Papa en a deux

I remember seeing this for the first time when I was about 7. Children In Need was on BBC 1 (or maybe Comic Relief) and I was allowed to sleep downstairs to watch the whole event. Anyway, I found this on the other channel at about 2.30am, and I was totally blown away by it. Not least the funky theme tune, the cartoons, those eyes, Julie Ege etc. Anyway, a couple of years later I got it on VHS...surprise surprise, the cut I'd seen on ITV had been trimmed significantly. The bit with the hot dog vendor, the fantasy sequence where Teddy imagines a fight sequence with the vicar had both been cut, with maybe some other bits. I've seen this film more than any other film, and have collected as much stuff to do with it as I can; 4 posters, lobby cards, and approximately 60 black and white stills. If anyone has anything else related to this film, please get in touch. A few things bother me though; how did Shelley Berman get involved?Why is Alan Bennett uncredited? Shelley Berman turned up in Friends a few years back, and his character's name was Kaplan, as in this film. Was Kaplan his own persona, or was this a nod to the film? Does the US cut differ any from the UK?

Marty Feldman was a likable and gifted comedian, but that doesn't mean he couldn't star in some lousy films. Take this terrible comedy for example: the bizarre, sometimes cute fantasy sequences are its only saving grace. This only goes to prove that if you want to turn chaos into comedy, you have to be really good at it (like the Marx Brothers were); otherwise, you'll end up being merely chaotic. (*1/2 )

Not known as much now as it was when it was released, this feature written by Marty Feldman from Herbert Kretzmer (yes, the one who wrote lyrics for the hit musical Les Miserables) has its very thin premise a breakfast cereal that will seriously spice up your sex life; porridge, in fact.

Cue some cringe-inducing commercials for said product and a number of fantasies in which Marty Feldman's character places himself - from being in romantic clinches with eligible ladies to a superhero fight with the local vicar, a pious type who ogles the ladies just as much as everyone else. And the real fight between the ad man and the vicar towards the end is a lot of laugh-out-loud fun.

Marty Feldman does dominate this film, such was his personality and rather weird looks. However, there is sterling support from Judy Cornwell (Marty's girlfriend), Dinsdale Landen (the vicar), Frances de La Tour (a secretary), and Penelope Keith (a Swedish lesbian), amongst others.

Director Jim Clark went on to the equally dubious but not quite as funny 'Rentadick' before returning to acting; in 'Every Home Should Have One' he shows some flair in setting up the quirky and unusual, while sending up a range of genres. Of its type, this film is a real find, and a guilty pleasure - if you like this kind of thing!

Although a completely silly, absurd movie, Jim Clark's "Every Home Should Have One" (also called "Think Dirty") is also sort of a spoof of advertising and commercialism. Marty Feldman plays an ad exec hired to come up with a sexy way to advertise porridge. And when I say sexy, I don't mean it lightly! I mean, have you ever seen Julie Ege?!

I figure that, like "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice", this movie was basically capitalizing on cinema's new permissiveness. Even so, there is some REALLY funny stuff here. Some scenes made me absolutely crack up. Feldman was truly showing what he would later bring to Mel Brooks's movies.

Also starring Judy Cornwell, Patrick Cargill (the police chief in "Help!"), Jack Watson, Penelope Keith and Shelley Berman.

Marty was one of the great talents of his generation.I was a fan particularly of his writing on Round The Horne. However he didn't seem to have great success when it came to films in the UK.There are some funny sequences in this film,but as a whole it is wanting.He didn't try again here for 7 years.Incidentally it is curious that this film has a low rating but 14 out of 20 reviewers have rated this 7 or above.