A Home of Your Own

I recall going to see this when it came out as I took a girl I had been trying to date for some time along with me. Sadly I laughed so much she never went out with me again. I was a Carpenter at the time working on a building site in Ruislip which looked very much like the one in the movie so it was even more amusing. It is full of hilarious moments some of which take some time to pan out. An example is when the Gas board come along and dig up the trenches to load gas piping. Some time later the Electricity board come along and dig in the same hole. Even though you know what is going to happen ( a big bang) it is even funnier when it does. I would love to get this on Video. It ranks along side films such as The Plank as one of those low budget gems that only the Brits seems to make. Sadly now some of the so called comedies that we are supposed to laugh at probably have a bigger budget for the opening credits than this little gem cost to make.

This little 'B' movie is worth seeing if only for the entertainment value of seeing famous comedians such as Ronnie Barker as young men. I saw it in a theatre in Dublin and there were amused gasps as the familiar faces appeared.

Also nice if you like seeing see 1960's Britain in context.

I'm biased! I worked on this film and therefore know all the ins and outs. It was made for very little money and qualified for 'Double Eady' and that helped make it one of the most successful pics of all times, (returns as % of production cost).

It premiered at London's Odeon (Leicester Sq) as second feature to 'A Shot in the Dark'. It is the only time I have seen a cinema audience give a standing ovation to any picture - let alone a 4 reeler.

For about two years afterwards it was featured on cinema billboards as support film, a testament to its popularity.

This film started out as a sponsored comedy short for the Construction company Tersons but such was Jay Lewis's and Johnny Whytes's expertise that it soon became clear from the rushes that a masterpiece was in the making and it was finished with the cinema in mind.

The pic is still seen from time to time on UK TV and it is well worth setting the VCR.

Of course the joke is that 40 years on, the same comedy is still to be seen on our building sites and men digging up the same hole in the roads.

A HOME OF YOUR OWN,released in the mid 1960's,started a trend of wordless featurette comedies in Britain(SAN FERRY ANN,THE PLANK,OUCH!,RHUBARB,etc.),and this,the first in such a style is arguably the best of them all.Jam-packed with familiar British comedy actors like Peter Butterworth,Bill Fraser,Bernard Cribbins and Richard Briers,it is sometimes a trifle repetitive and over-stretched,but has enough well-timed and genuinely amusing incident to linger in the mind long afterwards.Some of the situations and slapstick are perhaps rather obvious,but it is performed and directed with such vigour and panache that such minor quibbles are quickly forgotten.The undoubted highlight is a superbly done bit of comic business with the late,great Ronnie Barker as an increasingly enraged cement mixer.At this stage,Barker was still a relatively minor comic performer,but his work in this film helped his career further on to bigger things.His is probably the best performance out of many fine comic bits in the film.

It was originally released as a support feature to A SHOT IN THE DARK,the second 'Pink Panther' film featuring Peter Sellers and George Sanders.During the premiere,Sanders apparently told the film's producer Bob Kellett:''This film's bloody better that ours!.....''.An assessment that is perhaps a trifle unfair as A SHOT IN THE DARK undoubtedly has it's share of very funny scenes,but A HOME OF YOUR OWN is shorter and arguably a little sweeter.

The existing reviews of this film identify many of the points which make this a really enjoyable way to spend 45 minutes. The film is a wonderful time capsule, showing how houses were built in the UK in the 1960s. The film has a lovely collection of familiar faces from the world of British comedy.

What has not been mentioned is the sound track. This is one of the iconic "silent" comedy films of the 1960s, two of the others include San Ferry Ann and The Plank, but this is probably the original and best. The score for this film was by the accomplished Ron Goodwin, who found most fame for composing for war films (633 Squadron and Battle of Britain) and Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines. The music adds greatly to this film, with various themes being used for each of the characters. The music is well arranged to fit in with what is happening on the screen, and adds to the humour. Ron would later go on to conduct the music for San Ferry Ann and to compose the music for The Early Bird (a Norman Wisdom comedy which has a near 15 minute 'silent' introduction).

This is a great little film and highly recommended.