35-500: Only Two Can Play is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Sidney Gilliat starring Peter Sellers , Mai Zetterling and Virginia Maskell . The screenplay was by Bryan Forbes , based on the 1955 novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis . John Lewis is a poorly paid and professionally frustrated librarian and occasional drama critic, whose affections fluctuate between glamorous Liz and his long-suffering wife Jean. When
70-723: A camp sensibility lay behind the successful Carry On films , while in America subversive independent film-maker John Waters made camp films for college audiences with his drag queen friends that eventually found a mainstream audience. The success of the American television show Saturday Night Live drove decades of cinema with racier content allowed on television drawing on the program's stars and characters, with bigger successes including Wayne's World , Mean Girls , Ghostbusters and Animal House . Parody and joke-based films continue to find audiences. While comedic films are among
105-490: A better paid job becomes vacant, Lewis is reluctant to apply, but is persuaded to do so by Jean. Then, he meets the obviously attractive Elizabeth Gruffydd-Williams (Liz), a designer with the local amdram company and wife of a local councillor . Liz offers to intercede with her husband to help in getting Lewis the job, and makes it clear that she is attracted to him. Lewis is easily seduced into an affair, although it remains unconsummated. Having been persuaded by Liz to leave
140-468: A film from Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis and Gilliat thought Amis' That Uncertain Feeling might also make a film. He had his reservations but was persuaded by the enthusiasm of Bryan Forbes, who wrote the script, and they persuaded Peter Sellers to star. Only Two Can Play was filmed largely in and around Swansea , Amis's model for its setting, Aberdarcy; crowds of both supporters and demonstrators watched filming, and MI5 agents shadowed Zetterling, who
175-581: A four-star rating system similar in appearance to the system used by Steven Scheuer and (with slight modification) Leonard Maltin . However, in Halliwell's system even a one-star rating was a definite recommendation. Poor or mediocre films which other critics would rate one or two stars were equally missable to him, so they received no star. By the time of Halliwell's death in 1989, the Film Guide had doubled in size. He acknowledged his predecessors in
210-541: A further two editions in 1982 and 1986. The third edition, published by Grafton in 1986, included over 12,000 entries. Halliwell retired from the television industry in 1986 but continued to edit his film guides. He wrote a regular TV article for the Daily Mail beginning in 1987, and published a number of historical and critical works about the cinema. He also published three volumes of ghost stories inspired by M. R. James . Halliwell died of esophageal cancer at
245-581: A separate genre, but rather, provides a better understanding of the film. Leslie Halliwell Robert James Leslie Halliwell (23 February 1929 – 21 January 1989) was a British film critic , encyclopaedist and television rights buyer for ITV , the British commercial network, and Channel 4 . He is best known for his reference guides, Filmgoer's Companion (1965), a single volume film-related encyclopaedia featuring biographies (with credits) and technical terms, and Halliwell's Film Guide (1977), which
280-420: A union leader in the British comedy, " I'm All Right, Jack [1959]," is clearly the fellow to do the same thing to sex. And we are pleased to be able to proclaim he does it in his latest side-splitter, Only Two Can Play . With a script by Bryan Forbes that pops perpetually with some of the brightest British quips of modern times, with Sidney Gilliat directing and with a spanking new Mai Zetterling deftly applying
315-751: A view to creative scheduling.' Author and film historian Jeffrey Richards wrote: For lovers of the golden age of the cinema like myself, Channel 4 became a source of unalloyed delight as time and again one encountered films one had only ever read about and never expected to see. During this period, Halliwell also presented two television series celebrating the British wartime documentary movement: Home Front , for Granada in 1982 and The British at War for Channel 4 two years later. Both featured Ministry of Information productions such as Listen to Britain , Desert Victory and The True Glory . First published in 1965, The Filmgoer's Companion sold ten thousand copies on its first run, including four thousand in
350-498: Is dedicated to individual films. Anthony Quinton wrote in the Times Literary Supplement : "Immersed in the enjoyment of these fine books, one should look up for a moment to admire the quite astonishing combination of industry and authority in one man which has brought them into existence." Halliwell's promotion of the cinema through his books and seasons of "golden oldies'"on Channel 4 won him awards from
385-647: Is the single most valuable reference book on film." Others were less enthusiastic, criticising Halliwell's subjectivity and occasionally reactionary opinions on the films included, as well as the bias towards older films. Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote in 1979 that "the referrer needs an iron will to look up only one fact," in reference to the perceived density of the book. First published in 1977 and regularly updated, Halliwell's Film Guide originally incorporated capsule reviews and information on over 8,000 English-speaking titles. He used
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#1732786783682420-531: The Orange County Register called Halliwell "something of a grumpy old English fuddy-duddy [who] rarely has anything good to say about any movie made after 1960". Halliwell's third encyclopaedic work began life as the Teleguide in 1979. Disappointed with the first edition, he joined with Sunday Telegraph critic Philip Purser to produce Halliwell's Television Companion , which ran for
455-685: The London Film Critics' Circle , the British Film Institute and a posthumous BAFTA . Born in Bolton , Lancashire in 1929, Halliwell enjoyed films from an early age. He grew up during the Golden Age of Hollywood , a period when film production was at its peak, with new releases debuting in cinemas with great regularity. Halliwell went almost nightly to the cinema with his mother, Lily, which provided an escape from
490-420: The 1930s and '40s. Over the next few years, the channel showed hundreds of vintage movies in seasons, with many titles introduced by filmmakers such as Samuel Goldwyn Jnr, Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat . Isaacs later wrote that Halliwell had made an "unsurpassed contribution" to the channel's success. The British Film Institute gave Halliwell an award in 1985 'for the selection and acquisition of films with
525-629: The 1963 BAFTA awards. Comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor . These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending , with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the oldest genres in film, and it is derived from classical comedy in theatre . Some of the earliest silent films were slapstick comedies , which often relied on visual depictions, such as sight gags and pratfalls, so they could be enjoyed without requiring sound. To provide drama and excitement to silent movies, live music
560-669: The United States. In all, Halliwell edited nine editions of the Companion , which is now known as Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies . The book was highly influential and critically acclaimed, with TV presenter Denis Norden comparing the companion to the Wisden Cricketers' Almanack . Gene Siskel wrote in 1975: There is a well-developed consensus among film scribes that Leslie Halliwell's The Filmgoer's Companion
595-556: The at times tough reality of their mill town . In 1939, Halliwell won a scholarship to Bolton School . After national service , he went on to study English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge . After graduating with a 2:1 honours degree from St Catharine's, Halliwell worked briefly for Picturegoer magazine in London, before returning to Cambridge to manage the Rex Cinema from 1952 to 1956. Under his management,
630-399: The brevity of his assessments, and his dismissive stance on more modern films. His devotion to the Golden Age of Hollywood left him increasingly out of touch with modern attitudes. Observer film critic Philip French wrote that Halliwell "isn't a scholar, critic or cineaste, but rather a movie buff, a man who knows the credits of everything but the value of very little". Jim Emerson of
665-577: The chief film buyer for the ITV network, a role he maintained throughout the 1970s and most of the 1980s. Travelling to Hollywood twice a year to view the latest TV pilots and film offerings and to trade fairs in Cannes and Monte Carlo , Halliwell became a major player in the television industry. In his capacity as chief buyer for the ITV network, he was responsible for bringing to British television screens some of
700-691: The cinema became extremely popular with the Cambridge undergraduate community, showing classic films such as The Blue Angel , Citizen Kane and Destry Rides Again . The Cambridge Evening News reported that "students felt their periods at Cambridge were incomplete without the weekly visit to the Rex." In 1955, after the British Censor had banned the Marlon Brando film The Wild One , Halliwell arranged for Cambridge magistrates to assess
735-515: The film industry due to their popularity. In The Screenwriters Taxonomy (2017), Eric R. Williams contends that film genres are fundamentally based upon a film's atmosphere, character, and story, and therefore, the labels "drama" and "comedy" are too broad to be considered a genre. Instead, his taxonomy argues that comedy is a type of film that contains at least a dozen different sub-types. A number of hybrid genres have emerged, such as action comedy and romantic comedy . The first comedy film
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#1732786783682770-428: The film was the third most successful film at the British box office in 1962. Films and Filming said it was the fourth most popular for Britain for the year ended 31 October 1962 after The Guns of Navarone (1961), Dr. No (1962) and The Young Ones (1961). New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "ANYBODY who could do to organized labor what Peter Sellers did with his thumping performance of
805-478: The friendship of his colleague and best friend, Ieuan Jenkins, who had a role in the play. When Lewis is offered the better paid job, he realises that Liz will now use and control him if he lets her. Finally realising the price he has paid, he breaks off the affair and takes a job as a mobile librarian, in the hope that this will keep him away from predatory women. Jean is not so sure that he can resist them, and tags along to keep an eye on him. John Boulting had made
840-507: The highest rated shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Six Million Dollar Man , Charlie's Angels , The Incredible Hulk , and The A-Team , as well as the James Bond film series , Jaws , and Star Wars . In 1982, at the invitation of Jeremy Isaacs , he became buyer and scheduler of films for Channel 4 . In keeping with the channel's intention to appeal to specialist audiences, Halliwell focused primarily on films from
875-449: The introduction to the first edition, I salute especially the work of Leonard Maltin , James Robert Parish, Denis Gifford , Douglas Eames and the unsung anonymous heroes who compiled the reviews of the BFI 's Monthly Film Bulletin during the fifties and sixties. This second work also came in for as much criticism as it did praise. Halliwell came under fire from journalists and critics for
910-547: The itching-powders as a grandly seductive Eve, Mr. Sellers performs an old Adam that puts all recent seventh-year scratchers in the shade." The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "This small-town drama is played out as farce and makes its satirical points with comic deftness. The title is misleading because the players in this story of a would-be adulterous Welsh librarian (Peter Sellers) and his wannabe mistress (Mai Zetterling) also include Virginia Maskell as his dispirited wife and Richard Attenborough as
945-754: The most popular with audiences at the box office, there is an 'historical bias against a close and serious consideration of comedy' when it comes to critical reception and conferring of awards, such as at the Academy Awards . Film writer Cailian Savage observes "Comedies have won Oscars, although they’ve usually been comedy-dramas, involved very depressing scenes, or appealed to stone-hearted drama lovers in some other way, such as Shakespeare in Love ." According to Williams' taxonomy , all film descriptions should contain their type (comedy or drama) combined with one (or more) sub-genres. This combination does not create
980-400: The next thirty years, at their offices in London's Golden Square . He married Ruth Porter in 1959 and they had one son. Initially appointed as Cecil Bernstein's assistant, Halliwell gained the role of Film Adviser to Granada 's show Cinema , which was the most popular arts programme on television during the 1960s. Halliwell was given responsibility for buying TV shows and in 1968 became
1015-543: The picture. They subsequently granted him a special licence, and so the Rex became one of the few cinemas in Britain to show the film. After leaving The Rex, Halliwell joined the Rank Organisation in 1956 on a three-year trainee course. He was then employed as a film publicist for the company. In 1958, he joined Southern Television , and was seconded to Granada Television a year later, where he remained for
1050-415: The poet she flirts with. That the film succeeds is partly down to Sellers's unusually restrained performance, which makes his character more believable." Leslie Halliwell said: "Well characterised and generally diverting 'realistic' comedy which slows up a bit towards the end but contains many memorable sequences and provides its star's last good character performance." It was nominated for Best Film in
1085-400: The theatre's new production early one evening for an assignation, Lewis submits a bogus review to the local newspaper, but learns the next morning that the theatre burned down shortly after the play commenced. Jean thus learns of the affair and retaliates by encouraging her old flame Gareth Probert, a self-important literary character and dramatist (who wrote the ill-fated play). Lewis also loses
Only Two Can Play - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-512: The use of comedy film to make social statements by building their narratives around sensitive cultural, political or social issues. Such films include Dr Strangelove, or How I Learned to Love the Bomb , Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? and The Graduate . In America, the sexual revolution drove an appetite for comedies that celebrated and parodied changing social morals, including Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice and Fanny Hill . In Britain,
1155-414: Was L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895), directed and produced by film pioneer Louis Lumière . Less than a minute long, it shows a boy playing a prank on a gardener. The most notable comedy actors of the silent film era (1895–1927) were Charlie Chaplin , Harold Lloyd , and Buster Keaton , though they were able to make the transition into “ talkies ” after the 1920s. Film-makers in the 1960s skillfully employed
1190-417: Was played in sync with the action on the screen, on pianos, organs, and other instruments. When sound films became more prevalent during the 1920s, comedy films grew in popularity, as laughter could result from both burlesque situations but also from humorous dialogue . Comedy, compared with other film genres , places more focus on individual star actors, with many former stand-up comics transitioning to
1225-511: Was suspected of Communist sympathies. It was released with an X certificate, the first given to a comedy by the British Board of Film Censors , although it includes only a brief glimpse of nudity. Gilliat says Peter Sellers was difficult during filming. The star disliked Maskell's performance and wanted her replaced by a genuine Welsh actor. Gilliat had to involve John Boulting to get the situation to quieten down. The Times reported
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