Funny Movie Ate Birth Control Pills
| Prudence and the Pill | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Fielder Cook Ronald Neame (uncredited) |
| Written by | Hugh Mills |
| Produced by | Kenneth Harper Ronald J. Kahn |
| Starring | Deborah Kerr David Niven |
| Cinematography | Ted Moore |
| Edited by | Norman Savage |
| Music by | Bernard Ebbinghouse |
| Distributed by | Twentieth Century-Fox |
| Release date |
|
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Countries | United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $iii,570,000[i] |
| Box office | $4,500,000 (US/ Canada)[two] |
Prudence and the Pill is a 1968 comedy pic made by Twentieth Century-Play a joke on. Information technology was directed by Fielder Melt and Ronald Neame and produced by Kenneth Harper and Ronald J. Kahn from a screenplay by Hugh Mills, based on his 1965 novel. The music score was by Bernard Ebbinghouse and the cinematography by Ted Moore.
The film stars Deborah Kerr and David Niven with Robert Coote, Irina Demick, Joyce Redman, Judy Geeson, Keith Michell, Michael Hordern and Edith Evans.
Hayley Mills was originally announced for the part eventually filled by Geeson. Mills had previously co-starred with Kerr and Evans in The Chalk Garden (1964), which was besides directed by Neame.
Plot [edit]
The film portrays the conflicting and comical attempts by v couples to avert pregnancy past using contraceptive pills. All of their efforts are ultimately unsuccessful, with the result that all five of the women give birth the following year.
The story revolves around a wealthy London broker named Gerald Hardcastle (Niven) and his married woman Prudence (Kerr), who live together unhappily, sleeping in separate bedrooms and speaking to each other only when necessary. The v couples in the film are (1) Gerald and his French mistress Elizabeth, or "Liz" (Demick), (2) Prudence and her doc, Dr. Alan Huart (Michell), (3) the Hardcastles's maid Rose (Turner) and their chauffeur Ted (Armstrong), (4) Gerald's brother Henry (Coote) and his wife Grace (Redman), and (5) Henry and Grace's daughter Geraldine (Geeson) and her swain Tony Bates (Dundas).
All of the couples want to utilise a nascency control pill chosen "Thenol", but none of them wants to admit information technology. Prudence, Grace, and Ted manage to acquire supplies of pills, Grace through a prescription written by Huart, and Ted from the local pharmacist, or pharmacist, who happens to exist a friend of his. Notwithstanding, Grace soon becomes pregnant, because Geraldine has been stealing her pills and replacing them with aspirin tablets. Later Geraldine admits her pill-switching scheme to Grace and Grace tells Gerald about it, Gerald uses the scheme on Prudence to generate incriminating prove of her matter.
Meanwhile, assertive that Rose is too conservative to accept contraception, Ted puts his tablets in a vitamin bottle and tells her she needs them for her health. However, Rose is worried about condign significant, and then she switches the pills in her vitamin bottle with the pills in Prudence's Thenol canteen, just moments after Gerald replaces Prudence's Thenol with aspirin. The event, so, is that Rose unwittingly trades Ted's Thenol for Gerald's aspirin. She presently becomes significant, and Ted tells Gerald about the pills he gave her, but says zilch about telling her they were vitamins. When Gerald asks her why her Thenol pills failed to piece of work, she asks him how he knew almost them, thinking that he has already found out nigh her taking Prudence's pills, at which indicate they both realise that she has revealed her guilt.
Now knowing why Prudence is still not significant, Gerald buys more than aspirin, determined to expose her relationship with Huart. This somewhen works, as do whatever measures Grace took to proceed her pills abroad from Geraldine. By the stop of the film, Geraldine and Prudence are both expecting.
Eventually, Gerald gets into problem with both Liz and Prudence. Liz grows dissatisfied in her covert relationship with Gerald, who has been hiding her from his family, and decides to get out him. Prudence finds the letter that Liz wrote to Gerald nigh her decision, and Gerald finds Huart's Thenol prescription for Prudence. At start, neither Gerald nor Prudence is willing to grant the other a divorce, but Prudence offers to take the blame later becoming pregnant, every bit long as Gerald will spare Huart's reputation. Gerald accepts this arrangement grudgingly, but before meeting with Huart, he happens to see Liz while driving through boondocks, and she tells him she is going to have his baby. Now able to run into her openly, and with a child on the way, Gerald quickly and enthusiastically agrees to an amicable divorce. A few months later, a full of half dozen newborn babies arrive, Rose having had twins.
Cast [edit]
| Player | Role |
|---|---|
| Deborah Kerr | Prudence Hardcastle |
| David Niven | Gerald Hardcastle |
| Robert Coote | Henry Hardcastle |
| Irina Demick | Elizabeth Brett |
| Joyce Redman | Grace Hardcastle |
| Judy Geeson | Geraldine Hardcastle |
| Keith Michell | Dr. Alan Huart |
| Edith Evans | Lady Roberta Bates |
| David Dundas | Tony Bates |
| Vickery Turner | Rose the maid |
| Hugh Armstrong | Ted the chauffeur |
| Peter Butterworth | Pharmacist |
| Moyra Fraser | Woman in Tea Shop |
| Annette Kerr | Gerald's Secretary |
| Harry Towb | Racetrack Official |
| Jonathan Lynn | Chemist's Assistant |
| Michael Hordern (uncredited) | Dr. Morley |
Reception [edit]
According to Fox records the film required $vi,425,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $7,175,000.[three] In September 1970 Pull a fast one on reported it had made a turn a profit on the flick of $513,000.[4]
References [edit]
- ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Play a joke on: A Corporate and Fiscal History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p255
- ^ "Big Rental Films of 1968", Variety, 8 January 1969 p 15. This figure is a rental accruing to distributors.
- ^ Silverman, Stephen M (1988). The Flim-flam that got abroad : the last days of the Zanuck dynasty at Twentieth Century-Fox . Fifty. Stuart. p. 327.
- ^ Silverman p 260
External links [edit]
- Prudence and the Pill at IMDb
- Prudence and the Pill at the TCM Moving picture Database
- Prudence and the Pill at AllMovie
- Prudence and the Pill at Rotten Tomatoes
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prudence_and_the_Pill