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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Removing from Category:British films no longer non-diffusing using Cat-a-lot

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Removing from Category:British films no longer non-diffusing using Cat-a-lot

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{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Raising the Wind
| image = Raising the Wind FilmPoster.jpeg
| caption = DVD Cover
| director = [[Gerald Thomas]]
| producer = [[Peter Rogers]]
| writer = [[Bruce Montgomery (composer)|Bruce Montgomery]]
| starring = {{ubl|[[James Robertson Justice]]|[[Leslie Phillips]]|[[Kenneth Williams]]}}
| music = Bruce Montgomery
| cinematography = [[Alan Hume]]
| editing = John Shirley
| distributor = [[Anglo-Amalgamated]]
| released = {{film date|df=yes|1961|9|7|London}}
| runtime = 91 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}

'''''Raising the Wind''''' is a 1961 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[Gerald Thomas]]. It starred [[James Robertson Justice]], [[Leslie Phillips]], [[Kenneth Williams]], [[Liz Fraser]], [[Eric Barker]] and [[Sid James]]. The storyline, screenplay and musical score of the film were the work of [[Bruce Montgomery (composer)|Bruce Montgomery]].<ref name=whit/>

''Raising the Wind'' uses a cast of actors drawn from the ''[[Carry On (franchise)|Carry On]]'' and ''[[Doctor (film series)|Doctor]]'' films that were popular at the time, although it is not an official member of either series. The premiere took place on 24 August 1961 at the Plaza Theatre in London's Piccadilly Circus.<ref>''Daily Cinema'', 28 August, 1961</ref>

It is set in an elite music school.<ref name=whit>Whittle, David. ''[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Bruce_Montgomery_Edmund_Crispin_A_Life_i/ETArDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Raising+the+wind%22+%22bruce+montgomery%22&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover Bruce Montgomery/Edmund Crispin: A Life in Music and Books]'' (2017), p.1</ref> The title is typical British comedy [[double entendre]] of the period: normally connected to the act of belching, but here also referring to the woodwind section of an orchestra. In the US, the title was changed to ''Roommates''.<ref>Newcomb, Horace. ''[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Encyclopedia_of_Television/NUXIAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Raising+the+wind%22+%22Roommates%22&pg=PA1210&printsec=frontcover Encyclopedia of Television]'' (2014), p. 1210</ref>

==Synopsis==
Mervyn, Malcolm, Alex, Miranda and Jill are music students at the (fictional) London Academy of Music and the Arts. They decide to share a flat to pool their meagre grants and to find a place to practise. They suffer the put-downs of the acerbic Sir Benjamin Boyd, who conducts the student orchestra, and the antics of the other talented but eccentric teachers at the school.

To raise some much-needed funds, the group offer to play a [[string quintet]] recital, but it's a disaster, with instrument strings breaking all the time. More successfully, they play in several performances of Handel's ''[[Messiah (Handel)|Messiah]]''.

Mervyn, a talented composer, writes a catchy tune and whilst drunk sells it for fifty pounds to Sid and Harry, advertising copywriters. Sober the next day, he realises that he has violated the terms of his grant; the two offer to sell it back to him for five hundred pounds, money he can't possibly raise. He then learns that the tune is an existing one, the 'Alexandra Waltz', which he probably remembered from his youth, so the true composer could theoretically sue the purchasers.

Some of the students go up for a prestigious scholarship, the test for which includes conducting a professional orchestra [[Sinfonia of London]]. Mervyn makes a reasonable effort with music by [[Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov]], but the supercilious know-it-all Harold annoys the musicians with constant criticism and they have their own back on him, with an over-fast rendition of Rossini's ''[[William Tell Overture]]''.

To everyone's surprise, the scholarship is awarded to Miranda, but she confesses that she only wants to marry fellow student Mervyn, who likewise is in love with her. However, Malcolm is given a full time position in Sir Benjamin's orchestra (second [[trumpet]]) and proposes to Jill. Alex leaves school in order to study violin in [[Amsterdam]].

==Trivia==
* The producers of the film credit the [[Sinfonia of London]] for their assistance.

* The exterior of the music school is filmed at [[University College, London]], which also doubled for St Swithin's hospital in several of the 'Doctor' films.

* The recital section of the film was based on anecdotes told to Bruce Montgomery by [[Eric Coates]] about the formation of the Celtic String Quartet, who performed only one concert, beset by disasters.<ref>Payne, Michael. ''[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Life_and_Music_of_Eric_Coates/XD6rCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Raising+the+wind%22+%22bruce+montgomery%22&pg=PA20&printsec=frontcover The Life and Music of Eric Coates]'' (2016), p.20</ref><ref>Coates, Eric. ''Suite in Four Movements'' (1953), pp. 85-6</ref>

==Cast==
* [[James Robertson Justice]] as Sir Benjamin Boyd
* [[Leslie Phillips]] as Mervyn Hughes
* [[Paul Massie]] as Malcolm Stewart
* [[Kenneth Williams]] as Harold Chesney
* [[Liz Fraser]] as Miranda Kennaway
* [[Eric Barker]] as Dr. Morgan Rutherford
* [[Jennifer Jayne]] as Jill Clemons
* [[Jimmy Thompson (actor)|Jimmy Thompson]] as Alex Spendlove
* [[Sid James]] as Sid
* [[Esma Cannon]] as Mrs Deevens
* [[Geoffrey Keen]] as Sir John
* [[Jill Ireland]] as Janet
* [[Victor Maddern]] as Removal Man
* [[Lance Percival]] as Harry
* [[Joan Hickson]] as Mrs Bostwick
* [[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as Taxi Driver
* [[Ambrosine Phillpotts]] as Mrs Featherstone
* [[Brian Oulton]] as Concert Agent
* Christine Andres Coombs as Violin player
* Leonard Hirsch as Orchestra leader violin
* [[Jim Dale]] as Cheeky young trombonist
* Ronald Waller as 1st Bassoon in the final orchestral clip
* Eddie Wilson (Albert Edward Wilson) as the 2nd Bassoon in the final orchestra clip
* [[Dorinda Stevens]] as Doris

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0055354|Raising the Wind}}

{{Gerald Thomas}}

[[Category:Films directed by Gerald Thomas]]
[[Category:1961 films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1961 comedy films]]
[[Category:Films shot at Pinewood Studios]]
[[Category:Films produced by Peter Rogers]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]

{{1960s-UK-comedy-film-stub}}

Raising the Wind (1961 film) - Revision history

Kurt at 13:55, 3 February 2023

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en>Ser Amantio di Nicolao: Removing from Category:British films no longer non-diffusing using Cat-a-lot