Really Surprised!

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

This stands alongside "Its a wonderful life " as something sure to make any intelligent viewer laugh and weep with delight - which is no easy task for a hardened film fan and curmudgeon such as I. I cringe at sentimentality and so much formulaic drama but this sweeps you up, takes its time to draw you in with laughs from delightful performances and a genius script of delicate and succinct storytelling. We the audience, see all the pieces of a small puzzle fit together beautifully. By the end you will gasp with delight at the resolution. Ignore or enjoy the dated setting and period, - this film is not about England in the 1960s its about heart, family and genuine everyday love, with understated and underrated power. One of the greatest movies you have never heard of!!

Handsome, naive young Hywel Bennett marries beautiful, naive young Hayley Mills and, for lack of any other place, they move into the spare room of Bennett's accommodating, working-class parents, John Mills and Marjorie Rhodes.It's all very cozy -- too cozy. Mills and Rhodes occupy one bedroom, Bennett and Mills another, and Bennett's brother Eddie sleeps in the third and last. The problem is that the walls of this humble apartment are too thin. A sound in any of the rooms seems to penetrate and echo in all the others. You can not only hear the gruff John Mills using the chamber pot, you hear him complaining that it's always under the wife's side of the bed.These circumstances -- the humiliation of still having to live at home, and the thin walls -- puts Bennett's agenda off and he's unable to make love to Hayley Mills. Bennett is a normal enough kid but he's shy and a virgin. Mills is more practical but she's virgo intacta too. His inability to perform what everyone in their Manchester neighborhood considers his husbandly duties only adds to Bennett's discomfort and throws him into a state of gloomy impotence. He takes to sleeping in a chair by the window. The secret gets out, as all secrets do, and some neighborhood toughs taunt Bennett.Everyone seems to sense something is wrong with the newly weds except John Mills. He's a dull bulb in many ways. It's a magnificent performance, really, because what has John Mills, the actor, got going for him? His appearance is best described as unprepossessing, and that's doing him a kindness. He's of only modest height; he doesn't have Olivier's good looks, or Burton's stunning voice, or any kind of magnetism at all. He only has talent. His performances range from the tragic ("Tunes of Glory") to the positively deranged ("Ryan's Daughter").Here, he's brusquely ludic but sensitive underneath all that common-sense bluster. He lives for his job at the gas works, his ketchup-splattered unidentifiable meals, his pipe, and his beer. He fails to recognize the heavy irony in his own statements. They take away his television. "I'm glad they took it," he mumbles. "It was killing the art of conversation," and he begins to nod off in front of the fire. "I noticed that," says his resigned wife from the table.He has one scene that always cracks me up. The in-laws come to his house to discuss the situation in the new couple's boudoir. Everybody's in on what's happening except Mills with his bushy mustache and his clumsily cut hair parted in the middle like something out of a 1920 photograph. The marriage hasn't taken on, they tell him. "Taken on? Taken on WHAT?" Well, the husband hasn't taken the plunge. His face twists in exasperation. "What plunge?" The marriage hasn't gelled. "GELLED"? He's not doing his marital duties. "You mean -- you mean --" And his wife mutters, "I think the penny's dropped." It probably doesn't sound like much in print, but that's not simply because of my ragged prose. It's a tribute to the four actors in the scene, especially Mills, and to the director, Roy Boulting. They pull it off with panache.Hayley Mills was a young girl at the time, a little gangly in a post-adolescent way, for my taste, but not without feminine grace. We get two brief glimpses of her buns, which I doubt anyone would describe as saucy. She's radiant in her own way. Her hair is a long lustrous blond and her features are those of a cherub. Bennett is the perfect mate. He's boyish and seems barely past puberty.It's a comedy, of course, but there is some tension too, chiefly revolving around John Mills' insensitivity to the needs of others in his family, especially Bennett. He knows his station. His tastes are simple. He comes down to breakfast and speaks disapprovingly to Bennett: "Isn't it a little early for that?" One expects to find Bennett with a beer on the table but all he's doing is reading. "Books!", exclaims Mills. And when Bennett plays Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Mills complains about having to listen to "chamber music." The last scene resolves any of that tension and it does so without being, well, treacly.It sounds like an episode from a television situation comedy, and it resembles one, but the performances and the exquisite writing lift it well above that bar. We can feel a part of ourselves in every one of the principal characters. It's full of charm.

A wonderfully gentle, warm funny movie set in Lancashire. One of the best to come out in the 1960s, memorable performances from some fine British actors. There are scenes that I will never forget even though I have not seen the movie since it was released in 1966. Liz Fraser and Barry Foster were just hilarious, Marjorie Rhodes had tears streaming down my face and the late, lamented Sir John Mills was superb. I wish, I wish it were available to buy on DVD. So many of Hayley Mills' movies have not seen the light of day for so long that one wonders if there is some kind of embargo on them - fans of her work will no doubt know what I mean. She is sweet, tender, vulnerable and utterly charming as Jenny Fitton - very authentic northern vowels and an excellent performance. The character roles were by far the juicier ones and the excellent cast seize on their characters like ravening wolves - I never seen Marjorie Rhodes so electrifying. I suppose you probably need to be English and from the Manchester area to fully appreciate every nuance of expression and bask in the resonance of this great, smashing movie. On the other hand, I don't suppose it matters where you come from to appreciate young Hayley's scene in the bathtub when the camera lingers for a few heart-stopping moments on her perfect little bare bottom. Thank you, Hayley.

I saw this film last Friday night at an American Cinematheque screening in Los Angeles. It was my first time to see it, although I'd long been curious about it since McCartney provided the musical score.The film was the second half of a double feature, paired with How I Won the War, and it was worth staying to see. McCartney's score is top notch, and it's a shame it's not available on CD. The film is based on a play, and it has the feel of watching a filmed stage production. There aren't a lot of different locations used for filming, and most of the action takes place in a house. This may not sound so interesting but the story and characters are worth following. Hayley Mills is wonderful and her father, John Mills, turns in a stellar performance as her husband's overbearing father. They don't make films like this anymore, which is too bad. Note: The film has garnered a slight notoriety for a "nude" scene involving Hayley Mills. What this amounts to is a very brief shot of her holding a towel around herself and baring part of her backside. The shot is so brief that you will scratch your head wondering how this ever became even worthy of comment. I'd guess that this film would be rated "G" or at worst "PG" by American standards today, as it has no foul language, very little violence, and no on screen sex or nudity.