Village of Daughters is a 1962 British comedy film directed by George Pollock and starring Eric Sykes, Scilla Gabel, John Le Mesurier, Grégoire Aslan, Graham Stark, and Warren Mitchell.[1]
| Village of Daughters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | George Pollock |
| Written by | David Pursall |
| Produced by | George H. Brown |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Faithfull |
| Edited by | Tristam Cones |
| Music by | Ron Goodwin |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
editHerbert Harris is a poor traveling salesman who is forced off the bus at a remote Italian village because he has no more money for the fare. There, he finds many single and attractive women who all pursue him madly. Unbeknownst to him, the villagers have a dilemma. Antonio is a wealthy businessman in London who, in accordance with his father's wish, has decided to marry a woman from his ancestral village. He writes to the mayor and asks him to choose. The mayor wants to select his daughter Annunziata, but the other villagers object. The village priest recommends that they leave the matter in the hands of God and let the first visitor to the village be the one to make the decision. That turns out to be Herbert.
Cast
edit- Eric Sykes as Herbert Harris
- Scilla Gabel as Angelina Vimercati
- John Le Mesurier as Don Calogere
- Grégoire Aslan as Gastoni
- Graham Stark as Postman
- Warren Mitchell as Puccelli
- Yvonne Romain as Annunziata
- Eric Pohlmann as Marcio
- Ina De La Haye as Maria Gastoni
- Peter Illing as Alfredo Predati
- Jill Carson as Lucia Puccelli
- Monte Landis as .Faccino
- Talitha Pol as Gioia Spartaco
- Edwin Richfield as Balbino
- Mario Fabrizi as Antonio Durigo
Reception
editBox office
editAccording to MGM records, the film made a loss of $268,000.[2]
Critical
editThe Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "The promising comedy idea degenerates into predictable farce of the hit-and-miss kind – with the accent on the comely misses. The cast, encouraged to overact, indulge themselves enthusiastically. By contrast the familiar TV image of Eric Sykes ... seems positively restrained and by no means unamusing. Yet for all its lack of discipline and indeed comic skill, the film exercises a kind of cheerful charm which at least makes a pleasant change from the ruthless knowingness of so much contemporary British screen comedy."[3]
References
edit- ^ "Village of Daughters". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
- ^ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
- ^ "Village of Daughters". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 55. 1 January 1962 – via ProQuest.
External links
edit- Village of Daughters at IMDb
- Village of Daughters at AllMovie
- Village of Daughters at the TCM Movie Database
- Village of Daughters then-and-now location photographs at ReelStreets
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