Smashing Time

     The other night we settled down to watch that satire of Swinging London, 'Smashing Time', starring Lynn Redgrave and Rita Tushingham. Another film bought to you by those lovely people at Talking Pictures. 

     The screenplay is the work of the Jazz singer, raconteur and haute bohemian George Melly (no fan, it has to be said, of the whole mythos of Sixties London) and is essentially the picaresque, if not at times farcical, tale of two northern lasses who come up to London to make it big. And make it they do, only to find that it it really isn't all that smashing after all. The satire is a little scatter-gun, as the film nobly takes it upon itself to parody nearly all the tropes of the period, including (oddly) the trend in restaurants specialising in British cooking. That said it does have a few telling moments. Perhaps more subtly critical are the background shots of London itself - tired, care worn and grimy. Not obviously a place where dreams are made. The cool and the groovy are rare things. It has to be said that the humour is very slapstick at times - not a thing that I particularly enjoy, but there are all sorts of cameos from any number of British character actors to make up for it.

Smashing Time

1967

Producer:                Roy Millichip, Carlo Ponti

Director:                  Desmond Davis

Cinematographer:  Manny Wynn