Three Into Two Won't Go

[Pye]

I'm a great admirer of Andrea Newman ever since Bouquet of Barbed Wire, and have only just discovered that her novel Three Into Two Won't Go was made into a film in 1969 with Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom and Judy Geeson, directed by Peter Hall. It doesn't seem to be on DVD, has anyone seen it? I wonder how well it worked and what sort of film diector Hall was.

[Windthrop]

Hall is a perfectly competant film director but this film just didn't gel for me at all. Rod Steiger's accent is as unconvincing as the thing on his head and the whole thing has the look of a slightly late 60s upmarket sex farce. The film flopped and is largely forgotten now (it rates only one line in Hall's bio) I suspect because the marketing at the time make it look like the kind of film you would expect Leslie Phillips to be starring in.



Here's a clip I found on You Tube

[Windyridge]

Hall is a perfectly competant film director but this film just didn't gel for me at all. Rod Steiger's accent is as unconvincing as the thing on his head and the whole thing has the look of a slightly late 60s upmarket sex farce. The film flopped and is largely forgotten now (it rates only one line in Hall's bio) I suspect because the marketing at the time make it look like the kind of film you would expect Leslie Phillips to be starring in.

I agree with this, it was disappointing. It was a vehicle for Claire Bloom and Rod Steiger who were married at the time and Judy Geeson was very "hot" in 1969, but it didn't come off. I think it played in cinemas as a double bill with another film, can't remember which. I liked most of Andrea Newman's novels, but some are tawdry little tales!

[Rick C]

I agree with this, it was disappointing. It was a vehicle for Claire Bloom and Rod Steiger who were married at the time and Judy Geeson was very "hot" in 1969, but it didn't come off. I think it played in cinemas as a double bill with another film, can't remember which. I liked most of Andrea Newman's novels, but some are tawdry little tales!

The double-bill feature was "Eye of the Cat", Windyridge (Michael Sarrazin/Gayle Hunnicut,dir. David Lowell Rich)



14 September 1969 was the General Release date on the Rank Circuit commencing with the North London area.











The second is a "3into2" compo which looks like you had to buy a ticket to see the show in order to see the answers to the clues on-screen. Sounds like unfair Betting and Gaming rules to me LOL

[Pye]

LOve the Daily Mail's quote in that feature. "Topless Judy is as X as anything!"



Thanks for this, it's really surprising this is apparently a bit of a dud with that cast and crew, and even an Edna o Brien screenplay! Great title though!

[Rowdon]

I saw it on TV I think years ago. To my mind it was like "What's Good for the Goose", "Perfect Friday" and any number of 'adult' films that you hoped your parents wouldn't sit and watch with you. I don't remember the story - that, and the genre, was irrelevant to what I was looking for (I'm sorry to say).



Since then I have sort of gone off Rod Steiger; I find he's like Al Pacino or Sean Penn: regardless of the words he's saying, all I hear is "I'M ACTING!!! DO YOU SEE?? ACTING DAMMIT!!! ACTING!!!!! GOD KNOWS I'M SUFFERING HERE! THOUGH POSSIBLY NOT AS MUCH AS YOU!"

[Rick C]

For the record, "Three into Two" started off life in the UK at the London Pavilion on 17 July 1969 and did a six-week stretch there (until 3 September, to make way for Nicol Williamson in United Artists' "Laughter in the Dark")



"Three into Two" was one of those titles in those days when released one looked around the then current listings to work out the likely General Release partner, either for a bigger film to carry it or a smaller turkey to support it. "Eye of the Cat" was released at the ultra-new (and expensive)Odeon St.Martin's Lane on August 21,1969 and struggled to last a two-week period. Ironically it was "Three into Two" that replaced it until the pre-arranged premiere of "Royal Hunt of the Sun" at that theatre.

[Stephen Laws]

Can't really disagree with any of the postings - but it was very risque for its day, and some reviewers felt that the real-life man and wife team (then, I believe) of Steiger and Bloom gave the film a certain authenticity in the playing. What no one has mentioned so far, though - is the superb main title music by Francis Lai. Whether or not it's an 'appropriate' theme for the film is debatable - but it is a wonderful composition. So much so that I spent a LONG time hunting the film down just for the main title credits (not understanding why it's never been included in a Lai compilation over the years).







Stephen Laws

www.stephenlaws.com