Smashing Time
Encyclopedia
Smashing Time is a 1967 British comedy film
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
and directed by Desmond Davis
. The supporting cast included Ian Carmichael
, Michael York
, Jeremy Lloyd
, Anna Quayle
, Julian Curry
, Irene Handl
, Arthur Mullard
and Geoffrey Hughes
.
to seek fame and fortune. However, their image of the city is quickly tarnished when they are robbed of their savings. Determined not to let her chance slip, Yvonne visits Carnaby Street
in the hope of catching the eye of a trendy photographer, whilst Brenda gets a job in a 'greasy spoon
' cafe.
Yvonne does get spotted by a trendy photographer, Tom Wabe (Michael York), but for all the wrong reasons; she is singled out for being poorly dressed.
After several unsuccessful job attempts, Yvonne accidentally wins the star prize in a television game show
and decides to invest the prize money on being a pop star. Her single
, I'm So Young, though patently awful, becomes a big hit and she and Brenda drift apart. However, at a glamorous party (at the top of the Post Office Tower) the girls realise the shallowness of the media business and decide to return home.
. Similarly, Murray Melvin
and Paul Danquah, Tushingham's co-stars in A Taste of Honey
, appear in cameo roles. Geoffrey Hughes
, later to become familiar to millions as Eddie Yeats
in Coronation Street
also has a bit part. The then-popular BBC
series Juke Box Jury
is parodied as Hi-Fi Court.
Private Eye
magazine referred to the Queen
and Princess Margaret
as Brenda and Yvonne (respectively). The film also implies that the Queen is a fan of Yvonne's single.
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best English-Language Foreign Film) in 1968.
The theme-tune was sung by Tushingham and Redgrave, who also performed several of the numbers in the film. In the 1993 BBC series Hollywood UK, about the British film industry in the 1960s, the actresses appeared in the back of a London taxi singing the theme again. Michael York would later appear in the Austin Powers
films, which also parodied 'Swinging London'.
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
starring Rita Tushingham
Rita Tushingham
-Career:Born in Liverpool, Tushingham began her career as a stage actress at the Liverpool Playhouse. Her screen debut was in A Taste of Honey...
and Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Redgrave
Lynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
. It is a satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
on the 1960s media-influenced phenomenon of Swinging London
Swinging London
Swinging London is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene that flourished in London, in the 1960s.It was a youth-oriented phenomenon that emphasised the new and modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the...
.
It was written by George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
and directed by Desmond Davis
Desmond Davis
Desmond Davis is a British film and television director.-Early career:After serving a long apprenticeship as a clapper boy in the 1940s, with Britain's Army Film Unit, Davis eventually worked his way up to focus puller and camera operator in low-budget British films of the 1950s...
. The supporting cast included Ian Carmichael
Ian Carmichael
Ian Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
, Michael York
Michael York (actor)
Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
, Jeremy Lloyd
Jeremy Lloyd
Jeremy Lloyd is an English writer, screenwriter, author and actor, best known as co-author and writer of several successful British sitcoms.-Career:...
, Anna Quayle
Anna Quayle
Anna Quayle is an English actress. Her father was the stage actor Douglas Quayle.She has appeared on film, on stage, and on television...
, Julian Curry
Julian Curry
Julian Curry is a British actor best known for playing Claude Erskine-Browne in ITV's comedy-drama Rumpole of the Bailey....
, Irene Handl
Irene Handl
-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
, Arthur Mullard
Arthur Mullard
Arthur Ernest Mullard, original surname Mullord was an English comedy actor.- Early life :...
and Geoffrey Hughes
Geoffrey Hughes
Geoffrey Hughes, DL is an English actor.As well as a wide range of TV and film appearances, Hughes is best known for a series of supporting roles in popular UK television dramas...
.
Plot
Brenda (Tushingham) and Yvonne (Redgrave), two girls from the North of England, arrive in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to seek fame and fortune. However, their image of the city is quickly tarnished when they are robbed of their savings. Determined not to let her chance slip, Yvonne visits Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street is a pedestrianised shopping street in London, United Kingdom, located in the Soho district, near Oxford Street and Regent Street. It is home to numerous fashion and lifestyle retailers, including a large number of independent fashion boutiques...
in the hope of catching the eye of a trendy photographer, whilst Brenda gets a job in a 'greasy spoon
Greasy spoon
Greasy spoon is a colloquial or slang term originating in the United States to mean a small, especially cheap, archetypal working class restaurant or diner. The term is now used in many English speaking countries to mean the same thing...
' cafe.
Yvonne does get spotted by a trendy photographer, Tom Wabe (Michael York), but for all the wrong reasons; she is singled out for being poorly dressed.
After several unsuccessful job attempts, Yvonne accidentally wins the star prize in a television game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
and decides to invest the prize money on being a pop star. Her single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, I'm So Young, though patently awful, becomes a big hit and she and Brenda drift apart. However, at a glamorous party (at the top of the Post Office Tower) the girls realise the shallowness of the media business and decide to return home.
Cast
- Rita TushinghamRita Tushingham-Career:Born in Liverpool, Tushingham began her career as a stage actress at the Liverpool Playhouse. Her screen debut was in A Taste of Honey...
as Brenda - Lynn RedgraveLynn RedgraveLynn Rachel Redgrave, OBE was an English actress.A member of the well-known British family of actors, Redgrave trained in London before making her theatrical debut in 1962...
as Yvonne - Michael YorkMichael York (actor)Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
as Tom Wabe - Anna QuayleAnna QuayleAnna Quayle is an English actress. Her father was the stage actor Douglas Quayle.She has appeared on film, on stage, and on television...
as Charlotte Brillig - Irene HandlIrene Handl-Life:Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the daughter of an Austrian banker father and French mother. She took to acting at the relatively advanced age of 36, and studied at the acting school run by the sister of Dame Sybil Thorndike...
as Mrs. Gimble - Ian CarmichaelIan CarmichaelIan Gillett Carmichael, OBE was an English film, stage, television and radio actor.-Early life:Carmichael was born in Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The son of an optician, he was educated at Scarborough College and Bromsgrove School, before training as an actor at RADA...
as Bobby Mome-Rath - Jeremy LloydJeremy LloydJeremy Lloyd is an English writer, screenwriter, author and actor, best known as co-author and writer of several successful British sitcoms.-Career:...
as Jeremy Tove - Toni Palmer as Toni
- George A. CooperGeorge A. CooperGeorge A. Cooper is an English actor.One of his best-known roles was as the caretaker Mr. Griffiths in the long-running children's TV series Grange Hill...
as Irishman - Peter JonesPeter Jones (actor)Peter Jones was an English actor, screenwriter and broadcaster.-Early life and career:Jones was born in Wem, Shropshire and he was educated at the Wem Grammar School and Ellesmere College. He made his first appearance as an actor in Wolverhampton at the age of 16 and then appeared in repertory...
as Dominic - Arthur MullardArthur MullardArthur Ernest Mullard, original surname Mullord was an English comedy actor.- Early life :...
as Cafe Boss - Ronnie StevensRonnie Stevens (actor)Ronald Stevens was a London-born English actor known as Ronnie Stevens.He appeared in many television comedy series in regular roles, including May to December, Goodnight Sweetheart and A J Wentworth, BA. He also appeared as the "Minister of Pollution", in The Goodies pollution episode...
as 1st Waiter - John CliveJohn CliveJohn Clive , is an English author and actor. He is best known for his international best selling historical and social fiction, such as "KG200" and "Borossa"....
as Sweeney Todd manager - Mike Lennox as Disc Jockey
- Sydney BromleySydney BromleySydney Bromley was an English actor. He appeared in more than sixty films and television programmes. On stage, he appeared in St. Joan, by George Bernard Shaw, in 1924...
as Tramp - David LodgeDavid Lodge (actor)David William Frederick Lodge was a British character actor.Before turning to acting he worked as a circus clown...
as The Caretaker - Amy DalbyAmy DalbyAmy Mary Dalby was a British actress.-Selected filmography:* On the Night of the Fire * Quiet Wedding * The Night Has Eyes * The Gentle Sex...
as Demolished Old lady - Murray MelvinMurray MelvinMurray Melvin is an English stage and film actor.The son of Hugh Victor Melvin and Maisie Winifred Driscoll, he is best known for having created the role of Geoffrey in the Shelagh Delaney play, A Taste of Honey, a role which he recreated opposite Rita Tushingham in the 1961 film of the same name...
as 1st Exquisite - Bruce LaceyBruce Lacey"Professor" Bruce Lacey, born 1927, remains one of Britain's great eccentrics. After completing his national service in the RAF he became established on the avantgarde scene with his performance art and mechanical constructs. He has been closely associated with The Alberts performance group and The...
as Clive Sword - Cardew RobinsonCardew RobinsonDouglas John Cardew Robinson was a British comic, whose craft was rooted in the music hall and Gang Shows.-Early life and career:Robinson was educated at Harrow County School for Boys...
as Custard-Pie Vicar
Production Notes
The film reunited Redgrave, Tushingham and director Davis from the 1964 film Girl with Green EyesGirl with Green Eyes
Girl with Green Eyes is a 1964 British drama film, which Edna O'Brien adapted from her novel The Lonely Girl. It was directed by Desmond Davis, and stars Peter Finch, Rita Tushingham, Lynn Redgrave and Julian Glover.- Plot :...
. Similarly, Murray Melvin
Murray Melvin
Murray Melvin is an English stage and film actor.The son of Hugh Victor Melvin and Maisie Winifred Driscoll, he is best known for having created the role of Geoffrey in the Shelagh Delaney play, A Taste of Honey, a role which he recreated opposite Rita Tushingham in the 1961 film of the same name...
and Paul Danquah, Tushingham's co-stars in A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey (film)
A Taste of Honey is a 1961 British film adaptation of the play of the same name by Shelagh Delaney. Delaney adapted the screenplay herself, aided by director Tony Richardson, who had previously directed the first production of the play...
, appear in cameo roles. Geoffrey Hughes
Geoffrey Hughes
Geoffrey Hughes, DL is an English actor.As well as a wide range of TV and film appearances, Hughes is best known for a series of supporting roles in popular UK television dramas...
, later to become familiar to millions as Eddie Yeats
Eddie Yeats
Edward Jeremy Timothy "Eddie" Yeats was a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera Coronation Street.-1974–1987:Eddie Yeats was born in Liverpool on 22 August 1941. In adulthood, Eddie held low-paid jobs and made extra cash by helping out his disreputable friends with carrying out...
in Coronation Street
Coronation Street
Coronation Street is a British soap opera set in Weatherfield, a fictional town in Greater Manchester based on Salford. Created by Tony Warren, Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960...
also has a bit part. The then-popular BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series Juke Box Jury
Juke Box Jury
Juke Box Jury was a musical panel show which originally ran on BBC Television from 1 June 1959 until December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series....
is parodied as Hi-Fi Court.
Private Eye
Private Eye
Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...
magazine referred to the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
and Princess Margaret
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II and the younger daughter of King George VI....
as Brenda and Yvonne (respectively). The film also implies that the Queen is a fan of Yvonne's single.
The film was nominated for a Golden Globe (Best English-Language Foreign Film) in 1968.
The theme-tune was sung by Tushingham and Redgrave, who also performed several of the numbers in the film. In the 1993 BBC series Hollywood UK, about the British film industry in the 1960s, the actresses appeared in the back of a London taxi singing the theme again. Michael York would later appear in the Austin Powers
Austin Powers (film series)
The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...
films, which also parodied 'Swinging London'.