The Battle of the Sexes | |
---|---|
Directed by | Charles Crichton |
Written by | Monja Danischewsky |
Based on | The Catbird Seat by James Thurber |
Produced by | Monja Danischewsky |
Starring | Peter Sellers Robert Morley Constance Cummings |
Narrated by | Sam Wanamaker |
Cinematography | Freddie Francis |
Edited by | Seth Holt |
Music by | Stanley Black |
Production company | Prometheus Film Productions Ltd. |
Distributed by | Bryanston Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 80 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Budget | £133,060 [1] [2] |
The Battle of the Sexes is a 1959 British black and white comedy film starring Peter Sellers, Robert Morley, and Constance Cummings, and directed by Charles Crichton. Based on the short story "The Catbird Seat" by James Thurber, [3] it was adapted by Monja Danischewsky. A timid accountant in a Scottish Tweed weaving company cleverly bests a brash modern American efficiency expert whose ideas threaten his way of life.
Mr Martin, the accountant for a Scottish Tweed weaving company, is in Edinburgh buying whisky and cigarettes on the Royal Mile. He is called to the death-bed of the owner, old MacPherson, at Moray Place. MacPherson offers him a whisky but Martin declines, so MacPherson drinks for the two and promptly dies.
The new owner of the Tweed company, young MacPherson, is enamoured of a zealous American woman, Angela Barrows, who is an efficiency expert and wants to turn her hand to revolutionising the very traditional company. She insists on visiting "the factory" on the Hebrides islands, only to discover that the work is done by old couples, on crofts where they spin the wool.
She plans to replace the 700 weavers, dotted across the islands, with a single large factory. While being driven through the city, she also says the company should change to synthetic fibres, causing the chauffeur to drive into the back of a brewer's dray.
Mr. Martin watches a Sherlock Holmes film at the cinema and is inspired to kill Mrs. Barrows. As he is a non-smoker and a non-drinker, he decides he can mislead any future investigation by smoking and drinking at the scene of the planned crime. He buys a half-bottle of whisky and a packet of cigarettes. However, in her flat, after a series of botched attempts, his conscience gets the better of him and he cannot kill her.
He tries to remove all evidence when young MacPherson suddenly appears but manages to avoid detection. Back in the office, MacPherson interrogates Martin and finds his denial more plausible than Mrs. Barrows' claims. She cannot take any more, accuses them all of being mad, and leaves for good. Thus Mr. Martin wins his "battle of the sexes". Later, seeing her crying at the station, he is moved to buy her a flower.
Film rights to the story were owned by Hecht Hill Lancaster. Billy Wilder was signed to direct. [4] Then Charles Crichton was brought out from London to direct the film but it didn't proceed. Eventually they sold the rights.
It was the first film made by the newly-formed Bryanston Films, who approved it on 13 May 1959. [5] Crichton liked the script, felt Robert Morley was "slightly miscast... but I think it was about the best performance Peter Sellers ever gave in his life." [6]
The film was a minor box office hit earning Bryanston a profit of £10,894. [7] Kine Weekly called it a "money maker" at the British box office. [8]
On its 1960 release, the film was very warmly reviewed by The New York Times , with critic A. H. Weiler calling it a "gentle, tongue-in-cheek ribbing that cleaves to the spirit, if not entirely to the letter of Thurber's lampoon." [3]
Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote- The Battle of the Sexes, transfers James Thurber's story The Catbird Seat to Scotland and spins it out to unjustified length. There is only one long joke in the picture, full of predictable padding. [9]
James Grover Thurber was an American cartoonist, writer, humorist, journalist and playwright. He was best known for his cartoons and short stories, published mainly in The New Yorker and collected in his numerous books.
Tom Jones is a 1963 British period comedy film, an adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic 1749 novel The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. It is directed by Tony Richardson from a screenplay written by John Osborne, and stars Albert Finney as the titular character. The cast also features Susannah York, Hugh Griffith, Edith Evans, Joan Greenwood, Diane Cilento, and David Warner in his film debut.
Joan Mary Waller Greenwood was an English actress. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark. She played Sibella in the 1949 film Kind Hearts and Coronets, and also appeared in The Man in the White Suit (1951), Young Wives' Tale (1951), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952), Stage Struck (1958), Tom Jones (1963) and Little Dorrit (1987).
Robert Adolph Wilton Morley CBE was an English actor who enjoyed a lengthy career in both Britain and the United States. He was frequently cast as a pompous English gentleman representing the Establishment, often in supporting roles. In 1939 he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of King Louis XVI in Marie Antoinette.
I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney based on the 1958 novel Private Life by Alan Hackney.
Rising Sun is a 1993 American buddy cop crime thriller film directed by Philip Kaufman, who also wrote the screenplay with Michael Crichton and Michael Backes. The film stars Sean Connery, Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel, Tia Carrere, Mako and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. It was based on Michael Crichton's 1992 novel Rising Sun.
William Finlay Currie was a Scottish actor of stage, screen, and television. He received great acclaim for his roles as Abel Magwitch in the British film Great Expectations (1946) and as Balthazar in the American film Ben-Hur (1959).
Kidnapped is a 1960 American adventure drama film. It is based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic 1886 novel Kidnapped. It stars Peter Finch and James MacArthur, and was Disney's second production based on a novel by Stevenson, the first being Treasure Island. It also marked Peter O'Toole's feature-film debut.
Whisky Galore! is a 1949 British comedy film produced by Ealing Studios, starring Basil Radford, Bruce Seton, Joan Greenwood and Gordon Jackson. It was the directorial debut of Alexander Mackendrick; the screenplay was by Compton Mackenzie, an adaptation of his 1947 novel Whisky Galore, and Angus MacPhail. The story—based on a true event, the running aground of the SS Politician—concerns a shipwreck off a fictional Scottish island, the inhabitants of which have run out of whisky because of wartime rationing. The islanders find out the ship is carrying 50,000 cases of whisky, some of which they salvage, against the opposition of the local Customs and Excise men.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a 1960 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Karel Reisz and produced by Tony Richardson. It is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe, with Sillitoe himself writing the screenplay. The plot concerns a young teddy boy machinist, Arthur, who spends his weekends drinking and partying, all the while having an affair with a married woman.
Jameson Clark was a Scottish character actor who appeared in 22 films and made many appearances on television.
Monja Danischewsky was a British producer and writer, born in Archangel into a Russian-Jewish family who left Russia for England in 1919 and who produced and wrote the films Topkapi and Rockets Galore! (1957) and others.
Law and Disorder is a 1958 British crime comedy film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Michael Redgrave, Robert Morley, Joan Hickson, and Lionel Jeffries. It was based on the 1954 novel Smugglers' Circuit by Denys Roberts. The film was initially directed by Henry Cornelius, who died while making the film. He was replaced by Charles Crichton.
A Touch of Larceny is a 1959 black-and-white comedy film produced by Ivan Foxwell, directed by Guy Hamilton, and starring James Mason, George Sanders and Vera Miles. The film co-stars Harry Andrews, Rachel Gurney and John Le Mesurier, and is based on the 1956 novel The Megstone Plot by Paul Winterton, written under the pseudonym Andrew Garve.
Ladies Who Do is a 1963 British comedy film directed by C. M. Pennington-Richards and starring Peggy Mount, Robert Morley and Harry H. Corbett. It was written by Michael Pertwee and John Bignall.
Light Up the Sky! is a 1960 British comedy drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Ian Carmichael, Tommy Steele and Benny Hill. The film also features Dick Emery in a minor role.
The Boy Who Stole a Million is a 1960 British comedy thriller film directed by Charles Crichton and starring Maurice Reyna and Virgílio Teixeira.
Bryanston Films was a British film company formed by Michael Balcon and Maxwell Setton in mid-1959 following the collapse of Ealing Studios. Neither a production studio, nor a distributor, it released independent British films through British Lion Films In operation until 1963, it was intended to be an unofficial group of independent film producers.
The Big Day is a 1960 black and white British "B" drama film directed by Peter Graham Scott and starring Donald Pleasence, Harry H. Corbett, Andrée Melly and Colin Gordon. It was written by Bill MacIlwraith and produced by Arthur Alcott and Julian Wintle for Independent Artists.
"The Catbird Seat" is a 1942 short story by James Thurber. The story first appeared in The New Yorker on November 14, 1942. The story was also published in the 1945 anthology The Thurber Carnival.