Wilt, released in North America as The Misadventures of Mr. Wilt, is a 1989 film directed by Michael Tuchner and starring Griff Rhys Jones, Mel Smith, Alison Steadman, and Diana Quick. It is an adaptation by LWT of the 1976 novel Wilt by author Tom Sharpe. The story follows the comic misadventures of the eponymous Henry Wilt as he is accused of the murder of his wife when she suddenly goes missing after a party at a friend's house where they have a very public argument.
| Wilt | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Michael Tuchner |
| Written by | Andrew Marshall David Renwick Tom Sharpe (novel) |
| Produced by | Brian Eastman |
| Starring | Griff Rhys Jones Mel Smith Alison Steadman Diana Quick |
| Cinematography | Norman G. Langley |
| Edited by | Chris Blunden |
| Music by | Anne Dudley |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 92 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $74,483 [2][3] £2,790,603 (UK)[4] |
Plot summary
editHenry Wilt is a demoralised and professionally under-rated assistant lecturer at a community college in Mid Anglia who is dominated by his psychologically immature wife Eva and thus fantasises about murdering her. During a night walk to relieve his frustrations, he accidentally busts an undercover operation by local police Inspector Flint, earning him the latter's undivided attention.
Three weeks afterwards, something that looks like a body is found in a construction foundation on the college grounds. Since its appearance coincides with Eva Wilt's mysterious disappearance the night before, and with the Wilts' abandoned car found nearby, Henry is quickly suspected and investigated for murder by Flint. Pleading innocence, Henry relates that the night before, he and Eva had attended a party hosted by their wealthy friends, Hugh and his glamorous wife Sally. Sally, who has grown tired of Hugh and has turned lesbian, wished to win Eva over to her side; when Henry caught her attempting to seduce his unsuspecting wife and confronted her in private, he ended up accidentally knocking himself out. Exploiting this opportunity, Sally stripped Henry down and tied an inflatable sex doll to him. When Eva saw him trying to wrest himself free, she was scandalised and fled to Sally, who subsequently (and unknown to the rest of Eva's social environment) invited her to a yacht trip on the local river. After being liberated, the humiliated Henry dumped the doll into the wet foundations at the building site.
Even though the evidence and the witness testimonies are ambiguous at best, Flint becomes obsessively fixated on the idea that Henry is the dangerous mass murderer currently wanted by the police. That attitude is exacerbated even when the doll is recovered from the construction site, since Flint believes it to be a decoy set up by Henry and Eva's body was disposed of elsewhere. Wilt unexpectedly incriminates himself as a result of a recording of his "fantasy musings" from a wire-tap, that fell off Flint on his way to the "undercover bust" earlier. Wilt then confesses to having returned to the scene of the party and to have carried out a triple murder, disposing of the bodies at the local sausage factory. When it is pointed out to Flint that the signed confession is in the name of "Sweeney Todd", Wilt is released, due to a lack of solid evidence. Even though Henry has been cleared, Flint continues shadowing him.
In the meantime, Eva learns from Hugh about Sally's designs on her and her set-up of Henry. Fleeing the boat, she calls Henry from a church and apologises to him, asking him to pick her up. Unbeknownst to her, the church's priest is actually the wanted mass murderer. As he prepares to kill Eva, Henry tries to come to her aid, only to be hindered by Flint. After they fight off the mad priest, Flint holds Henry and Eva at gunpoint but his wild murder accusations are quickly deflated by Henry's alleged victims turning up alive at the scene, and the priest is arrested by an undercover officer. Reconciled with his wife, Henry joins Eva's tai chi class for neurosis therapy, where he finds Flint, who has left the police and now works for a private security firm, as a new member to sort out his own psychological issues.
Cast
edit| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Griff Rhys Jones | Henry Wilt |
| Mel Smith | Inspector Flint |
| Alison Steadman | Eva Wilt |
| Diana Quick | Sally |
| Jeremy Clyde | Hugh |
| Roger Allam | Dave |
| David Ryall | Rev. Froude |
| Roger Lloyd-Pack | Dr. Pittman |
| Dermot Crowley | Braintree |
| John Normington | Treadaway |
| Josephine Tewson | Miss Leuchars |
| Ken Drury | Inspector Farmiloe |
Box office
editThe film spent one week at number one in the UK[5] and went on to gross £2,790,603.[4]
References
edit- ^ Brown, Geoff (28 October 1989). "The Week Ahead: Cinema". The Times. p. 48.
- ^ https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/the-wilt/production-details.html [permanent dead link]
- ^ "Wilt". Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
- ^ a b "Back to the Future: The Fall and Rise of the British Film Industry in the 1980s - An Information Briefing" (PDF). British Film Institute. 2005. p. 31.
- ^ "Top Films". The Times. Screen International. 1 December 1989. p. 22.