedy film directed by Cliff Owen and starring Peter Sellers, Bernard Cribbins, Lionel Jeffries, John Le Mesurier, Bill Kerr and Nanette Newman. The final screenplay was written by John Antrobus, Ray Galton, and Alan Simpson – from an original draft script by John Warren and Len Heath, based on a story by Ivor Jay and William Whistance Smith – and made by Romulus Films. It reunited Sellers, Jeffries, and Cribbens who appeared together in the 1960 film comedy Two-Way Stretch – also written by John Warren and Len Heath – where similarly Sellers and Cribbens played crooks (incarcerated) against Jeffries as on officer of the law, in that case as their chief prison officer.
Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River is a 1968 British comedy film directed by Jerry Paris and starring Jerry Lewis, Terry-Thomas and Jacqueline Pearce. It was written by Max Wilk based on his 1961 novel of the same title, with the original Connecticut locale moved to Swinging London and Portugal. It was produced by Walter Shenson and released on 12 July 1968 by Columbia Pictures.
Smashing Time is a 1967 British satirical comedy film directed by Desmond Davis starring Rita Tushingham and Lynn Redgrave. It is a satire on the 1960s media-influenced phenomenon of Swinging London. It was written by George Melly.
Till Death Us Do Part is a 1968 British comedy film directed by Norman Cohen, written by Johnny Speight, and starring Warren Mitchell and Dandy Nichols. It was based on the BBC television series of the same name created by Speight. A sequel, The Alf Garnett Saga, followed in 1972.
A Taste of Honey is a 1961 British New Wave drama film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens and Murray Melvin. It is an adaptation of the 1958 play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney wrote the screenplay with Richardson, who had directed the original Broadway production of the play in 1960. As with the play, the film is an exemplar of a social realist genre of British media known as kitchen sink realism.
The Trap is a 1966 British-Canadian adventure western film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Oliver Reed and Rita Tushingham. Shot in the wilderness of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the film is an unusual love story about a rough trapper and a mute orphan girl.
The Jokers is a 1967 British comedy film directed by Michael Winner and starring Michael Crawford and Oliver Reed. It was written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Two brothers hatch a plot to steal the Crown Jewels.
The "Human" Factor is a 1975 suspense-thriller film directed by Edward Dmytryk and starring George Kennedy, John Mills, Raf Vallone, Rita Tushingham, Barry Sullivan, and Haydee Politoff. A young Danny Huston appears in his acting debut. The UK/US/Italy co-production was shot on-location in Naples. The soundtrack was by composer Ennio Morricone. It was Dmytryk's final theatrically released film.
Straight On till Morning is a 1972 British thriller film directed by Peter Collinson and starring Rita Tushingham, Shane Briant, James Bolam, Katya Wyeth and John Clive. It was made by Hammer Film Productions. The screenplay concerns a reserved young woman who finds herself attracted to a handsome stranger, unaware of his psychotic tendencies.
A Place to Go is a 1963 British crime drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Bernard Lee, Rita Tushingham and Michael Sarne. It was based on the 1961 novel Bethnal Green by Michael Fisher.
The Best House in London is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Philip Saville and starring David Hemmings, Joanna Pettet, George Sanders, Warren Mitchell, John Bird, Maurice Denham and Bill Fraser. It was written by Dennis Norden.
A Tale of Five Cities is a 1951 British-Italian international co-production comedy drama film directed by Romolo Marcellini, Emil E. Reinert, Wolfgang Staudte, Montgomery Tully, Irma von Cube and Géza von Cziffra. The five cities cited in the title are: Rome, Paris, Berlin, London, and Vienna.
The Alf Garnett Saga is a 1972 British comedy film directed by Bob Kellett and starring Warren Mitchell, Dandy Nichols, Paul Angelis and Adrienne Posta. The film was the second spin-off from the BBC TV series Till Death Us Do Part (1965–1975). It starts where the first film finished, but with Angelis and Posta now playing Mike and Rita, the roles previously played by Anthony Booth and Una Stubbs.
The King's Breakfast is a 1963 British short musical family film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Maurice Denham, Mischa Auer, and Reginald Beckwith. It was based on the 1924 poem The King's Breakfast by A.A. Milne.
Elaine Regina Taylor Plummer is an English former actress, best known as a leading lady in comedy films of the late 1960s and early 1970s. She is the widow of Canadian actor Christopher Plummer, to whom she was married for 50 years.
Up to His Neck is a 1954 British comedy film directed by John Paddy Carstairs, starring Ronald Shiner, Hattie Jacques and Anthony Newley.
Five Days is a 1954 British second feature ('B') film noir directed by Montgomery Tully and starring Dane Clark, Paul Carpenter and Thea Gregory. It was written by Paul Tabori and produced by Anthony Hinds for Hammer Film Productions. It was released in the United States by Lippert Pictures.
I'm Not Feeling Myself Tonight is a 1976 British comedy film directed by Joseph McGrath and starring Barry Andrews, James Booth and Sally Faulkner.