1974


Man About the House

Released: December 22, 1974 (U.K.); 90 minutes; Color; 8139 feet; a Hammer Film Production; an EMI Release (U.K.); filmed at Elstree Studios; Director: John Robins; Producer: Roy Skeggs; Screenplay: Johnnie Mortimer, Brian Cooke; Music Composed by: Christopher Gunning; Title Song: “Man About the House,” Music: Christopher Gunning, Lyrics: Annie Farrow; Director of Photography: Jimmy Allen, B.S.C.; Editor: Archie Ludski, G.B.F.E.; Art Director: Don Picton; Assistant Director: Derek Whitehurst; Sound Editor: Roy Hyde; Makeup Supervisor: Eddie Knight; Hairdressing Supervisor: Betty Sherriff; Production Manager: Dennis Hall; Camera: Chick Antiss; Continuity: Renee Glynn; Sound: Claude Hitchcock; Wardrobe: Laura Nightingale; Stills Photographer: Albert Clarke; U.K. Certificate: A.

Richard O’Sullivan (Robin Tripp), Paula Wilcox (Chrissy), Sally Thronsett (Jo), Brian Murphy (Mr. Roper), Yootha Joyce (Mrs. Roper), Doug Fisher (Larry Simmonds), Peter Cellier (Morris Pluthero), Patrick Newell (Sir Edmund Weir), Aimi McDonald (Hazel Lovett), Jack Smethurst (Himself), Rudolph Walker (Himself), Spike Milligan (Himself), Melvyn Hayes (Nigel), Michael Ward (Mr. Gideon), Bill Grundy (Interviewer), Berry Cornish (P.A.), Norman Mitchell (Doorman), Michael Robbins (Second Doorman), Johnnie Briggs (Milkman), Bill Pertwee (Postman), Bill Sawyer (Chauffeur), Aubrey Morris (Lecturer), Arthur Lowe (Spiros), Andria Lawrence (Miss Bird), Julian Orchard (Producer), Damaris Hayman (Old Lady), Robert Dorning (Colonel Manners), Mark Rogers (Boy Scout), Bill Maynard (Chef), Pauline Pearl (Secretary), Arthur Hewlett (Elderly Man), Annie Leake (Tweedy Lady), Corinne Skinner (Housewife).

 

Robin Tripp (Richard O’Sullivan) shares an apartment with two young women, Chrissy (Paula Wilcox) and Jo (Sally Thronsett). The threesome get along well, except when Robin’s hormones get the best of him.

Their landlords, the Ropers (Brian Murphy, Yootha Joyce), are friendly enough, especially Mrs. Roper, who spends more time in Robin’s apartment than in her own. When the Ropers learn that Mr. Pluthero (Peter Cellier), a real estate developer, wants to buy their building, Mrs. Roper refuses and the roommates circulate a petition to protest the entire development. Sir Edmund (Patrick Newell), a member of Parliament, is interested in the petition because he keeps his mistress, Miss Bird (Aimi McDonald), in the building.

Pluthero learns of Sir Edmund’s indiscretion and blackmails the MP into pushing the sale, but the company head is afraid of negative publicity. He orders Pluthero to make a conciliatory television appearance explaining the sale has been cancelled due to the company’s commitment to the environment. But Mr. Roper, who wants to sell, is unaware of the policy change. When Mrs. Roper and the tenants discover his duplicity, they storm the television station. After the dust settles, all concerned realize that their building is safe.

Man About the House was the last Hammer film to be adapted from a television series. This early seventies trend resulted in a group of cheaply made films that nevertheless generated a very creditable amount of business.

The basic concept of Man About the House was adapted for American television as Three’s Company, and thereupon became an even bigger hit than its cross-the-Atlantic cousin.

Hammer’s version began production in March, 1974, under the direction of sitcom conversion specialist John Robins with most of the series’ cast members. Filming ended on April 12, and Man About the House was released on December 22, 1974, on the ABC circuit. During the film’s first week at the ABC Edgewater, it took £2,000, and by January 11, 1975, the total of the London releases netted almost £90,000. Cinema TV Today (December 7, 1974) found that the film “provides acceptable excuses for a profusion of set piece comedy scenes that are always amusing and sometimes exceedingly funny.”

Like Hammer’s other comedies of the early seventies, Man About the House had no American release. This was unfortunate, since the television show Three’s Company became a huge success in which Hammer was unable to participate.