MAGNET contributing writer Jud Cost is sharing some of the wealth of classic films he’s been lucky enough to see over the past 40 years. Trolling the backwaters of cinema, he has worked up a list of more than 500 titles—from the silent era through the ’90s—that you may have missed. A new selection, all currently available on DVD, appears every week.
The Family Way (1966, 111 minutes)
An astute pair of film directors, the Boulting brothers (Roy and John) were tuned-in to the pertinent issues facing post-WW II England—particularly the demise of its rigid class system—and made it all seem uproariously funny. The Family Way, starred a dewy-eyed, 19-year-old Hayley Mills as Jenny Piper, whose husband, Arthur Fitton (Hywell Bennett), is a cinema projectionist whose work in the bedroom never makes it to the second reel.
With the string arrangements of recent Beatles hits “Yesterday” and “Eleanor Rigby” already added to his knighthood resume, Paul McCartney penned the soundtrack for The Family Way. Life one-upped art when Mills moved in with 52-year-old Roy Boulting after shooting was completed.
“No gas works today, then?” says a neighbor lady to Ezra Fitton as she beats a carpet in her back yard. “It would look bloody funny if our Arthur were to wed and his father not in church,” replies Fitton (John Mills, Hayley’s real-life dad). “Come on, Arthur, out with you,” urges his mother (Marjorie Rhodes), as the groom lounges about in his pajamas. “I’ve got to get this room ready for the bride. I don’t want her seeing it in this state.”
Thumbing through a glossy holiday brochure, Arthur says, “It’s only for one night, mum. And then look: golden sun, golden sand and champagne by the bucket.” His mother sighs, “Your dad and me had to do with Blackpool.” The young couple’s honeymoon dreams of Majorca are about to be shattered when the local travel agency skips town with their hard-earned cash.
The marriage ceremony for Jenny and Arthur is marred by just one small incident. As he’s about to slip the simple wedding ring onto Jenny’s finger, Arthur drops it on the stone floor. Magnified by the church’s acoustics, it sounds to the nervous groom like he’s dropped a bucketful of spanners. “Keep your mind on what you’re doing, son,” whispers the elder Fitton from the front pew. “A man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they shall be as one flesh. This is a great mystery,” intones the padre, all too prophetically.
With the wedding reception in full swing, Arthur’s dad, drinking too much, maneuvers girls half his age around the dance floor. “Hey, you having one with me, son?” he asks Arthur. “No more ale, thanks very much,” says the groom. “No more ale? My old dad would turn in his grave if he could hear you say that.” “Yeah, but he can’t, can he?” answers Arthur, cheekily. “Hey, that stuff’s for women!” shouts his dad as Arthur pours himself a half pint of lager and lime. “You’ll get a fat lot of jollification out of that!” As it turns out, Arthur’s dad is also something of a prophet.
