French Dressing

This riotous 1964 comedy and first feature from cult director Ken Russell not only has laughs aplenty but also throws in some fine surreal moments amidst the slapstick. You will never look at English seaside towns in the same way again!

Welcome to Gormleigh-on-Sea, a run-down seaside resort with as many empty deck chairs on offer as it has rain pouring down! Suffice to say business is pretty much non-existent, though this sorry fact doesn’t seem to bother deckchair attendant Jim Stephens (James Booth), who is perfectly happy to leisure his time away with sassy girlfriend Judy (Alita Naughton), an up-and-coming reporter penning stories for a local paper. Contrary to Jim, his friend and employer Henry Liggott (Roy Kinnear) is very much worried about the on-going state of affairs, after all, he is the entertainment manager with bugger all to offer in the drab and boring resort. That is until one day, Judy writes an article with the suggestion to host a film festival in Gormleigh-on-Sea and invite none other than French sex kitten Brigitte Bardot to open the event! The suggestion is sweet music in the ears of Jim who is a fan of BB, but it brings Liggott into a lot of trouble when the local Mayor (Bryan Pringle) demands an explanation as to the truth behind the newspaper article. The truth is that the article was more or less a lie in order to boast tourism and it almost costs Liggott his job. Undeterred, he and buddy Jim convince the Mayor that all is not lost and a film festival with a French star in attendance is very much a possibility.

With the blessing of the Mayor, Jim and Liggott hop across the channel in search of a suitable replacement, as BB is naturally out of the question. As it so happens, Jim is also a huge fan of Francoise Fayol (Marisa Mel), another star perhaps not quite the calibre of BB but big enough to cause a sensation in Gormleigh. Easier said than done, for although Francoise’s new art-house film is set in Boulogne and that is precisely where she is supposed to be in order to promote the movie, Jim and Liggott fail to spot her anywhere in town. Instead, the place seems littered with countless inflatable FF lookalikes to help promote her new film. As the friends are about to give up and dive into a heap of inflatable dolls for fun, a car suddenly races towards them and almost kills the two friends. Behind the wheel is non other than Francoise, incensed about the ‘idiotic’ publicity stunt with the dolls and frustrated that no one seems to be offering her any parts in serious movies. With a little persuasion, and the ritual burning of the dolls, Jim and Liggott manage to convince FF that turning up at the Gormleigh film festival is just what she needs to change direction of career. Her career does change alright, but not the way she had hoped… and that’s not taking in count the infatuated mayor (and increasingly infatuated Jim) but a host of other Mayors from neighbouring towns who all watch jealously what Gormleigh may hold in store to attract flocks of tourists…

The performances are top-notch, in particular Marisa Mel (Danger: Diabolik) is brilliant as the moody and neurotic film diva. Equally brilliant is Roy Kinnear as the worried entertainment manager forever on the brink of a nervous breakdown.
Ken Russell sure had great fun directing this little gem, and the cinematography by Kenneth Higgins further emphasises the ensuing mayhem in Gormleigh-on-Sea. Speeded-up sequences and surreal sequences go hand in hand with the more straightforward scenes of the film, and particularly amusing is the never-ending rain and the sheer number of empty deckchairs washed into the sea by storms.

DVD-SPECIAL FEATURES include:
* Original theatrical trailer
* Image gallery
* Promotional material PDFs