Half a Sixpence (1967)

Director:

George Sidney

Writers:

Beverley Cross (book)
Beverley Cross (screenplay)
(more)

Release Date:

26 June 1968 (Sweden)

Genre:

Musical

Tagline:

Flash BANG Wallop What a Picture!

Plot:

Arthur Kipps, an orphan apprenticed to a tyrannical owner of a mercantile, has a sudden abrupt change...

Plot Keywords:

Based On Play | Based On Novel

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Tommy Steele	...	Arthur Kipps
Julia Foster	...	Ann
Cyril Ritchard	...	Harry Chitterlow
Penelope Horner	...	Helen
Elaine Taylor	...	Victoria
Grover Dale	...	Pearce
Hilton Edwards	...	Shalford
Julia Sutton	...	Flo
Leslie Meadows	...	Buggins
Sheila Falconer	...	Kate
Pamela Brown	...	Mrs. Washington
James Villiers	...	Hubert
Christopher Sandford	...	Sid
Jean Anderson	...	Lady Botting
Allan Cuthbertson	...	Wilkins
Aleta Morrison	...	Laura
Gerald Campion	...	Fat Boy
Deborah Permentor	...	Young Ann
Jeffrey Chandler	...	Young Kipps
Barry Sinclair	...	Woodrow
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Carolyn Archer	...	Dancer
Bridget Armstrong	...	The Maid
Pat Ashton	...	Pub Character
Ivan Baptie	...	Dancer
Donald Barclay	...	Dancer
James Bolam	...	Mr. Jones
David Boswell	...	Dancer
Sydney Bromley	...	Pub Character
Apple Brook	...	Dresser
Golda Casimir	...	Pub Character
Jan Colet	...	Dancer
Frank Crawshaw	...	The Carter
Pamela Cundell	...	Pub Character
Ray Davis	...	Dancer
Joyanne Delancey	...	Dancer
Roy Evans	...	Pub Character
Sonny Farrar	...	Pub Character
Neil Fitzwiliam	...	Dancer (as Neil Fitzwilliam)
Suzanne France	...	Dancer
Ann Frost	...	Dancer
Sally Gilpin	...	Dancer
Louis Godfrey	...	Dancer
Helen Goss	...	Dowager
Joyce Graeme	...	Pub Character
Des Graham	...	Pub Character
Caroline Haig	...	Dancer
Sarah Hardenburg	...	Dancer
Michele Hardy	...	Dancer
Bill Harvey	...	Dancer
Harry Haythorne	...	Pub Character
Reginald Hearne	...	Policeman
David Hepburn	...	Dancer
Gillian Hough	...	Dancer
Bob Howe	...	Dancer
Alastair Hunter	...	The Postman
Lesley Judd	...	Dancer
Jane Kells	...	Dancer
Humphrey Kent	...	The Butler
Leon Lestocq-Prayne	...	Dancer
Caryl Little	...	Dancer
Harry Locke	...	Weight Guesser
Patricia Lovett	...	Dancer
Dawn MacDonald	...	Dancer (as Dawn Macdonald)
John McDonald	...	Dancer (as John MacDonald)
Paddy McIntyre	...	Dancer
Tom Merrifield	...	Dancer
Norman Mitchell	...	Master of Ceremonies
George Moon	...	Pub Character
Bartlett Mullins	...	Carshott
Harry Naughton	...	Dancer
Sheila O'Neill	...	Dancer
Julian Orchard	...	Photographer
Albin Pahernik	...	Dancer
Louanne Richards	...	Dancer
Jackie Rochelle	...	Pub Character
Iris Sadler	...	Pub Character
Delia Sainsbury	...	Dancer
Tessa Steel	...	Dancer
Don Vernon	...	Pub Character
Carole Walker	...	Edith
Queenie Watts	...	Pub Character
Maureen Willsher	...	Dancer
Barrie Young	...	Dancer
Mark Colleano	...	Bit Part (uncredited)
Nigel Kingsley	...	Extra (uncredited)
John Moulder-Brown	...	(uncredited)
Marti Webb	...	Ann (singing voice) (uncredited)

Directed by
George Sidney

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Beverley Cross		book
Beverley Cross		screenplay
Dorothy Kingsley		adaptation
H.G. Wells		novel "Kipps"

Produced by
John Dark	....	executive producer
Charles H. Schneer	....	producer
George Sidney	....	producer

Cinematography by
Geoffrey Unsworth

Film Editing by
Bill Lewthwaite
Frank Santillo

Production Design by
Ted Haworth

Art Direction by
Peter Murton

Costume Design by
Joan Bridge
Elizabeth Haffenden		(as Liz Haffenden)

Makeup Department
Gordon Bond	....	hair stylist
George Frost	....	makeup artist
Bobbie Smith	....	hair stylist
Hugh Richards	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
René Dupont	....	production manager (as Rene Dupont)
David Korda	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Peter Price	....	assistant director

Art Department
John Graysmark	....	assistant art director (uncredited)

Sound Department
John Aldred	....	sound
Buster Ambler	....	sound
Mike Hopkins	....	dubbing editor (as Michael Hopkins)
Christopher Lancaster	....	dialogue editor
Tony Dawe	....	assistant sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Garth Inns	....	special effects (uncredited)
Curly Nelhams	....	special effects (uncredited)
Jack Woodbridge	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Nosher Powell	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Kelvin Pike	....	camera operator
Bert Cann	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Maurice Gillett	....	supervising electrician (uncredited)

Casting Department
Sally Nicholl	....	casting supervisor

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Jackie Cummins	....	wardrobe supervisor

Music Department
Carroll Knudson	....	music editor
Irwin Kostal	....	composer: songs "The Race" and "This Is My World"
Irwin Kostal	....	conductor
Irwin Kostal	....	music arranger
Irwin Kostal	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Jan Colet	....	assistant choreographer
Harold Fielding	....	original stage producer
Derek Kavanagh	....	location manager
Gillian Lynne	....	choreographer
Virginia Mason	....	assistant choreographer
Maggie Unsworth	....	continuity (as Margaret Unsworth)
Marti Webb	....	singing double: Julia Foster

Production Companies

• Ameran Films (uncredited)
• Paramount Pictures

Distributors

• Paramount British Pictures (1967) (UK) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1968) (USA) (theatrical)
• CIC-Taft Home Video (????) (Australia) (VHS)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1973) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Paramount Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD) (widescreen)
• Paramount Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• PolyGram Video (1996) (UK) (VHS) (pan/scan)

Special Effects

• Trading Post (uncredited)

Other Companies

• National Screen Service  titles and opticals

Runtime:

143 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo (35 mm magnetic prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm optical prints)

Certification:

Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Ameran Films

Trivia:

Roy Skelton claims to have re-voiced around a third of the characters in this film before its release, including a sequence of Tommy Steele singing.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the song, "Money to Burn", where Kipps (Steele) is playing the banjo, it's obvious that he's simply playing along to an audio track. But the sound begins several times before he does the strumming to make it happen. This should have been watched/caught in the editing process.

Quotes:

Harry Chitterlow: Don't forget old Harry. For £100, I'll let you have a quarter share of my new play.
Arthur Kipps: A quarter share? I'll take half!
Harry Chitterlow: Spoken like a gent!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest Musicals (2003) (TV)

Soundtrack:

IF THE RAIN'S GOT TO FALL

Banging On The Big Bass Drum

Half A Sixpence is a musical adapted from the H.G. Wells story Kipps which Michael Redgrave played the title role back in a 1941 film version. I'm sure his interpretation of the role differed quite a bit from the boisterous styling of Tommy Steele in this film. They're so different in personality types.

It wasn't Wells the interpreter of the scientific future who wrote Kipps, but rather the Wells who was the Fabian Socialist. In a way this should be seen back to back with Pygmalion or My Fair Lady if you will. Some of the same themes were also done American style in The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

George Bernard Shaw when he wrote Pygmalion did the exact reverse of what Wells did in Kipps. That other noted Fabian Socialist took the flower girl Eliza and had her schooled in manners by the overbearing Henry Higgins to improve her station. Her economic status doesn't improve any, unless you figure she might marry well like the Freddy Eynsford-Hill character. She speaks well enough to fit in with his crowd.

But the exact opposite happens to Arthur Kipps. He's of illegitimate birth, apprenticed as a draper's assistant and living in the basement of his employer's store with other apprentices. But one fine day, Arthur's ship comes in, a grandfather leaves him an inheritance and a guaranteed annual income.

But unlike Audrey Hepburn, Tommy Steele is still at heart from the lower classes. So the story of Half A Sixpence is his personal struggle to find his place. That could be with a girl of his own class, Julia Foster or the previous unattainable Penelope Horner. Give you one guess where Steele winds up.

Half A Sixpence ran on Broadway for 511 performances in the 1965-66 season with Tommy Steele in the title role there. Steele's infectious style of performing is awfully hard to resist. Though he started out as a rock and roll singer, a British answer to Elvis Presley, Steele is really from the great tradition of Music Hall performers in the United Kingdom.

The socialist polemics are kept to a minimum here, I can't speak for how Wells originally wrote Kipps or how Michael Redgrave played it back in the day. But his points do come across and come across most entertainingly.