Stop the World: I Want To Get Off

Millicent Martin - Evie/Anya/Ara/Ginnie
Tony Tanner - Littlechap
Neil Hawley - Little Littlechap
Graham Lyons - Fatherin-Law
Leila Croft - Susan
Valerie Croft - Jane

As the overture commences, we are presented with a sequence of monochrome still photographs, of a theatre musical director waving his baton; of scenes in a recording studio, with the principals, chorus, conductor, a large orchestra, surrounded by microphones, booms and other equipment; of scenes in the theatre dressing rooms as the principals and other performers, the actors preparing for the night's performance, applying their costumes and make up, with a particular emphasis on Tony Tanner's transformation from his almost unrecognisable everyday self to the white faced clown Littlechap. At the end of the credits, the image switches to orange hued TechniColour and movement, and the performance begins - with a mime sequence.

From the very beginning therefore, theatricality is emphasised. We are to see a ‘Performance’. It is Brechtian, in the sense that one is never allowed to forget the process of production. There are various alienation devices to comment on the action, and prevent the viewer from getting too involved in the story: the film is on several occasions interrupted when Littlechap shouts 'Stop the World!, and he launches into a monologue to camera which returns to Black and White. The film also shows us shots from the stage, of a theatre audience applauding after some songs, and shots of the conductor in the pit. The essence of the appeal of Stop The World is theatrical, a real challenge (if not impossible) to turn into a film, and the film's producers have wisely avoided all attempts at naturalism.

Here we have what is basically a filmed record of a stage production, so one's response to the film depends entirely on one's response to the show, and the performers. Based on the Stage Productions at Queens Theatre, London (1961) (485 performances), and Shubert Theatre, New York (1962) (555 performances), and promoted as a new style musical with a new style entertainer (Anthony Newley) in 1961, Stop The World was a considerable stage success. It is a young man's show, and in mood, a typically early 1960s piece which seems rather quaint by today's standards. It caught the mood of the time with its comments on social class and politics, and (some would say, banal) attempts to make a statement on the human condition. At a time when audiences were willing to accept experiment in the arts - including theatre (Beckett) and movies (Godard), it had some of this sense of experiment. It is a musical with very little narrative, especially by today’s standards (Cats, also a mime show is its nearest equivalent, but is much cosier and less challenging). In Stop The World one can see the influence of Charlie Chaplin on Newley and on the production (especially 'Modern Times' - the images of the depersonalising effect of machinery, skilfully portrayed in mime by the dancers). The film also reflections certain 1960s notions of 'Art'. It opens with a very stylised mime routine, revealing the influence of the French mime artist Marcel Marceau, with Littlechap's clown costume and white face make up (mime and movement director: Tutte Lemkow). A circus ring setting is suggested in Sean Kenny's copy of his stage design.

The central character Littlechap is an Everyman figure, with roots going back to medieval theatre, but also an anti-hero, a 'little Englander' and a 'chauvinist' in his relations with Evie and his daughters. (there are also 21 pretty girl dancers in the film, who have an important role in the film - they act as a chorus, and comment on the action, both visually in mime, and in words). The satire is at a pretty shallow level, however. The role of Littlechap is a tour de force for the leading actor, placing heavy physical and vocal demands on the performer, who is never off the stage. The film 'Introduces' Tony Tanner (but this was not his first film - he appeared in Strictly For The Birds in 1963). Tanner followed Newley in both the London and New York stage productions, and replicates Anthony Newley's performance, including his vocal mannerisms. Personally, although he gives a skilful performance in a very demanding role, I found Tony Tanner overbearing and very irritating after a while, and if one finds Littlechap tiresome, the show loses a lot of its appeal.

As a show Stop The World had many admirers, especially Sammy Davis Jr. who recognised the quality of its songs and appeared in it more than once, and adopted several of its songs. Certainly, nobody could complain about the quality of the songs in this film. The songs include 'The ABC Song'(Tony Tanner), 'I Wanna Be Rich' (TT), 'Typically English[Deutsche/Russian/Japanese/All American' (MM),'Lumbered' (TT), 'Gonna Build a Mountain'(TT), 'Meilinki Meilchick' (TT/Millicent Martin), 'Mumbo Jumbo'(TT), 'Once in a Lifetime'(TT),'Someone Nice Like You'(TT/MM), and 'What Kind of Fool am I'(TT). They range from the powerful ('What Kind of Fool am I?') to the tender ('Someone Nice Like You Evie', and form one of the best scores of the period (from any source). Together with Oliver this is one of the great British musicals of the 1960s. The Book, Music and Lyrics were by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and they deserve credit for the boldness of the concept- a 'concept musical' before the term became fashionable, it is only preceded by the Weill/Gershwin 'Lady in the Dark' and Rodger's and Hammerstein' s 'Allegro' in its originality. Unfortunately, what was new and fresh in the 1960s was bound to date quickly, and the show, far from being timeless and universal, subsequently proved to be unrevivable, as various short-lived attempts since the 1960s have shown.

This film attempts to capture the experience of live theatre. As this is an impossible task, one has to give the producers credit for attempting to place the show on record, although the film is fatally flawed by not having Anthony Newley in the leading role. Whether Newley's non-appearance was due to contractual disagreements, or because he was appearing on Broadway in another show, is not certain (if the latter, why wasn't the production of this film moved to New York to accommodate Anthony Newley's other commitments?). It was crazy to proceed with a film of Stop The World without Anthony Newley on board.

The experience of seeing Stop The World live in the theatre in 1961 with the show's creator/performer, Anthony Newley on a good night, and in top form, in 1961 must have been electrifying. Love it or loathe it, this film is a poor substitute, but let's be grateful - it is all we have as a visual record of this show. Filmed in at Pinewood Studios outside London and at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
Review ©Roger Mellor.