Raising a Riot

Raising a Riot
Directed by	Wendy Toye
Written by	Ian Dalrymple Hugh Perceval
Based on	Raising a Riot by Alfred Toombs
Produced by	Ian Dalrymple Hugh Perceval
Starring	Kenneth More Shelagh Fraser Mandy Miller
Cinematography	Christopher Challis
Edited by	Bert Rule
Music by	Bruce Montgomery
Production companies	London Films Wessex Films
Distributed by	British Lion Films
Release date	21 February 1955
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	£231,148 (UK)

Raising a Riot is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Shelagh Fraser and Mandy Miller about a naval officer who attempts to look after his three children in his wife's absence. It was shot at Shepperton Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Joseph Bato.

Plot summary

Commander Peter Kent of the Royal Navy and his wife May have three children, ranging from five to eleven years: Peter, Anne and Fusty. Kent comes home after three years abroad with no idea how to handle the children. When Mary has to fly to Canada, Peter takes his children to his father's new country home, which turns out to be a windmill. They end up clashing with an American family in the neighbourhood.

Cast

• Kenneth More as Peter Kent
• Shelagh Fraser as Mary Kent
• Mandy Miller as Anne Kent
• Gary Billings as Peter Kent
• Fusty Bentine as Fusty Kent
• Ronald Squire as Grampy
• Olga Lindo as Aunt Maud
• Lionel Murton as Hary
• Mary Laura Wood as Jacqueline
• Jan Miller as Sue
• Nora Nicholson as Miss Pettigrew
• Anita Sharp-Bolster as Mrs Buttons
• Michael Bentine as The Professor
• Dorothy Dewhurst as Mother
• Robin Brown as Junior

Production

The film was based on a book by American writer Alfred Toombs. The book was based on Toombs' real life experience of having to look after his children after having been away from them at war for three years.

One of the children is an uncredited Caroline John, who would later play Liz Shaw in Doctor Who.

Reception

Box office

The film was the eighth most popular movie at the British box office in 1955.

According to the National Film Finance Corporation, the film made a comfortable profit.

Critical

The New York Times wrote, "Withal, it makes agreeable entertainment. Mr. More is a comical chap, particularly when he has a dog to cope with, as he had in the memorable Genevieve...Raising a Riot is an amiable little film"; while more recently, the Radio Times called it "an inconsequential, one-joke comedy, kept moving by the polished More, but old-fashioned and rather flat"; and AllMovie described how the film "goes off on several directions, many of them hilarious: some of the best scenes involve the kids' ongoing feud with a bunch of American children."

External links

• Raising a Riot at IMDb