Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1961
Mary Had a Little...
Buy Mary Had a Little... now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Mary Had a Little...' is a 1961 British comedy film directed by Edward Buzzell and starring Agns Laurent, Hazel Court and Jack Watling.[https://web.archive.org/web/20090118024014/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/42054 bfi] It takes its title from the nursery rhyme 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' and is about a slick impresario who tries unsuccessfully to win a bet with a psychiatrist over the production of a perfect baby via hypnotism.
It has been described by film historian David McGillivray as "the first full-fledged British sex comedy."David McGillivray, 'Doing Rude Things: The History of the British Sex Film 19571981', Sun Tavern Fields 1992
Production and release
The film was the first of a three-picture deal between director Edward Buzzell and producer Edward Small; the other two films were never shot. The screenplay was based on the play of the same name by Arthur Herzog Jr., Muriel Herman and Al Rosen, which had its West End opening at the Strand Theatre on 27 November 1951 in a production directed by the famous farceur Ralph Lynn.Frances Stephens, 'Theatre World Annual (London)' number 3, Rockliff Publishing Corporation 1952
Production took place in October 1960 at Walton Studios near London under the supervision of David Rose.Bill Edwards, 'Production', 'Kinematograph Weekly' vol 521 no 2767, 13 October 1960 The theme tune, 'Mary Had a Little...', was written by Buzzell and sung by Dick James. The completed film turned out to be Buzzell's final directorial assignment and also the penultimate credit for its star Agns Laurent.
Having opened in Los Angeles on 25 July 1961, the film went into general release in the UK on 3 August.F. Maurice Speed, 'Film Review 196263', Macdonald & Co 1962 'Variety' called it a "lower case farce", adding, "Pregnant idea, miscarries."review by 'Tube', 'Variety' 12 July 1961 "Whatever the merits of the original play", noted Britain's 'Monthly Film Bulletin', "the film remains, in its strenuously saucy way, on an abysmally unsubtle level."'Entertainment Films: Shorter Notices', 'Monthly Film Bulletin' August 1961
Cast
* Agns Laurent as Mary Kirk
* Hazel Court as Laurel Clive
* Jack Watling as Scott Raymond
* John Bentley as Dr Malcolm Nettel
* Michael Ward as Hunter
* Clifford Mollison as Watkins
* John Maxim as Burley Shavely
* Terry Scott as police sergeant
* Sidney Vivian as Grimmick
* Patricia Marmont as Angie
* Rose Alba as Duchess of Addlecombe
* Noel Howlett as Pottle
* Trevor Reid as Dr Liversidge
* Frances Bennett as Esther
* John Cazabon as Fitchett
* Charles Saynor as taxi driver
* Mark Hardy as Hawkes
* Michael Madden as Tigg
* Vincent Harding as Carney
* Tony Thawnton as Shakespeare
References
Buy Mary Had a Little... now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1961