HALF A SIXPENCE (1967)

This over-stuffed adaptation of a West End/B’way hit, taken from H.G. Wells’ KIPPS (his anti-social mobility fable filmed in 1941 by Carol Reed at 82", here a whopping 143"!*) was yet another nail in the coffin of Hollywood Musicals, RoadShow Family division, made after windfall profits for MARY POPPINS, MY FAIR LADY and SOUND OF MUSIC. To his credit, old studio pro George Sidney, a vet from the Arthur Freed M-G-M unit, pulls the elements together without long gone studio apparatus to back him up. What he can’t do much about are the second-drawer elements. (From ‘Knees Up’ numbos to ballads, not an imaginative musical interval in the whole score.) Instead, we're beaten into submission at interminable lengths, the energy level alone exhausting. While our story (young orphan boy inherits a fortune and goes high hat before losing it all and returning to his better nature and loyal waïf) resolves ten minutes into act two, then has to spin its wheels for thirty extra minutes. The selling point should be Tommy Steele, who made his stage rep with it, but he’s one of those high wattage theatrical types who don’t ‘take’ to the screen. You can still watch it, thanks to Sidney’s professionalism (watch him attempt modern day relevance with a few New Wave stylistic touches) and even more for the impossibly posh cinematography of Geoffrey Unsworth who followed with 2001/’68. Talk about range! On the other hand, no follow up for our director. Only 50 years old and already more than three decades in the biz, Sidney saw the writing on the wall and never worked again.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: The studio quickly saw this one as a complete loss and quickly put out our ludicrous ‘Sock It To Me!’ poster hoping to attract a younger, hipper crowd.

SCREWY THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Theatrical notes: On B’way, the posh/snob who steals Kipps’ fortune was played by John Cleese. And no luck at the Tony Awards as 1965 was all FIDDLER ON THE ROOF with both Steele and third-billed Cyril Ritchard losing to FIDDLER’s Zero Mostel. Steele for this role and Ritchard for an entirely different show, THE ROAR OF THE GREASEPAINT - THE SMELL OF THE CROWD.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: *Carol Reed not only did better by KIPPS, he also showed how it was still possible to succeed in this form, deservedly so, triumphing critically & commercially with OLIVER!/’68.