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<blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 436474" data-attributes="member: 8"><p>The Family Way (1966)</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH=full]58437[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p>And so a good thing came from <em>Room At The Top</em> after all. And without Laurence Harvey's spoken reference, the title of this film would have gone over my head.</p><p>It's not important but it's true.</p><p>The premise of the film - like the original play, I suppose - is very much a comedy, but for the most part it plays out like a straight drama lightly sprinkled with humour and quirk. In other words, it's not a <em>Carry On Married</em> farce.</p><p></p><p>Because of housing problems, newlyweds Jenny and Arthur are going to live with Arthur's parents and spend their wedding night in Arthur's bedroom.</p><p>There's a lot of social expectation about that wedding night which looks a bit medieval to me. Those people literally stood around the bed of the married couple to witness the religious blessing. Thankfully that doesn't happen in this film but the awkwardness is still very much there.</p><p>Jenny and Arthur look like a young Eurovision couple (or half of AB/BA) rather than typically British people.</p><p>Even more noticeable are the warm and eye-popping colours which looks rather unusual for this genre film made in UK, but a different film poster mentions a "Technicolor Warner Bros. release" so I guess that explains it.</p><p></p><p>The plot-driven part is that Jenny and Arthur fail to consummate their marriage, but at the heart of it is a strained father/son relationship with a little twist thrown in.</p><p>This is very noticeable during an arm wrestling contest between father and son: Arthur is about to win but when he sees his father's tormented facial expressions he decides to fake defeat.</p><p>Later, Arthur's mother Lucy berates her husband Ezra for humiliating their son on his wedding day unaware of the fact that Arthur intentionally maintained his father's self-esteem.</p><p>Nevertheless, it was Ezra's inconsiderate behaviour that put them in that situation in the first place.</p><p>He's the kind of character who always puts his foot in it, followed by Lucy's sarcastic and quotable comments.</p><p></p><p>Jenny's parents are also far from perfect, and at some point in the story it even foreshadows a bit of <em>Bouquet Of Barbed Wire</em>.</p><p>As the story progresses, the emphasis is on the public reaction to Jenny and Arthur's mysterious marital issue, and it kinda looks as if they're watching the couple in a Big Brother TV show.</p><p>In a bizarre algorithm sort of way it feels as if the whole world conspires against Arthur: from an unsolicited birth-control catalogue to an overwhelmingly public display of marriage-sex marketing.</p><p>The last part of the story is the only part that deals with the drama in a head-on way and a bit of self-awareness threatens to creep in. But since it's also <em>about</em> a certain plot-realisation it stays on the right side of melodrama. I imagine that the closing scene is exactly the same as the one from the stage play.</p><p></p><p>Not many actors that I recognised, which doesn't mean I had not seen them in any film before this one.</p><p>Barry Foster is the household name because he's been in so many films and TV series, and I had previously watched a young Murray Head in <em>Sunday Bloody Sunday</em>.</p><p>A marriage guidance counsellor is played by Ruth Trouncer but for a brief moment I thought it was Stephanie Beacham.</p><p></p><p>Great stuff, I think I'm going to buy the DVD.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Willie Oleson, post: 436474, member: 8"] The Family Way (1966) [ATTACH type="full"]58437[/ATTACH] And so a good thing came from [I]Room At The Top[/I] after all. And without Laurence Harvey's spoken reference, the title of this film would have gone over my head. It's not important but it's true. The premise of the film - like the original play, I suppose - is very much a comedy, but for the most part it plays out like a straight drama lightly sprinkled with humour and quirk. In other words, it's not a [I]Carry On Married[/I] farce. Because of housing problems, newlyweds Jenny and Arthur are going to live with Arthur's parents and spend their wedding night in Arthur's bedroom. There's a lot of social expectation about that wedding night which looks a bit medieval to me. Those people literally stood around the bed of the married couple to witness the religious blessing. Thankfully that doesn't happen in this film but the awkwardness is still very much there. Jenny and Arthur look like a young Eurovision couple (or half of AB/BA) rather than typically British people. Even more noticeable are the warm and eye-popping colours which looks rather unusual for this genre film made in UK, but a different film poster mentions a "Technicolor Warner Bros. release" so I guess that explains it. The plot-driven part is that Jenny and Arthur fail to consummate their marriage, but at the heart of it is a strained father/son relationship with a little twist thrown in. This is very noticeable during an arm wrestling contest between father and son: Arthur is about to win but when he sees his father's tormented facial expressions he decides to fake defeat. Later, Arthur's mother Lucy berates her husband Ezra for humiliating their son on his wedding day unaware of the fact that Arthur intentionally maintained his father's self-esteem. Nevertheless, it was Ezra's inconsiderate behaviour that put them in that situation in the first place. He's the kind of character who always puts his foot in it, followed by Lucy's sarcastic and quotable comments. Jenny's parents are also far from perfect, and at some point in the story it even foreshadows a bit of [I]Bouquet Of Barbed Wire[/I]. As the story progresses, the emphasis is on the public reaction to Jenny and Arthur's mysterious marital issue, and it kinda looks as if they're watching the couple in a Big Brother TV show. In a bizarre algorithm sort of way it feels as if the whole world conspires against Arthur: from an unsolicited birth-control catalogue to an overwhelmingly public display of marriage-sex marketing. The last part of the story is the only part that deals with the drama in a head-on way and a bit of self-awareness threatens to creep in. But since it's also [I]about[/I] a certain plot-realisation it stays on the right side of melodrama. I imagine that the closing scene is exactly the same as the one from the stage play. Not many actors that I recognised, which doesn't mean I had not seen them in any film before this one. Barry Foster is the household name because he's been in so many films and TV series, and I had previously watched a young Murray Head in [I]Sunday Bloody Sunday[/I]. A marriage guidance counsellor is played by Ruth Trouncer but for a brief moment I thought it was Stephanie Beacham. Great stuff, I think I'm going to buy the DVD. [/QUOTE]
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