Die Pille war an allem schuld

I found this one of the most hilarious movies, full of subtle, elegant, classy and witty British humour. A really complicated argument develops itself very intelligently and in a smooth way through the film. Deborah Kerr and David Niven, as well as the rest of the cast, display their professionalism and talent at its best in this movie and consolidates their status as Stars in the whole sense of the word. It shows how a film can be witty and sexual without having to resort to the worn-out trick of out-of-context nudity, and it should be an example for twenty first century film makers. The acting is superb as it is the story. The copyright owners Thoroughly enjoyable, although due to the story it must be kept rated as it is.

The sexually-estranged wife of a London banker (named Hardcastle!) is suspected of infidelity by her hypocrite husband, who is cheating himself with a French lass. He replaces his spouse's contraceptive pills ("Thenol") with aspirin--to catch her in the act, I guess--an idea he gets after his sister-in-law tells of a scheme by her teenage daughter to avoid pregnancy before marriage by swapping out her own mother's pills in the same fashion. Hugh Mills adapted his smirking play for the screen, and might have been astonished to find most of the female roles filled by matronly women (married to very mature men). This is a blue-haired attempt at keeping up with the youth explosion in cinema circa 1968, but the material is highly unsuitable for its stars. Deborah Kerr, David Niven, Robert Coote (awful!) and Joyce Redman look embarrassed to be involved; Edith Evans, as the potential mother-in-law for sexually-active Judy Geeson, is the only cast member to rise above the juvenile plotting. Director Fielder Cook left the project midway after a disagreement with the producers, to be replaced by Ronald Neame. * from ****

The main idea behind "Prudence and the Pill" is one that doesn't make sense to me. While birth control pills might have looked VERY different in the UK in the 1960s, all the ones I've seen look absolutely nothing like aspirins or vitamins--which are much, much larger. So how could people be replacing another person's birth control pills with aspirins without anyone realizing it?

This 1960s sex comedy stars Deborah Kerr and David Niven...both of which made quite a few sophisticated sex comedies in the 1950s and 60s (such as the horrible CASINO ROYALE, BEDTIME STORY and THE GRASS IS GREENER). In this film, Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle have an open marriage and both have their lovers. In addition, Mrs. Hardcastle's niece (Judy Geeson) is sleeping with her boyfriend. However, someone is messing with these ladies' birth control pills and soon complications ensue.

Like most of the sex comedies of the era, this film talks a lot about sex (or, more rightly, INSINUATING a lot about sex) without really showing or saying much at all. Racy stuff for the time...very tame stuff when seen today. So, while it portrays folks who have affairs and premarital sex, it's done with 60s sensibilities--being both extremely broad-minded AND old fashioned at the same time.

So is this any good and is it worth seeing? Well, at least for me, no especially. I might have enjoyed it had it just been more interesting, made more sense or made me laugh. Plus, and I guess this makes me sound very prudish, but I thought the Hardcastles were a pathetic couple...and I really didn't care one bit about what happened with them. What was a kooky sex romp back in the day now just seems dated and sub-par despite the big-name stars in it.

In the 1960's films often had opening credits where the painters type/artists could present an attractive package(Intolerable Cruelty{2003} reminded me of this).This was one and with good set designs this film gave a picture of background colour and warmth. This film is unreasonably remembered as poor but golden moments are Edith Evans walking across a motor racing track during a race.Then there was David Niven purchasing Aspirin at Timothy Whites as if purchasing something evil.The number of couples at the end gave the story depth only Deborah Kerr is disappointing but her part is not sympathetic.A welcome increase in the birth rate ended the film.

This silly romp is quite entertaining and even adorable. Its a lot of fun.

I am not the type of person who takes marriage and infidelity lightly. My attitude us be single or be married. Well this IS a farce and it does show how the complications that arise from sneaking around make it hardly worth the trouble.