UK, 1953
83m
black and white
mono, English
A British comedy fantasy directed by Anthony Pelissier.
Plot Summary
Mr Pedelty is given a television set as a retirement present but he grows tired of all the attention it brings him from his neighbours and sells it to a young married couple. They soon encounter the same problems and pass the set along to a succession of owners who all have similar problems. The cause of all the troubles is The Devil who believes that television is making people too too when it should be ruining their lives.
Credits
* = uncredited
Crew
Directed by: Anthony Pelissier
Copyright MCMLIII [1953] by Ealing Studios Limited
An Ealing Studios, Michael Balcon production. Released through General Film Distributors Limited
Produced by: Monja Danischewsky
Production Supervisor: Hal Mason
Unit Production Manager: Jack Rix
Screenplay by: Monja Danischewsky
Additional Dialogue by: Peter Myers and Alec Graham
Based on the play Beggar My Neighbour by Arnold Ridley
Assistant Directors: David Peers; Christopher Barry *
Continuity: Felicia Manheim
Director of Photography: Desmond Dickinson
Camera Operator: Jeff Seaholme
Supervising Editor: Jack Harris
Editor: Bernard Gribble
Music by: Eric Rogers
Music Director: Dock Mathieson
Sound Supervisor: Stephen Dalby
[Sound] Recordist: Arthur Bradburn
RCA Sound Recording
Costume Designer: Anthony Mendelson
Make-Up: Harry Frampton, H .Wilton
Hair Styles: Barbara Barnard
Special Effects: Sydney Pearson
Special Processes: Geoffrey Dickinson
Art Director: Wilfred Shingleton
Pantomime Arranged by: Freddie Carpenter
Made at: Ealing Studios, London, England
Cast
Stanley Holloway (Sam Hollingsworth/Mr Lucifer)
Peggy Cummins (Kitty)
Jack Watling (Jim)
Barbara Murray (Patricia)
Joseph Tomelty (Mr Pedelty)
Kay Kendall (lonely hearts singer)
Gordon Jackson (Hector)
Charles Victor (Mr Elder)
Humphrey Lestocq (Arthur)
Jean Cadell (Mrs Macdonald)
Raymond Huntley (Patterson)
Ernest Thesiger (Mr Macdonald)
Frank Pettingel (Mr Roberts)
Olive Sloane (Mrs Stannard)
Gilbert Harding
Philip Harben
McDonald Hobley
David Miller
Olga Gwynne (principal boy)
Joan Sims (fairy queen)
Ian Carmichael (Man Friday)
Irene Handl (lady with the dog)
Gladys Henson (lady in the bus)
Roddy Hughes (Billings)
Eliot Makeham (Edwards)
Bill Fraser (band leader)
Dandy Nichols (Mrs Clarke)
Molly Hamley-Clifford (Mrs Ensor)
Toke Townley (trumpet player)
Fred Griffiths (removal man)
Herbert C. Walton (Cockney customer in pub)
References
Periodicals
- Kinematograph Weekly no.2364 (16 October 1952) p.41 – note
- Kinematograph Weekly no.2423 (3 December 1953) p.20 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.21 no.240 (January 1954) p.5 – credits, synopsis, review
- Today’s Cinema vol.81 no.6893 (24 November 1953) p.6 – review
- TV Times19 December 1987-1 January 1988 pp.11, 65 – review, TV listing
- Variety 9 December 1953 (USA) – credits, review
Books
- British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928-1959 by David Quinlan p.345 – credits, synopsis
- The Devil on Screen: Feature Films Worldwide, 1913 Through 2000 by Charles P. Mitchell pp.191-194
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.45
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.296 – credits
