Kurt at 16:39, 14 September 2024

2024-09-14T16:39:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:39, 14 September 2024
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	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Man Who Liked Funerals		\| name = The Man Who Liked Funerals
	\| image = The Man Who Liked Funerals film DVD cover.~~png~~		\| image = The Man Who Liked Funerals film DVD cover.jpg
	\| caption = DVD cover		\| caption = DVD cover
	\| director = [[David Eady (film director)\|David Eady]]		\| director = [[David Eady (film director)\|David Eady]]

Kurt at 23:34, 10 September 2024

2024-09-10T23:34:27Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:34, 10 September 2024
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	~~{{Short description\|1959 British film by David Eady}}~~
	~~{{For\|a similarly named Croatian film\|A Man Who Liked Funerals}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=March 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=March 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = The Man Who Liked Funerals		\| name = The Man Who Liked Funerals
	\| image = ~~The_Man_Who_Liked_Funerals_film_DVD_cover~~.png		\| image = The Man Who Liked Funerals film DVD cover.png
	\| caption = DVD cover		\| caption = DVD cover
	\| director = [[David Eady (film director)\|David Eady]]		\| director = [[David Eady (film director)\|David Eady]]
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	[[Category:1950s British films]]		[[Category:1950s British films]]
	[[Category:Films scored by Edwin Astley]]		[[Category:Films scored by Edwin Astley]]


	~~{{1950s-UK-comedy-film-stub}}~~

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2024-09-10T23:30:06Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 18:30, 10 September 2024
(No difference)

en>Tobyhoward: Added BFI ref. EL: deleted ReelStreets per WP:NOBLOGS – I had previously added this link in error.

2024-09-08T13:03:33Z

Added BFI ref. EL: deleted ReelStreets per WP:NOBLOGS – I had previously added this link in error.

New page

{{Short description|1959 British film by David Eady}}
{{For|a similarly named Croatian film|A Man Who Liked Funerals}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The Man Who Liked Funerals
| image = The_Man_Who_Liked_Funerals_film_DVD_cover.png
| caption = DVD cover
| director = [[David Eady (film director)|David Eady]]
| producer = [[Jon Penington]]
| writer = [[Margot Bennett (writer)|Margot Bennett]]<br>Cecily Finn<br>Joan O'Connor
| starring = [[Leslie Phillips]]<br>[[Susan Beaumont]]<br>[[Bill Fraser]]
| music = [[Edwin Astley]]
| cinematography = [[Eric Cross (cinematographer)|Eric Cross]]
| editing = [[John Seabourne]]
| studio = Penington Eady Productions
| distributor = [[The Rank Organisation|J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors]] {{small|(UK)}}
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1958|||UK}}
| runtime = 59m 29s<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/releases/man-who-liked-funerals-1970-0|title=THE MAN WHO LIKED FUNERALS | British Board of Film Classification|website=www.bbfc.co.uk}}</ref>
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
'''''The Man Who Liked Funerals''''' is a 1958 British 'B' <ref name=":0" /> [[comedy film]] directed by [[David Eady (film director)|David Eady]] and starring [[Leslie Phillips]], [[Susan Beaumont]] and [[Bill Fraser]].<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The Man Who Liked Funerals |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150064262 |access-date=2 December 2023 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> It was written by [[Margot Bennett (writer)|Margot Bennett]], Cecily Finn and Joan O'Connor.

==Synopsis==

In order to help a youth club which is under threat of closure, a man begins attending funerals where he blackmails the relatives of the recently deceased, threatening to publish incriminating stories about them. However, his plans encounter problems when he tries to blackmail the family of a prominent villain.

==Cast==
* [[Leslie Phillips]] as Simon Hurd
* [[Susan Beaumont]] as Stella
* [[Bill Fraser]] as Jeremy Bentham
* Thelma Ruby as junior mistress
* [[Mary Mackenzie]] as Hester Waring
* [[Paul Stassino]] as Nick Morelli
* [[Jimmy Thompson (actor)|Jimmy Thompson]] as Lieutenant Hunter
* Charles Clay as Colonel Hunter
* [[Anita Sharp-Bolster]] as Lady Hunter
* Shaun O'Riordan as Reverend Pitt
* [[Marianne Stone]] as Bentham's secretary

==Critical reception==
''[[Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' said "This tepid farce fails to live up to the promise of either its original idea or the intriguing title. The direction is shaky, the dialogue amateurish, and several of the actors appear in a state of muted panic."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1959 |title=The Man Who Liked Funerals |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305829056/1D330C119E2D493APQ/1 |journal=[[Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=26 |issue=300 |pages=34 |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

In ''British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959'' [[David Quinlan (film critic)|David Quinlan]] rated the film as "mediocre", writing: "Delightful idea given heavy-handed treatment."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=[[Batsford Books|B.T. Batsford Ltd.]] |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=344}}</ref>

''The [[Radio Times]] Guide to Films'' gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Leslie Phillips landed his first starring role in this brisk B-picture. Reining in the trademark charm, he plays a printer who attempts to fill the coffers of a struggling boys' club by blackmailing the relatives of recently departed bigwigs, whose scandalous (albeit forged) memoirs he threatens to publish. However, it all goes horribly wrong when he picks on the family of a notorious gangster. The film is nothing to get excited about, but it does raise the odd smile."<ref>{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=[[Immediate Media Company]] |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=587}}</ref>

The film was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in ''The British 'B' Film'', as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between [[World War II]] and 1970. They describe it as "fresh and gently funny", "consistently amusing, its plot worked out with some wit" and add that "its cast, amiably led by Phillips at the start of his starring career, enters into the spirit of the joke".<ref name=":0">Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, ''The British 'B' Film'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 273–74.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0053042}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Man Who Liked Funerals, The}}
[[Category:1959 films]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:Films directed by David Eady]]
[[Category:1959 comedy films]]
[[Category:1950s English-language films]]
[[Category:1950s British films]]
[[Category:Films scored by Edwin Astley]]

{{1950s-UK-comedy-film-stub}}

The Man Who Liked Funerals - Revision history

Kurt at 16:39, 14 September 2024

Kurt at 23:34, 10 September 2024

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Tobyhoward: Added BFI ref. EL: deleted ReelStreets per WP:NOBLOGS – I had previously added this link in error.