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	~~{{Short description\|1962 film by Sidney Gilliat}}~~
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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	~~\| name = Only Two Can Play~~
	\| image = Only Two Can Play poster.jpg		\| image = Only Two Can Play poster.jpg
	\| image_size =		\| image_size =

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	~~{{Launder and Gilliat}}{{Kingsley Amis}}~~

	[[Category:1962 films]]		[[Category:1962 films]]

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1960s English-language films

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External links: add Category:1960s English-language films

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{{Short description|1962 film by Sidney Gilliat}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Only Two Can Play
| image = Only Two Can Play poster.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = US cinema poster
| director = [[Sidney Gilliat]]
| producer = [[Leslie Gilliat]]
| screenplay = [[Bryan Forbes]]
| based_on = {{based on|''[[That Uncertain Feeling (novel)|That Uncertain Feeling]]''|[[Kingsley Amis]]}}
| starring = [[Peter Sellers]]<br />[[Mai Zetterling]]<br />[[Virginia Maskell]]<br />[[Richard Attenborough]]
| music = [[Richard Rodney Bennett]]
| cinematography = [[John Wilcox (cinematographer)|John Wilcox]]
| editing = [[Thelma Connell]]
| distributor = [[British Lion Films]] (UK)<br />[[Kingsley-International Pictures]] (US)
| released = 11 January 1962
| runtime = 106 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
'''''Only Two Can Play''''' is a 1962 British [[comedy film]] starring [[Peter Sellers]], based on the 1955 novel ''[[That Uncertain Feeling (novel)|That Uncertain Feeling]]'' by [[Kingsley Amis]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b2302d3|title=Only Two Can Play (1962)|publisher=}}</ref> [[Sidney Gilliat]] directed the film from a screenplay by [[Bryan Forbes]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/only-two-can-play-v36490/cast-crew|title=Only Two Can Play (1962) - Sidney Gilliat - Cast and Crew - AllMovie|website=AllMovie}}</ref>

The film is set in the fictional [[South Wales]] town of Aberdarcy, and largely filmed in and around [[Swansea]], Amis's stated model for Aberdarcy.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/27815/Only-Two-Can-Play/notes.html|title=Only Two Can Play (1962) - Notes - TCM.com|website=Turner Classic Movies}}</ref>

==Plot==
John Lewis (Sellers) is a poorly paid and professionally frustrated librarian and occasional drama critic, whose affections fluctuate between glamorous Liz ([[Mai Zetterling]]), and his long-suffering wife Jean ([[Virginia Maskell]]).

When a better paid job becomes vacant, Lewis is reluctant to apply, but is persuaded to do so by Jean. Then, he meets the obviously attractive Elizabeth Gruffydd-Williams (Liz), a designer with the local [[community theatre|amdram]] company and wife of a local [[councillor]].

Liz offers to intercede with her husband to help in getting Lewis the job, and makes it clear that she is attracted to him. Lewis is easily seduced into an affair, although it remains unconsummated.

Having been persuaded by Liz to leave the theatre's new production early one evening for an assignation, Lewis submits a bogus review to the local newspaper, but learns the next morning that the theatre burned down shortly after the play commenced. Jean thus learns of the affair and retaliates by encouraging her old flame Probert ([[Richard Attenborough]]), a self-important literary character and dramatist (who wrote the ill-fated play). Lewis also loses the friendship of his colleague and best friend, Ieuan Jenkins ([[Kenneth Griffith]]), who had a role in the play.

When Lewis is offered the better paid job, he realises that Liz will now use and control him if he lets her. Finally realising the price he has paid, he breaks off the affair and takes a job as a mobile librarian, in the hope that this will keep him away from predatory women. Jean is not so sure that he can resist them, and tags along to keep an eye on him.

==Cast==
* [[Peter Sellers]] as John Lewis
* [[Mai Zetterling]] as Liz
* [[Virginia Maskell]] as Jean
* [[Kenneth Griffith]] as Jenkins
* [[Raymond Huntley]] as Vernon
* [[David Davies (actor born 1906)|David Davies]] as Benyon
* [[Maudie Edwards]] as Mrs. Davies
* [[Meredith Edwards (actor)|Meredith Edwards]] as Clergyman
* [[John Le Mesurier]] as Salter
* [[Frederick Piper]] as Mr. Davies
* [[Graham Stark]] as Mr. Hyman
* [[Eynon Evans]] as Town Hall Clerk
* [[John Arnatt]] as Bill
* [[Sheila Manahan]] as Mrs. Jenkins
* [[Richard Attenborough]] as Probert
* [[Howell Evans]] as Library Policeman (uncredited)
* [[Tenniel Evans]] as Kennedy (uncredited)
* [[Laurence Luxton]] as American GI and Driver (uncredited)
* [[Desmond Llewelyn]] as a Vicar
* [[George Woodbridge (actor)|George Woodbridge]] as a Farmer

==Reception==
''[[The Times]]'' reported the film was the third most successful film at the British box office in 1962.<ref>"Money-Making Films Of 1962." The Times [London, England] 4 January 1963: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.</ref> ''[[Films and Filming]]'' said it was the fourth most popular for Britain for the year ended 31 October 1962 after ''[[The Guns of Navarone (film)|The Guns of Navarone]]'', ''[[Dr. No (film)|Dr. No]]'' and ''[[The Young Ones (1961 film)|The Young Ones]]''.<ref>British films are tops at box office Author: Douglas Marlborough Date: Monday, Dec. 10, 1962 Publication: Daily Mail p 3</ref>

It was nominated for [[BAFTA Award for Best Film|Best Film]] in the 1963 [[BAFTA]] awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://awards.bafta.org/award/1963/film/film-and-british-film|title=1963 Film Film And British Film - BAFTA Awards|website=awards.bafta.org}}</ref>

''[[New York Times]]'' film critic [[Bosley Crowther]] wrote: "ANYBODY who could do to organized labor what Peter Sellers did with his thumping performance of a union leader in the British comedy, "[[I'm All Right Jack|I'm All Right, Jack]]," is clearly the fellow to do the same thing to sex. And we are pleased to be able to proclaim he does it in his latest side-splitter, ''Only Two Can Play''. With a script by Bryan Forbes that pops perpetually with some of the brightest British quips of modern times, with Sidney Gilliat directing and with a spanking new Mai Zetterling deftly applying the itching-powders as a grandly seductive Eve, Mr. Sellers performs an old Adam that puts all recent seventh-year scratchers in the shade."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E00E5D8173BE53BBC4951DFB5668389679EDE|title=Movie Review -- Screen: 'Two Can Play':Peter Sellers and Mai Zetterling Star - NYTimes.com|website=www.nytimes.com}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0056308}}
*{{tcmdb title|id=27815}}

{{Launder and Gilliat}}{{Kingsley Amis}}

[[Category:1962 films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:1962 comedy films]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:Films based on works by Kingsley Amis]]
[[Category:Films directed by Sidney Gilliat]]
[[Category:Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett]]
[[Category:Films set in Wales]]
[[Category:Films with screenplays by Bryan Forbes]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]

Only Two Can Play - Revision history

Kurt at 04:25, 9 February 2023

Kurt: /* External links */

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: /* External links */add Category:1960s English-language films