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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Smashing Time		\| name = Smashing Time
	\| image = ~~Smashingtime~~.jpg		\| image = Smashing Time.jpg
	\| caption = ~~Film Poster~~		\| caption =
	\| producer = [[Roy Millichip]]<br>[[Carlo Ponti]]		\| producer = [[Roy Millichip]]<br>[[Carlo Ponti]]
	\| director = [[Desmond Davis]]		\| director = [[Desmond Davis]]

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	~~{{short description\|British film}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=May 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=May 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Smashing Time		\| name = Smashing Time
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	==External links==		==External links==
	* {{IMDb title\|0062281\|Smashing Time}}		* {{IMDb title\|0062281\|Smashing Time}}

	~~{{Desmond Davis}}~~

	[[Category:1967 films]]		[[Category:1967 films]]

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{{short description|British film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Smashing Time
| image = Smashingtime.jpg
| caption = Film Poster
| producer = [[Roy Millichip]] [[Carlo Ponti]]
| director = [[Desmond Davis]]
| writer = [[George Melly]]
| starring = [[Rita Tushingham]] [[Lynn Redgrave]] [[Michael York]]
| music = [[John Addison]] [[Skip Bifferty]]
| cinematography = Manny Wynn
| editing = [[Barrie Vince]]
| studio = Partisan Productions [[List of production companies owned by the American Broadcasting Company#Selmur_Productions|Selmur Pictures]] (as Selmur Productions)
| distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released = {{Film date|1967|12|27|df=y}} (London)
| runtime = 96 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = $630,000<ref name="variety">"ABC's 5 Years of Film Production Profits & Losses", ''Variety'', 31 May 1973 p 3</ref>
| gross = $290,000<ref name="variety"/>
}}

'''''Smashing Time''''' is a 1967 British [[satirical]] [[comedy film]] starring [[Rita Tushingham]] and [[Lynn Redgrave]]. It is a [[satire]] on the 1960s media-influenced phenomenon of ''[[Swinging London]]''. It was written by [[George Melly]] and directed by [[Desmond Davis]]. The supporting cast includes [[Ian Carmichael]], [[Michael York]], [[Jeremy Lloyd]], [[Anna Quayle]], [[Irene Handl]], [[Arthur Mullard]], and [[Geoffrey Hughes (actor)|Geoffrey Hughes]].

==Plot==
Brenda ([[Rita Tushingham]]) and Yvonne ([[Lynn Redgrave]]), two girls from the [[North of England]], arrive at [[St Pancras railway station]] in [[London]] to seek fame and fortune. However, their image of the city is quickly tarnished when they realise that they cannot pay for their meals in a [[greasy spoon]] café as Brenda has been robbed of her savings by a [[tramp]]. Yvonne visits [[Carnaby Street]] in the hope of catching the eye of a trendy photographer, Tom Wabe ([[Michael York]]), while Brenda has to stay behind and do the washing up. A messy scene ensues as washing-up liquid is mistaken for ketchup and everyone in the café is drenched in variously-coloured liquids.

Yvonne excitedly tells Brenda that Wabe took her photo for a newspaper and paid her for it. However, when the paper drops that day, Brenda sees Yvonne has been mocked for being out of fashion, and decides to confront Wabe. She finds him at a strange party served by robots (built and introduced by Clive Sword ([[Bruce Lacey]])). In trying to curse him out, Tom attempts to charm her.

The girls get a referral from their new flatmate for hostess jobs at a night club. On their first night there, Yvonne is summoned by affluent Bobby Mome-Rath ([[Ian Carmichael]]), who gets her drunk and spirits her to an apartment he keeps for one-night stands. Brenda follows them, sneaks into the apartment, and tries to sabotage the tryst, adding laxative to Bobby's drink and ensuring that his bubble bath gets out of control. Meanwhile, Bobby's building super ([[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]]) spies through a hole in the ceiling. he falls through, giving Brenda and Yvonne a chance to escape. When they return to their flat, they learn the club has fired them.

Brenda is hired by Charlotte Brillig ([[Anna Quayle]]), a dilettante heiress, to manage her exclusive design shop called "Too Much," and is left in charge while her boss meets her ostensible main employee for lunch. When affluent hangers-on come into the shop, Brenda forces them to buy something. Although she sells a lot, Charlotte isn't pleased because nothing is left for rich customers to see. At the shop Brenda meets Tom, who asks her out to lunch. The restaurant, named [[Sweeny Todd]]'s, is where Yvonne has found a job, serving pies in [[Nell Gwynne]] garb. A custard-pie fight starts at the party and spreads to the street. Yvonne is blamed for starting the pie fight and fired. In turn, when Brenda brings Yvonne to the shop, they learn Charlotte has capriciously shut the business down to go on an impulse trip to Greece, leaving both girls again out of work.

The girls watch a [[Candid Camera]]-style TV show on a television in a shop window entitled ''You Can't Help Laughing'' in which an old lady's house is demolished as a joke. When they walk back to their rooming house, they discover the program has also demolished their home as well. Yvonne, as the only name on the lease, wins a reimbursement cheque for £10,000. She decides to invest the prize money in becoming a pop star. Although the live recording of her [[single (music)|single]], "I'm So Young", is patently awful, it becomes highly polished after mixing, and Yvonne's out-of-tune voice is put in tune. It becomes a big hit and Yvonne becomes a star appearing on other programmes like ''Hi-Fi Court'' (a parody of ''[[Juke Box Jury]]'').

Yvonne and Brenda drift apart. As Tom Wabe's new girlfriend, Brenda goes to dinner on his canal barge home and stays the night. They spend the next day taking photos and she goes on to become a top model, while Yvonne's popularity wanes. Yvonne throws a plate at the TV when she sees Brenda in an advert for a new perfume called "Direct Action".

At a glamorous and star-studded party for Yvonne at the top of the [[Post Office Tower]], Yvonne sits alone while everyone else enjoys themselves. Brenda watches the party on [[CCTV]] and sees Tom arrive to be mobbed by adoring girls. She gatecrashes the party only to see Yvonne humiliated when she falls in her own giant cake. Brenda finds the control to the revolving restaurant and turns it to full speed, ending the party in disarray.

The girls walk away in the early morning and decide to return home. The film ends with a reprise of the song ''Smashing Time''.

==Cast==
* [[Rita Tushingham]] as Brenda
* [[Lynn Redgrave]] as Yvonne
* [[Michael York]] as Tom Wabe
* [[Anna Quayle]] as Charlotte Brillig
* [[Irene Handl]] as Mrs. Gimble
* [[Ian Carmichael]] as Bobby Mome-Rath
* [[Jeremy Lloyd]] as Jeremy Tove
* [[Toni Palmer]] as Toni
* [[George A. Cooper]] as Irishman
* [[Peter Jones (actor)|Peter Jones]] as Dominic the game show host
* [[Arthur Mullard]] as Cafe Boss
* [[Ronnie Stevens (actor)|Ronnie Stevens]] as 1st Waiter
* [[John Clive]] as Sweeney Todd Manager
* [[Mike Lennox]] as Disc Jockey
* [[Sydney Bromley]] as Tramp
* [[David Lodge (actor)|David Lodge]] as The Caretaker
* [[Amy Dalby]] as Old lady whose house is demolished
* [[Murray Melvin]] as 1st Exquisite
* [[Bruce Lacey]] as Clive Sword
* [[Cardew Robinson]] as Custard-Pie Vicar
* [[Tomorrow (band)|Tomorrow]] as The Snarks
* [[Paul Danquah]] as 2nd Exquisite
* [[Michael Ward (actor)|Michael Ward]] as Elderly Shop Owner
* [[Sam Kydd]] as Workman in greasy spoon cafe
* [[Geoffrey Hughes (actor)|Geoffrey Hughes]] as Workman in greasy spoon cafe
* [[Jerold Wells]] as Workman
* [[Veronica Carlson]] as Actress at Party
* [[Valerie Leon]] as Tove's Secretary

==Production==
The film reunited Redgrave, Tushingham, composer [[John Addison]], cinematographer Manny Wynn and director Davis (he was also a camera operator in ''[[A Taste of Honey]]'') from the 1964 film ''[[Girl with Green Eyes]]''. Similarly, [[Murray Melvin]] and [[Paul Danquah]], Tushingham's co-stars in ''[[A Taste of Honey (film)|A Taste of Honey]]'', appear in cameo roles as boutique shop customers. [[Geoffrey Hughes (actor)|Geoffrey Hughes]], later to become familiar to millions as [[Eddie Yeats]] in ''[[Coronation Street]]'', appears as a workman. The popular [[BBC]] series ''[[Juke Box Jury]]'' is parodied as ''Hi-Fi Court'', and the UK version of the hidden camera series ''[[Candid Camera]]'' is parodied as ''You Can't Help Laughing!''

''[[Private Eye]]'' magazine at the time referred to the [[Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom|Queen]] and [[Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon|Princess Margaret]] as, respectively, [[List of people and organisations frequently parodied by Private Eye|Brenda and Yvonne]]. Some of the characters' names are borrowed from [[Lewis Carroll]]'s poetry, chiefly the nonsense poem ''[[Jabberwocky]]'': Charlotte ''Brillig'', Tom ''Wabe'', Mrs ''Gimble'', Bobby ''Mome-Rath'', Jeremy ''Tove'', Toni ''Mimsy'', and The ''Snarks'' (the rock band played by [[Tomorrow (band)|Tomorrow]] (known at the time of shooting as The In Crowd), including guitarist [[Steve Howe]], later to be a member of [[Yes (band)|Yes]], who shouts "Let's do it!").<ref>{{cite book|last=Howe|first=Steve|authorlink=Steve Howe|title=All My Yesterdays|page=61|year=2021|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9781785581793}}</ref> The futuristic art exhibition is held at the ''Jabberwock'' Gallery. The film was nominated for a [[Golden Globe]] (Best English-Language Foreign Film) in 1968. The theme tune was sung by Tushingham and Redgrave, who also performed several of the numbers in the film. In the 1993 BBC series ''[[Hollywood UK]]'', about the British film industry in the 1960s, the actresses appeared in the back of a London taxi singing the theme again.

==Reception==
The film performed poorly at the box office and ABC recorded a loss of $710,000.<ref name="variety"/> The film critic [[Alexander Walker (critic)|Alexander Walker]] noted that the film arrived too late to parody 'Swinging London' as the fad was already dead.<ref>Walker, Alexander (1974) ''Hollywood England: The British Film Industry in the Sixties'', Michael Joseph.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0062281|Smashing Time}}

{{Desmond Davis}}

[[Category:1967 films]]
[[Category:1967 comedy films]]
[[Category:ABC Motion Pictures films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:British satirical films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Desmond Davis]]
[[Category:Films scored by John Addison]]
[[Category:Films set in London]]
[[Category:Films shot in London]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]

Smashing Time - Revision history

Kurt at 23:31, 4 February 2023

Kurt at 23:30, 4 February 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

108.206.129.201 at 06:23, 7 October 2022