A Home of Your Own

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.

This masterful study of comic invention and timing is a must see for lovers of a good belly laugh and a remarkable observation of the "British workman" at his worst. Ronnie Barker as a frustrated concrete layer, Bernard Cribbins as a hapless stone mason, Bill Fraser as an, always peeing, ground worker and many more recognisable stars and bit players, all with their little comic moments. Satirical commentary on disorganisation and incompetence abounds, all watched over by a copper leaning on his bicycle. Of course this all predates health and safety rules and regulations, providing ample opportunity to indulge in shoddy workmanship and wild comic invention. The "burble" dialogue adds to the comedy and all the actors contribute to the merriment. Enjoy it in its entirety on YouTube and, occasionally, on TV.

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 saw this movie first run at the Guild Theater on 50th Street in New York, around the corner of Radio City Music Hall. It was the bottom half of a forgettable double bill with an Aldo Ray movie entitled Johnny Nobody.

My father, mother, sister and I wanted to go to the show at the Music Hall but it was sold out. So, we went to the Guild. We used to see the best comedies there...all of the Ealing comedies would play there...Carry On, I'm Alright, Jack...Kill or Cure, Two-Way Stretch, etc.

So we endure the first Aldo Ray movie and then A Home of Your Own begins and seriously, on my word of honor, we laughed so hard and so loud, that the Guild's usher threatened to throw us out of the theater. It rocked us so hard that we still...40 years later...consider it the funniest motion picture we have ever seen.

I recently contacted Gannet Films and they are considering a general video and DVD release possibly late 2005.

It would make my parents very happy as they are now well into their upper 80s! We've been looking for it for 40 years.

I can only imagine reading the script and laughing out loud.

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.