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The Battle of the Sexes (1959 film)
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Wikipedia article
'The Battle of the Sexes' is a 1959 British black and white comedy film starring Peter Sellers, Robert Morley, and Constance Cummings, and directed by Charles Crichton. Based on the short story "The Catbird Seat" by James Thurber, it was adapted by Monja Danischewsky. A timid accountant in a Scottish Tweed weaving company cleverly bests a brash modern American efficiency expert whose ideas threaten his way of life.
Plot
Martin, the accountant for a Scottish Tweed weaving company, is in Edinburgh buying whisky and cigarettes on the Royal Mile. Martin is called to the death-bed of the owner, old MacPherson, at Moray Place. MacPherson offers him a whisky but Martin declines, so MacPherson drinks the two and promptly dies.
The new owner of the Tweed company, the young MacPherson, is enamoured of a zealous American woman who is an efficiency expert and who wants to turn her hand to revolutionise the very traditional company. She insists on visiting "the factory" on the island, only to discover the task is done by old couples, on crofts where they spin the wool. She plans to replace the 700 weavers, dotted across the islands, with a single large factory. Whilst being driven through the city, she also says the company should change to synthetic fibres, causing the chauffeur to drive into the back of a brewer's dray.
Martin watches a Sherlock Holmes film at the cinema and is inspired to kill Mrs Barrows. As he is a non-smoker and a non-drinker, he decides he can mislead any future investigation by smoking and drinking at the scene of the planned crime. He buys a half-bottle of whisky and a packet of cigarettes. However, in her flat, after a series of botched attempts, his conscience gets the better of him and he cannot kill her. He tries to remove all evidence when MacPherson appears suddenly, and manages to avoid detection. Back in the office, MacPherson interrogates Martin and finds his denial more plausible than Mrs Barrows' claims. She cannot take any more, accusing them all of being mad, and she leaves for good. Thus, Mr. Martin wins his "battle of the sexes". Later, seeing her crying at the station, he is moved to buy her a flower.
Cast
* Peter Sellers as Mr. Martin
* Robert Morley as Robert MacPherson
* Constance Cummings as Angela Barrows
* Jameson Clark as Andrew Darling
* Ernest Thesiger as Old Macpherson
* Donald Pleasence as Irwin Hoffman
* Moultrie Kelsall as Graham
* Alex Mackenzie as Robertson
* Roddy McMillan as Macleod
* Michael Goodliffe as Detective (on film in cinema)
* Noel Howlett as Mr. White
* Abe Barker as Mr Meekie
* William Mervyn as Detective's friend (on film in cinema)
* Patricia Hayes as Jeannie Macdougall
* Fred Griffiths as railway porter
* Glyn Houston as railway porter
Production
Film rights to the story were owned by Hecht Hill Lancaster. Billy Wilder was signed to direct.Notes From Coast
Special to The New York Times. 4 June 1957: 38. Eventually they sold the rights.
It was the first film made by the newly-formed Bryanston Films, who approved it on 13 May 1959.Petrie p 5
Reception
Box Office
The film was a minor box office hit earning Bryanston a profit of 10,894.Petrie p 8Critical
On its 1960 release, the film was very warmly reviewed by 'The New York Times', with critic A. H. Weiler calling it a "gentle, tongue-in-cheek ribbing that cleaves to the spirit, if not entirely to the letter of Thurber's lampoon."References
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