Review #601: 'The Bed Sitting Room' (1969)

The years haven't been entirely fair to Richard Lester. His Beatles' films A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) used fast editing and loose camerawork to catch the sheer insanity of the Beatles' existence. These innovative techniques were brushed aside as being 'hip' and 'mod' back in the 1960's and Lester's work went misunderstood until it became clear that he had single-handedly invented the music video. Yet while other British auteurs of similar scope and individual vision, such as Ken Russell and Lindsay Anderson, garner a cult following and have some of their films considered masterpieces, Lester's work, apart from his Beatles films and his Superman efforts, have remained disappointingly obscure. But the great people behind the 'Flipside' series from the BFI have managed to unearth this minor treasure from Lester's 'swinging 60's' days, and The Bed Sitting Room is a great little vision, full of off-the-wall humour, depressing/uplifting satire, and one of the finest collections of British comedians ever seen on screen.

After the shortest war in history (lasting just 2 hours and 28 seconds) has left the Earth a desolate wasteland, a small group of eccentrics from various social status's wander the country, terrified about their pending mutation. Lord Fortnum (Ralph Richardson) is concerned the nuclear radiation will cause him to mutate into the bed sitting room of the title (which he later does). Father (Arthur Lowe) tries to maintain his traditional family life while living on the tube along with his wife Mother (Mona Washbourne) and his 17-month pregnant daughter Penelope (Rita Tushingham). Two policeman, Inspector (Peter Cook) and Sergeant (Dudley Moore) urge people to "move on!" from a chassis suspended on a hot air balloon. Mother is handed her own death certificate, and after she mutates into a wardrobe, Father forces Penelope into marrying Bules Martin (Michael Hordern), a man Father believes to have a 'brighter future', despite Penelope's love for Allan (Richard Warwick), the father of her child.

It seems that The Bed Sitting Room is more about Britain than anything resembling an anti-war message. It both mocks and admires British society, in the way that we so desperately cling onto tradition. As well as Father holding together the family unit aboard a tube train, the countries inhabitants still worship the next in line to the throne. The fact is, the Royal Family are all dead, and the next in line is Mrs. Ethel Shroake of 393A High Street, Leytonstone. Therefore, the national anthem now goes "God save Mrs. Ethel Shroake of 393A High Street, Leytonstone!". It's this kind of absurdist humour that makes The Bed Sitting Room so rich in comedy, both laugh-out-loud and outright bizarre, very similar to the work of Monty Python that came the same year. This is mainly thanks to the performances of the stellar line-up that includes - as well as the aforementioned actors - Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear, Harry Secombe, and the great Marty Feldman. It's a downright strange experience, but one I found hilarious, baffling and often actually quite sad, created by a cast and crew of artists at the top of their game.


Directed by: Richard Lester
Starring: Rita Tushingham, Ralph Richardson, Michael Hordern, Arthur Lowe, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan, Roy Kinnear
Country: UK

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie