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The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins

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The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins - 1971 | 107 mins | Comedy | Colour

The Production Team

Director: Graham Stark.
Producer: Graham Stark.
Script: Graham Chapman ("Gluttony" and "Wrath"), Barry Cryer ("Gluttony" and "Wrath"), John Esmonde ("Avarice"), Marty Feldman ("Lust"), Dave Freeman ("Envy"), Ray Galton ("Pride"), Bob Larbey ("Avarice"), Spike Milligan ("Sloth"), Alan Simpson ("Pride") and Graham Stark ("Lust").
Cinematography: Harvey Harrison.
Film Editing: Rod Nelson-Keys and Roy Piper.
Art Direction: Roger King.
Makeup Department: Gordon Bond, Geoffrey Rodway and Wally Schneiderman.
Sound Department: John Brommage, Pat Foster, Ken Nightingall and Doug Smith.
Original Music: Roy Budd.

The Cast

Felicity Devonshire - Nude Girl
Bruce Forsyth - Clayton (segment "Avarice")
Paul Whitsun-Jones - Elsinore (segment "Avarice")
Bernard Bresslaw - Mr. Violet (segment "Avarice")
Joan Sims - Policewoman (segment "Avarice")
Roy Hudd - Fisherman (segment "Avarice")
Julie Samuel - Petrol Attendant (segment "Avarice")
Cheryl Hall - Vanessa (segment "Avarice")
Suzanne Heath - Chloe (segment "Avarice")
Harry Secombe - Stanley (segment "Envy")
Geoffrey Bayldon - Vernon (segment "Envy")
June Whitfield - Mildred (segment "Envy")
Carmel Cryan - Vera (segment "Envy")
Leslie Phillips - Dickie (segment "Gluttony")
Julie Ege - Ingrid (segment "Gluttony")
Patrick Newell - Doctor (segment "Gluttony")
Rosemarie Reed - Woman (segment "Gluttony")
Sarah Golding - Secretary (segment "Gluttony")
Bob Guccione - Pornographer (segment "Gluttony")
Tina McDowell (segment "Gluttony")
Harry H. Corbett - Ambrose (segment "Lust")
Cheryl Kennedy - Greta (segment "Lust")
Bill Pertwee - Cockney Man (segment "Lust")
Mary Baxter - Charlady (segment "Lust")
Anouska Hempel - Blonde (segment "Lust")
Kenneth Earle - Boy Friend (segment "Lust") (as Ken Earle)
Nicole Yerna - Thin Girl (segment "Lust")
Sue Bond - Girl with Glasses (segment "Lust")
Yvonne Paul - Receptionist (segment "Lust")
Ian Carmichael - Mr. Ferris (segment "Pride")
Alfie Bass - Mr. Spencer (segment "Pride")
Audrey Nicholson - Mrs. Ferris (segment "Pride")
Sheila Bernette - Mrs. Spencer (segment "Pride")
Robert Gillespie - A.A. Man (segment "Pride")
Keith Smith - R.A.C. Man (segment "Pride")
Ivor Dean - Policeman (segment "Pride")
Spike Milligan - Tramp (segment "Sloth")
Melvyn Hayes (segment "Sloth")
Ronnie Brody (segment "Sloth")
Ronnie Barker (segment "Sloth")
Peter Butterworth (segment "Sloth")
Marty Feldman (segment "Sloth")
Davy Kaye (segment "Sloth")
David Lodge (segment "Sloth")
Cardew Robinson (segment "Sloth")
Madeline Smith (segment "Sloth")
Ronald Fraser - George (segment "Wrath")
Stephen Lewis - Jarvis (segment "Wrath")
Arthur Howard - Kenneth (segment "Wrath")

Plot Synopsis

A sorry collection of seven burlesque sketches spoofing the Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice, Envy, Gluttony, Lust, Pride, Sloth and Wrath. A follow-up the mildly entertaining Simon Simon (1970), director Graham Stark once again recruits a band of famous friends from television to appear in comic cameos but the result is a laboriously scripted series of sketches that fail to raise a smile.

The first sin is Avarice, and the sketch follows harassed chauffeur Bruce Forsyth, with the assistance of engineer Bernard Bresslaw, searching through London's sewers for his employers lost 50p. Things don’t improve with the second sketch Envy. Harry Seacombe tries incessantly to purchase the plush house of his pools-winning wife’s dreams but is continually rejected by owners Geoffrey Bayldon and June Whitefield. The third sketch, Gluttony, was scripted by noted writers Graham Chapman and Barry Cryer, but even the casting of Leslie Phillips can’t save this weak skit. The fourth sketch, Lust, was written by Stark and based on a Marty Feldman story. The bittersweet skit follows love-starved Cockney bachelor Harry H. Corbett heading ‘up west’ to get a girl.

The yarns finally improve with the concluding three. Pride, features Ian Carmichael and Alfie Bass in a Galton and Simpson penned episode illustrating class warfare when a Rolls-Royce and a clapped out Morris meet head on in a narrow country lane and both drivers refuse to give way. The penultimate story, Sloth, is a wacky homage to the silent film period written by Spike Milligan, and features a a series of unrelated gags that evoke memories of his Running, Jumping and Standing Still Film (1959). The final sketch, Wrath, is a blackly comic tale of elderly gents Ronald Fraser and Arthur Howard plotting to murder cantankerous park-keeper Stephen Lewis.