When the Earl of Gurney dies in a cross-dressing accident, his schizophrenic son, Jack, inherits the Gurney estate. Jack is not the average nobleman; he sings and dances across the estate and thinks he is Jesus reincarnated. Believing that Jack is mentally unfit to own the estate, the Gurney family plots to steal Jack's inheritance. As their outrageous schemes fail, the family strives to cure Jack of his bizarre behavior, with disastrous results.
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Comic, cool, ironic and intimate.
- gravecomic
- cooloverwhelming
- earnestironic
- intimateepic
- unpretentiousprestige
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- CinemaSerfon TMDB · May 20237/10
The isn't actually a very good film, I felt - but it is does feature an extraordinary performance from Peter O'Toole as the "Earl of Gurney", about to take his seat in the house of Lords after his father has an untimely accident involving a noose and a tutu. His family are horrified at the prospect. Why? Well, that's because the new peer happens to believe he is Jesus. He spends much of his day contemplating or sleeping erect on his cruciform ornament in the great hall whilst the remainder of his rather eccentric family, and their boozy butter "Tucker" (Arthur Lowe) go about their business. They decide the only way to deal with him is to marry him off, beget an heir, then parcel him off to the asylum so they can resume their ordinary lives... What's probably most notable about this very theatrical black comedy is that it deals with just about everything from religion to vivisection, blasphemy (for many) to insinuendo (that's insidious innuendo in case you didn't know) and almost certainly would not be made now, 50 years on - being about as politically incorrect as it conceivable to be. British cinema always seems to take rather dim view of the church when it comes to comedy, and he
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Cast
- Peter O'TooleJack 14th Earl of Gurney
- Alastair SimBishop Lampton
- Arthur LoweTucker
- Harry Andrews13th Earl of Gurney
- Coral BrowneLady Claire Gurney
- Michael BryantDr. Herder
- Nigel GreenMcKyle
- William MervynSir Charles Gurney
- Carolyn SeymourGrace Shelley
- James VilliersDinsdale
Crew
- Peter MedakDirector
- Peter BarnesScreenplay
- Ken HodgesDirector of Photography
- John CameronOriginal Music Composer
- Ray LovejoyEditor
- Jules BuckProducer
- Jack HawkinsProducer
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Pairings
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Close across the board.
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