The Bed Sitting Room – 1969 | 90 mins | Comedy | Colour

Plot Synopsis

The adapted play by Spike Milligan and JohnAntrobus serves as an ideal springboard for this offbeat anti-war film byRichard Lester which, miraculously, manages to convey its grim message withsurreal humour. The episodic sketches catches glimpses and comments of the20-odd holocaust survivors of a London shredded by an A-bomb as they dig out oftheir holes to try and cope with the grey new world before they, too, becomeanimals. In the manner of vaude blackouts, they soon meld into a general mosaicof stiff-upper-lip acceptance of new conditions, some fizzlers but others veryamusing. Despite its undoubted originality, The Bed Sitting Room failed totransfer successfully from stage to screen and flopped at the box-office.

Arthur Lowe turning into a parrot, Cook andMoore are side-splittingly funny as government bureaucrats, Mona Washbournebecoming a chest of drawers and Rita Tushingham announcing that she’s 17 monthspregnant, it’s clear that this is a most bizarre romp. Ralph Richardson issuperb in a relatively brief stint as the diehard traditionalist who eventually’becomes’ the title’s bed-sitting room, but all in a carefully-chosen roster ofBritish character thespians who contribute stellar bits in almost impossiblydifficult roles.