1
00:00:00,360 --> 00:00:02,600
I found it very difficult 
indeed, I must say. 

2
00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:07,760
I found it almost impossible to 
cut myself off from directing 

3
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:11,560
and go in front of the camera to
start acting. 

4
00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:14,920
I found that in scenes, I think 
it can be done after a while. 

5
00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:19,200
But in scenes I'd be watching 
actors not as another actor, but

6
00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:21,920
as a director and forgetting 
what I was going to do myself as

7
00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:24,400
an actor. 
Yes, well, it is terribly 

8
00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:26,160
difficult. 
It's not been done very often, I

9
00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:29,600
suppose. 
Wells, Alton Wells, I think was 

10
00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,560
a very successful attic with 
magnificent Amazon's and Citizen

11
00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,680
Kane. 
Larry Olivia has done it very 

12
00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,320
successfully and chaplain, but I
don't know many other people 

13
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:41,880
actually. 
It's giving yourself rather a 

14
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,160
burden, isn't it? 
It's, it's a twofold job and 

15
00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,440
should be divided, I guess. 
I think so. 

16
00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,800
Really, as far as I'm concerned,
I'm I'm going to direct again, 

17
00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,920
but just urely direction. 
If I make an appearance, it'll 

18
00:00:53,920 --> 00:01:29,480
be a Hitchcock appearance. 
Hello and welcome to Goon Pod. 

19
00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:32,600
My name is Tyler Adams and this 
is the show described by the 

20
00:01:32,600 --> 00:01:35,720
Daily Crucible as a right load 
of old trouser artfully 

21
00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:38,960
positioned as podcast 
entertainment, which is fair. 

22
00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,520
Joining me this week to talk 
about a Sellers film, one of his

23
00:01:42,520 --> 00:01:47,280
seldom talked about films, the 
one in which he both starred and

24
00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,400
directed is joining me. 
Joining me is Victoria Pratt. 

25
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,320
And Victoria is a film 
historian, curator and writer 

26
00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:57,960
best known for his work with the
BFI. 

27
00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:01,880
And he was very instrumental in 
the restoration and the 

28
00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,760
commercial release of this 
particular film a few years 

29
00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:06,960
back. 
As we discussed during our chat.

30
00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:09,880
Victoria, thank you for joining 
me today. 

31
00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:17,080
And I first became aware of you 
one of the best DVD or Blu-ray 

32
00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,320
commentaries I've ever heard was
yours. 

33
00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:22,800
And it was for the the film the 
wrong box. 

34
00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:25,360
That's. 
Very kind of you to say, Tyler. 

35
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,440
Thank you. 
And and I've seen you most 

36
00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:32,360
recently I so I bought the I 
bought them all there. 

37
00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:34,000
There was what, 4? 
I think it was 4. 

38
00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:39,200
Blu rays put out Sellers films 
in recent months and you're 

39
00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:40,920
certainly on the two way 
stretch. 

40
00:02:41,680 --> 00:02:43,240
Yeah, I'm on all of them, 
actually. 

41
00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:46,960
Yeah, one way or another, they 
filmed me talking about all of 

42
00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,480
those, and I think they sort of 
chopped it up into bits across 

43
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:51,320
the different films. 
Yeah. 

44
00:02:52,120 --> 00:02:53,720
So what? 
How would you describe yourself 

45
00:02:53,720 --> 00:02:58,800
in terms of what you do? 
Well, professionally, I've 

46
00:02:59,120 --> 00:03:04,400
worked at the British Film 
Institute since 1998 in a number

47
00:03:04,400 --> 00:03:08,000
of different jobs there. 
I was a curator there for about 

48
00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:12,280
10 years or so. 
I've worked in acquisitions, in 

49
00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:16,880
access, in footage sales, in 
servicing prints. 

50
00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:19,160
So I've done a bit of 
everything. 

51
00:03:19,160 --> 00:03:22,720
So I guess I described myself in
terms of the BFI stuff as a film

52
00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:27,200
archivist, film historian. 
My current job is a video 

53
00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:32,720
producer. 
I work for BFI, DVD and Blu-ray 

54
00:03:32,720 --> 00:03:39,200
and increasingly UHD as well. 
And that is my current role 

55
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,640
there has been for a number of 
years now, and it really is 

56
00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,160
great, especially when you get 
to do stuff like obscure Peter 

57
00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,320
Sellers films on Blu-ray. 
I mean, it's a horrible treat to

58
00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:51,720
be able to bring this stuff and 
get it out there, you know? 

59
00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:53,400
Absolutely. 
But so do you. 

60
00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,000
Do you have influence on what 
gets put out? 

61
00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:02,720
Yeah, yeah. 
I started up a particular strand

62
00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,520
of the label called BFI Flip 
Side with my friend and 

63
00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,400
colleague William Fowler some 
years ago. 

64
00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:13,640
And it started off as sort of 
screenings we used to do at the 

65
00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:17,000
South Bank, BFI South Bank, and 
then it became a sort of an 

66
00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,920
offshoot imprint of the BFI 
video brand. 

67
00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,920
So we've done more than fifty of
those now. 

68
00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:32,760
And yeah, pretty much most of 
those are based on stuff that I 

69
00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:34,080
have. 
Well, a lot of them have been 

70
00:04:34,080 --> 00:04:35,960
championed by me. 
Of course, there are many other 

71
00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:37,920
talented people who champion 
stuff as well. 

72
00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:42,200
BFI. 
But, yeah, that is my particular

73
00:04:44,280 --> 00:04:46,760
brain child, I suppose, in many 
respects. 

74
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,560
Set that up with Jane Charles, 
Sam Dunn and William Fowler. 

75
00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:53,920
Yeah. 
Back, I don't know about 2016, I

76
00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:55,440
think we started doing these 
releases. 

77
00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:57,720
So yeah, we've done more than 
fifty of them now. 

78
00:04:57,760 --> 00:05:05,720
And it's all about sort of 
celebrating the unsung stuff in 

79
00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:07,680
British film and television 
history. 

80
00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:10,720
Stuff that maybe is slipped off 
the critical radar, stuff that 

81
00:05:10,720 --> 00:05:12,320
maybe is a bit of a curate's 
egg. 

82
00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:16,440
Stuff that perhaps just hasn't 
had enough love, perhaps is not 

83
00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,440
perfect, but is very 
interesting. 

84
00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:20,840
The things that are 
entertaining, but not 

85
00:05:20,840 --> 00:05:24,320
necessarily stuff that has been 
deemed worthy of critical 

86
00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:27,560
examination in the past. 
I've I've got a few of them was 

87
00:05:28,000 --> 00:05:30,160
one of the earliest ones the bed
sitting room? 

88
00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:31,840
Yeah, that was right at the 
beginning. 

89
00:05:31,840 --> 00:05:34,800
That was one of the first three 
we did the the bed, sitting room

90
00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:36,760
and primitive London and London 
in the Roar. 

91
00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,880
OK, yeah, actually, funny 
enough, we we talked about 

92
00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,600
primitive London and London in 
the Roar a couple of shows ago. 

93
00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:46,080
Because we were talking. 
Yeah, well, we were talking 

94
00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:50,680
about one of Michael Wynner's 
early films from 1960, much of 

95
00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:53,960
which was filmed around Soho. 
Which one? 

96
00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,240
Climb up the wall. 
Oh, OK, OK. 

97
00:05:57,440 --> 00:05:59,920
Yeah, with. 
With Jack Jackson, the radio DJ.

98
00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:05,920
Right, right. 
Winner is a much overlooked 

99
00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:07,560
figure in many respects, I 
think. 

100
00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:10,920
Quite maligned. 
Did a lot of, you know, did 

101
00:06:10,920 --> 00:06:14,320
himself no favours in the latter
years, but certainly some of his

102
00:06:14,320 --> 00:06:16,560
early works in the 60s. 
A well worth look. 

103
00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,520
Yeah, well, the cool I've seen 
the cool Mikado not not many 

104
00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,400
others. 
You should check out the system 

105
00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:26,400
and I'll never forget what's his
name and the games. 

106
00:06:26,400 --> 00:06:29,920
They're all terrific. 
OK, OK, so OK, so this is a 

107
00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:34,320
podcast where it's built up a 
head of steam, it's got a big 

108
00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:38,960
following and it's evolved 
because originally it was well, 

109
00:06:38,960 --> 00:06:42,120
it's called Goon Pod. 
So it's ostensibly the Goon 

110
00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,680
show, but also what I call the 
Gooner verse, which is anything,

111
00:06:46,680 --> 00:06:50,520
anything that has a goon 
connection and that has spread 

112
00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:55,960
to to mean, you know, Milligan 
on TV or books or records and 

113
00:06:55,960 --> 00:06:59,480
obviously Sellers films. 
Before we get on to Sellers 

114
00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:02,240
himself, though, did I mean, I 
know you won't have been around 

115
00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,480
for the goons when they first 
were broadcast, but were you 

116
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:07,960
ever, you know, did you hear 
them or listen to them when you 

117
00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:10,480
were a kid or. 
Yeah, absolutely, Absolutely. 

118
00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:17,360
I grew up in the 70s, and in the
70s they used to broadcast the 

119
00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,760
Goon Show on the radio every 
Sunday afternoon. 

120
00:07:21,240 --> 00:07:24,240
And I used to sit in the back 
garden with my dad listening to 

121
00:07:24,240 --> 00:07:25,800
the Goon Show. 
And I thought it was the most 

122
00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:29,160
hilarious thing ever because it 
seemed to sort of take no 

123
00:07:29,160 --> 00:07:30,600
prisoners. 
You know, there was that kind of

124
00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,760
freedom about the style of 
comedy and a freedom even to 

125
00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,720
sort of go outside of coherence.
You know, it's like a kind of 

126
00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:41,600
comedy where I didn't understand
half the things they were going 

127
00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:42,880
on about. 
A lot of it was kind of old 

128
00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,040
references back to the war and 
stuff like this, but I didn't. 

129
00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,200
But at the same time, it was so 
ludicrous and free form and they

130
00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:52,000
were having such a great time 
doing it. 

131
00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:53,840
I thought it was really, really 
funny. 

132
00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:55,960
I used to love the Goons. 
It was, it was very much a 

133
00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,520
formative thing as a kid. 
I loved the goons. 

134
00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,800
And and had you or were you 
already aware of sellers before 

135
00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:08,080
you heard the gun show or? 
Well, I was aware of him. 

136
00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:11,280
I was made aware of him mainly 
when my dad took me to the 

137
00:08:11,440 --> 00:08:14,000
pictures. 
I think it might have where was 

138
00:08:14,000 --> 00:08:16,040
it? 
That might have been a cinema in

139
00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:18,760
Hounslow or Northfields where 
they were doing a double bill of

140
00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:24,000
Pink Panther films and I 
remember thinking that that was 

141
00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:25,560
the greatest thing ever. 
I thought there was something 

142
00:08:25,560 --> 00:08:29,080
really sort of aversive about 
Peter Sellers, you know, because

143
00:08:29,080 --> 00:08:34,559
he would sort of do things on 
screen that I that there's, you 

144
00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,280
know, shamelessly silly things 
that you weren't supposed to be 

145
00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:41,320
allowed to do on screen. 
And I I love that there was real

146
00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:45,880
madcap to the talent he had. 
Some of the things that really 

147
00:08:45,880 --> 00:08:48,880
fascinate me about his earlier 
performances is how much he 

148
00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,280
almost seems the smallest 
character on the screen. 

149
00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:56,440
He lets everyone else act around
him and he sort of just peers 

150
00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:58,720
are in the middle, but he's the 
one you're watching, you know, 

151
00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,240
he's the one you focus on. 
And I sort of, I guess as I grew

152
00:09:02,240 --> 00:09:06,240
older, I sort of became more 
fascinated with this particular 

153
00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:08,520
talent. 
He had to be not even doing very

154
00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:10,680
much, but he was the one you 
were looking at, you know? 

155
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:12,920
Oh, especially in two way 
stretch where he's not. 

156
00:09:13,240 --> 00:09:16,040
Yeah, he's not stretching him, 
no pun intended, stretching 

157
00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,480
himself too much. 
But he's the one that's the 

158
00:09:18,480 --> 00:09:20,200
focus of of our attention, isn't
he? 

159
00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,520
Yeah, that's a, that's a very 
good example. 

160
00:09:23,600 --> 00:09:26,360
I I think around that time, 
particularly some of those ones 

161
00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:28,760
he did with the ball things, you
know, that that sort of little 

162
00:09:28,760 --> 00:09:33,760
era there just before he became 
big in the States, they really 

163
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:38,360
reflect this peculiar talent. 
It's like by doing less than the

164
00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,720
rest, he seems to say more. 
You know, you must get into 

165
00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,760
Battle of the Sexes where he's 
sort of so small, let everyone 

166
00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:46,600
else do the big acting around 
him. 

167
00:09:47,120 --> 00:09:50,040
But he is so fascinating in that
film. 

168
00:09:50,720 --> 00:09:53,560
I've tried to describe this when
I've talked about Sellers films 

169
00:09:53,560 --> 00:09:58,680
in the past, and I've never 
really managed to sum it up to 

170
00:09:58,680 --> 00:10:02,320
my, to my own satisfaction. 
But he's got this the way that 

171
00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:06,120
he holds himself in his earlier 
work. 

172
00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:11,920
He's he, he, he's got this sort 
of he's like a what haven't you 

173
00:10:11,920 --> 00:10:15,160
put a coiled spring? 
But he, he, he, he, he doesn't 

174
00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:16,960
give much away. 
It's all in the the eyes are 

175
00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:19,560
darting left and right and and 
there's this. 

176
00:10:19,560 --> 00:10:23,640
This is barely contained panic 
under the surface, isn't there? 

177
00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:25,440
But. 
Yeah, but very still, it's like 

178
00:10:25,480 --> 00:10:28,760
still Hurricane is, you know, 
happening around him. 

179
00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:31,680
But yeah, as you say, it's just 
a little a glimpse or a twitch 

180
00:10:31,680 --> 00:10:34,400
of the eye. 
It's really important in those 

181
00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,560
early performances, I think. 
I know the film that we're going

182
00:10:37,560 --> 00:10:42,360
to talk about today will come to
it properly in a second, but it 

183
00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:48,840
opens with an aerial shop of and
we can see from quite high up we

184
00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:54,240
see this what's clearly a 
schoolmaster conducting a 

185
00:10:54,440 --> 00:10:58,200
crocodile of children through a 
through a little town. 

186
00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:05,280
But even at that distance, by 
the man's his gait, his straight

187
00:11:05,280 --> 00:11:08,520
back, his his stiff arms and his
legs sort of marching, you can 

188
00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:11,040
tell straight away that seller's
just the way he's walking. 

189
00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:13,600
He keeps his arms close to his 
side. 

190
00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:18,280
Yeah, there's just something 
about him which is hypnotic 

191
00:11:18,280 --> 00:11:23,840
about his performance in that. 
And yeah, everything is thought 

192
00:11:23,840 --> 00:11:29,200
out, but gives the impression 
that he, you know, he he was a 

193
00:11:29,200 --> 00:11:33,280
master inhabiting a character in
a way other people couldn't do. 

194
00:11:33,560 --> 00:11:36,240
Yes. 
He just acts with his back then,

195
00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:37,920
isn't he? 
Absolutely, yeah. 

196
00:11:39,280 --> 00:11:44,920
Greg, Ranks gather out. 
Now, then what did we see today?

197
00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,480
The cathedral. 
The cathedral? 

198
00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:49,200
Yes. 
And when was it built? 

199
00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,680
The 14th century. 
The 14th century. 

200
00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:54,520
Now, then, how many fish were 
there in the pond? 

201
00:11:56,760 --> 00:11:58,840
There were 4 fish in the pond. 
Four. 

202
00:11:59,240 --> 00:12:04,480
Hands up, all those who said 4. 
Oh, I thought there were some of

203
00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,440
you who said three. 
In fact, I'm sure there were 

204
00:12:06,440 --> 00:12:08,640
some of you who said three. 
All right. 

205
00:12:08,680 --> 00:12:10,440
Do you enjoy your walk? 
Yes, Sir. 

206
00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:11,920
Good. 
See you in the morning. 

207
00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:23,960
So we're talking about a film 
today, which is, or was for the 

208
00:12:23,960 --> 00:12:28,160
longest time, I don't want to 
say lost, but it, it wasn't in 

209
00:12:28,160 --> 00:12:30,760
circulation, really. 
It was pretty lost. 

210
00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:35,120
Pretty lost. 
There were 235 mil prints in the

211
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:39,320
BFI National Archive which I was
aware of and back in my earliest

212
00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:44,040
days at the BFI I remember 
bringing into the collection a 

213
00:12:44,040 --> 00:12:47,600
little 16 millimetre negative of
the title sequence. 

214
00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:52,800
That very bit you were just 
talking about came in useful 

215
00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,640
later on because we could sort 
of attempt to match the colour 

216
00:12:55,800 --> 00:12:59,040
from that original Meg because 
the prints we have were very 

217
00:12:59,040 --> 00:13:01,920
faded. 
And of course there's the 16 mil

218
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:05,680
print that was in Peter Sellers 
own collection which is also the

219
00:13:05,680 --> 00:13:08,800
National Film Archive. 
Yes. 

220
00:13:08,800 --> 00:13:11,440
And I, I read something that you
wrote about this. 

221
00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:13,720
So by the way, sorry. 
Listen, there's the film we're 

222
00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,440
talking about is Mr. Topaz Topaz
from 1961. 

223
00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:22,080
But I read something you wrote 
when the Blu-ray was released 

224
00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:27,120
where you said yes, So Sellers 
had his own private copy of the 

225
00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:31,440
film and you said it. 
It was clear that he had it had 

226
00:13:31,440 --> 00:13:34,000
it had been, it had been 
projected a few times. 

227
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,960
He's obviously watched it over 
the years. 

228
00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:39,440
Yeah, more than once, because it
had a fair number of splices in 

229
00:13:39,440 --> 00:13:41,400
it, so he'd run it a few times. 
Right. 

230
00:13:41,520 --> 00:13:43,280
It's interesting, isn't it? 
Because it's not. 

231
00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:45,520
It's not one that's ever talked 
about, really. 

232
00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,240
No, no, no. 
I mean it was very much 

233
00:13:48,680 --> 00:13:51,360
overlooked in his obituaries. 
It's it's quite peculiar. 

234
00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:59,200
He he very much belittled it 
himself, but I think it's really

235
00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:02,840
quite over. 
Was overly maligned at the time 

236
00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:08,200
and certainly was by no means 
the the failure that a lot of 

237
00:14:08,200 --> 00:14:13,040
critics said it was. 
No, so I bought the Blu-ray and 

238
00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,480
it the the it's great value by 
the way, you get Blu-ray and 

239
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:18,000
DVD. 
It's. 

240
00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:19,560
Got loads of good extras on 
there as well. 

241
00:14:19,560 --> 00:14:21,880
Loads of great extras. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

242
00:14:21,880 --> 00:14:25,240
And including a really 
interesting talk that sellers 

243
00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:27,640
gave to the NFT. 
Was it in 16? 

244
00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:29,160
Yeah, that, that's fascinating, 
wasn't it? 

245
00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:29,920
Yeah. 
Yeah. 

246
00:14:30,880 --> 00:14:33,560
Just around this time, yeah. 
So he was just becoming aware 

247
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,560
that he could maybe cut it as a 
sort of romantic lead as well as

248
00:14:36,560 --> 00:14:38,640
a comedy style. 
That's that's right. 

249
00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,800
And he was also talking about a 
film that he never made, that he

250
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:45,000
was intending to make at that 
time, which was Memoirs of 

251
00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:47,480
Across Eyed Men. 
Yes, yes. 

252
00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:52,600
But so I bought the, I bought 
the Blu-ray in probably 2019, I 

253
00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:57,240
think when it around the time it
came out and I watched it for 

254
00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,840
the first time and I was a bit 
underwhelmed. 

255
00:15:02,400 --> 00:15:04,880
OK, with you. 
Then I left. 

256
00:15:04,880 --> 00:15:07,360
So I left it for about 6 years. 
And then at the last year I 

257
00:15:07,360 --> 00:15:09,840
thought I'll give it another go 
and I watched it again and I 

258
00:15:09,840 --> 00:15:12,240
really enjoyed it the second 
time round. 

259
00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,680
And likewise, obviously I've 
watched it again this week and 

260
00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:20,640
and and and enjoyed it equally. 
Yeah, I watched it again this 

261
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:23,120
week, and I liked it more than 
last time. 

262
00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:25,040
Yeah. 
You know, I mean, I like you, 

263
00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:26,400
Tyler. 
I think the first time I saw I 

264
00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:30,360
was like, you know, I think, you
know, part of the problem is, 

265
00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:32,880
you know, there is definitely a 
structural problem in the film. 

266
00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:35,480
And there's also a problem that 
Sellers couldn't do anything 

267
00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:36,920
about. 
You know, the sort of central 

268
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,720
character becomes less likeable 
as the film goes on, which is 

269
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:42,240
always a bit of a problem in 
drama. 

270
00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:46,160
Yeah, yes, there's, there's a, 
there's a an ending that you 

271
00:15:46,160 --> 00:15:51,000
don't really expect to see in a.
But I, I think, I don't know, I 

272
00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:54,680
think this is by no means a 
failure in terms of any of the 

273
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:57,360
performances or the script or 
the direction. 

274
00:15:58,120 --> 00:15:59,360
Well, it's another. 
Really, really good. 

275
00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:03,800
It's a great example of what you
said before about he he, he's 

276
00:16:03,800 --> 00:16:06,440
kind of like, he keeps his 
performance quite minimal, 

277
00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:11,440
whereas everyone around him is, 
is over the top and particularly

278
00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:13,440
in the case of Leo Mckern and 
Michael Goff. 

279
00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:16,400
But aren't they, aren't they 
wonderful? 

280
00:16:16,480 --> 00:16:20,120
That was sketches though, right?
Yeah, wonderful. 

281
00:16:20,240 --> 00:16:24,160
I love the scene. 
There's a scene with Leticia 

282
00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:25,760
Hunt as well. 
She's sort of coming in 

283
00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,760
complaining because Mr. Tobaz 
has given her son a good grade 

284
00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:33,520
in the report and Leo Mckern is 
trying to butter her up because 

285
00:16:33,520 --> 00:16:36,440
he wants her money. 
And Sellers and his Tobaz is 

286
00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,720
this sort of trying to maintain 
this dignity. 

287
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,480
He can't possibly change the the
poor marks because it was 

288
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:44,760
correct. 
And Mccurn's trying to persuade 

289
00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,800
him that he ought to change just
to get the money into the 

290
00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:50,240
school. 
And it's a masterly little 

291
00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:52,040
scene, I think. 
And as you say, Sellers, he's 

292
00:16:52,040 --> 00:16:54,640
very small in the middle and the
others are hamming it up like 

293
00:16:54,640 --> 00:16:57,080
crazy. 
But it's beautifully done. 

294
00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,480
And I think it's a very all the,
all those things in that person 

295
00:17:00,480 --> 00:17:02,600
of 45 minutes, I think work 
really well. 

296
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:05,480
Absolutely. 
And, and yeah, Topaz in that 

297
00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:09,240
scene, Topaz is, is really sort 
of affronted that that this 

298
00:17:09,240 --> 00:17:13,040
Baroness should should doubt his
integrity that and, and expect 

299
00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,359
that he expect that he would 
change the marks just to please 

300
00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,640
her. 
And and Leo Mckern's face as 

301
00:17:17,640 --> 00:17:20,640
Topaz is is is. 
Listing off the child's failings

302
00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:23,280
is priceless. 
It's brilliant. 

303
00:17:23,280 --> 00:17:25,319
Mckern is such a great, great 
actor. 

304
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:26,800
You know, I always loved him in 
rum. 

305
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,240
Paul of the Bailey, you ever 
watched that? 

306
00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:29,680
Yes. 
Oh, years ago, yeah. 

307
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:30,680
Absolutely. 
Yeah. 

308
00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:32,480
Good. 
Mckern is so good. 

309
00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,120
He's brilliant and Maticia 
Hunt's really good in that scene

310
00:17:35,120 --> 00:17:38,840
too, and I think it shows. 
If nothing else, Sellers chose 

311
00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:41,400
brilliantly in his his sort of 
cast for that film. 

312
00:17:42,480 --> 00:17:43,920
Oh yeah? 
Well, he was a friend of Liam 

313
00:17:43,920 --> 00:17:45,280
Mckern. 
They'd worked together. 

314
00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:51,800
I'm sure you probably know this 
most recently in the Running, 

315
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:53,920
Jumping and Standing Still film.
Yeah. 

316
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:58,520
And the mouse that roared as 
well, which was 59 and also 

317
00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:01,920
Mckern had had acted alongside 
Sellers on stage in. 

318
00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:04,280
Brouhaha, right? 
Right. 

319
00:18:04,280 --> 00:18:06,480
Because brouhaha was sort of 
famously a bit of a sort of 

320
00:18:06,760 --> 00:18:09,120
scattershot affair, wasn't it? 
A bit. 

321
00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:13,840
Yes, a bit. 
Sellers was sort of not entirely

322
00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:15,960
behaving himself at that time. 
No. 

323
00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:19,040
And he was because he didn't 
like the repetitive nature of 

324
00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:22,920
the stage and. 
And he was drunk on one occasion

325
00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:23,240
because. 
Yeah. 

326
00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:25,840
That's that's the story of him 
being drunk on the stage. 

327
00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:28,400
It's quite would have been 
fascinating to see though, 

328
00:18:28,400 --> 00:18:30,440
wouldn't it? 
Well, he'd been to Alec 

329
00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,480
Guinness's knighthood party. 
So the elegance. 

330
00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,320
Had received his knighthood, 
whatever 58 it would have been, 

331
00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:39,480
wouldn't it? 
And, and during the day, Sellers

332
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:42,960
had been at this party and 
having having a snootful and 

333
00:18:42,960 --> 00:18:47,680
then turned up in the evening 
for the performance and said to 

334
00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:52,040
the audience, he's basically 
walked to the edge of the stage 

335
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:55,360
and said to the audience, 
something like I'm drunk or I'm 

336
00:18:55,360 --> 00:18:58,760
sloshed, do you want me to carry
on? 

337
00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,120
And the audience shouted. 
Somewhere, yeah, the audience 

338
00:19:01,120 --> 00:19:02,920
shouted. 
Yes, and then at some point 

339
00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:05,160
during the proceedings, he fell 
into the orchestra pit or he 

340
00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,640
fell, fell off the stage anyway.
Wow, how could? 

341
00:19:09,960 --> 00:19:14,920
You follow that, Blimey. 
But Mr. Mr. Topaz So in the US 

342
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:19,400
it was known as I Like Money, 
yes, Which is an awful title. 

343
00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:22,480
Obviously it's a song in, it's a
song in the film, but it's an 

344
00:19:22,480 --> 00:19:25,400
awful title, yeah. 
Yeah, peculiar title. 

345
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:29,680
It does sort of make me sort of 
highlight some sort of thematic 

346
00:19:29,680 --> 00:19:34,800
link to magic Christian, you 
know, in terms of this sort of 

347
00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:40,920
what will you do for money, how 
far will you go for money, Which

348
00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:45,800
I guess it also looks quite 
closely back to, only to comply 

349
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:48,600
as well. 
Where sellers is librarian, it's

350
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:51,200
supposed to be the party. 
Of my. 

351
00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:55,600
Zestling's sort of woman who 
runs the council like proxy and 

352
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:58,240
he has to sort of at the end of 
it he suddenly says no, no, I'm 

353
00:19:58,240 --> 00:20:00,400
not taking the money. 
I'm not going to be your lap 

354
00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:02,240
dog. 
I'm going to maintain my 

355
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,600
integrity. 
I guess in Mr. Topaz. 

356
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:05,960
It's sort of the other side of 
the coin. 

357
00:20:05,960 --> 00:20:08,520
He does take the money and then 
you see what happens, right? 

358
00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:10,760
Yeah. 
Yeah, we'll come to that. 

359
00:20:11,600 --> 00:20:16,520
It was also forgot to mention 
very important film in in terms 

360
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:21,600
of Sellers because it was his 
directorial debut in. 

361
00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:23,880
Theory. 
Yeah, I guess people say that, 

362
00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:26,480
he directed. 
Running, jumping, standing 

363
00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,280
still. 
Well, well, Richard Lester 

364
00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:33,040
insists that he he largely 
directed that. 

365
00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:38,080
Milligan insists he directed it,
and Sellers Sellers insists he 

366
00:20:38,080 --> 00:20:42,600
directed it. 
So they all but yeah, if if we 

367
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,280
take it that this is his, his 
first directorial, yeah. 

368
00:20:46,280 --> 00:20:48,400
Yeah, well, it certainly is 
officially, isn't it? 

369
00:20:48,400 --> 00:20:50,760
Yeah, and. 
Also, it's his directorial swan 

370
00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:56,120
song because he if you don't 
include his unofficial work on 

371
00:20:56,560 --> 00:20:59,960
his last film, The Fiendish Plot
of Three Manchu. 

372
00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:02,400
Yeah, yeah. 
I mean, he, he sort of jumped in

373
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,360
a bit on other films, didn't he?
When he sort of got crossed with

374
00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:06,720
the people and sacked him or 
something. 

375
00:21:07,120 --> 00:21:09,200
Yeah. 
But how much of that stayed in 

376
00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:13,320
those films? 
I'm not sure He he, he would do 

377
00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:15,600
bits and pieces, wouldn't he? 
He would, yeah. 

378
00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:18,640
But. 
Yeah, but he in interviews after

379
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:20,160
this, he said, oh, I don't want 
to direct. 

380
00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:21,960
I don't want to direct. 
He sort of really got his 

381
00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:26,920
fingers burned on this one. 
Yeah, he'd said either during 

382
00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:31,680
the filming or leading up to the
filming of this, though maybe it

383
00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:34,360
was in that NFT talk that I 
mentioned before. 

384
00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:35,840
He said something on the lines 
of. 

385
00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:37,720
I haven't written it down, but 
he said something along the 

386
00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,960
lines of if, if, if it's a 
success, I might end up 

387
00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:43,840
concentrating on directing and 
stop acting. 

388
00:21:44,520 --> 00:21:45,440
Yeah, well. 
Yeah. 

389
00:21:45,560 --> 00:21:49,520
I, I, I always wonder if he sort
of envisaged himself taking a 

390
00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:53,400
sort of more of a Jacques Tati 
turn or Charles, Charles Chaplin

391
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,840
rather than Charlie Chaplin, you
know, the the clown who suddenly

392
00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:00,880
becomes more serious and makes 
more respected works, you know? 

393
00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:06,320
Yeah. 
And this film is based on I hope

394
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:07,560
I get this pronounced this 
correctly. 

395
00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:13,200
Marcel Pagnol Pagnol Pagnol I. 
Think is probably near to the 

396
00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:15,120
pronunciation. 
Not that I know anything about, 

397
00:22:15,520 --> 00:22:17,080
yeah. 
Correct pronunciation. 

398
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:23,680
It's based on his play called 
Topaz, which is a tale of It's a

399
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,440
tale of an unassuming provincial
schoolmaster who becomes 

400
00:22:26,440 --> 00:22:29,880
corrupted by business and ends 
up being the very antithesis of 

401
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:33,720
everything he used to stand for.
Excellent business while it 

402
00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:35,200
lasted. 
What a lovely view. 

403
00:22:35,600 --> 00:22:38,040
But now it's all over. 
From now on, the company will 

404
00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,000
belong to me. 
All the profits will go to me. 

405
00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,240
It's as simple as that. 
Very funny. 

406
00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:44,720
You imagine that you own this 
company. 

407
00:22:45,360 --> 00:22:48,560
I don't imagine I do. 
The lease is in my name. 

408
00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:52,000
The company is in my name. 
Everything is legally mine. 

409
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:54,920
Everything is legally his. 
What? 

410
00:22:57,000 --> 00:22:59,200
But that's theft. 
You take it to court. 

411
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,920
Say something for goodness sake,
I will. 

412
00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,160
Oh my God. 
As we mentioned, it was out of 

413
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,600
distribution for many years, so 
watched it again the other night

414
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:18,760
and I was struck. 
I mean, it's lovely restoration,

415
00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:21,280
but at the end of the day, it's 
still very washed out, the very,

416
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,320
very lots of brown and red. 
Yeah, yeah. 

417
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:30,360
It is really, really faded. 
It's really hard to protect the 

418
00:23:30,360 --> 00:23:33,840
colour in Eastman colour prints 
unless the outset you get them 

419
00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:37,320
properly stored. 
Yeah. 

420
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:38,800
They they just go. 
They go. 

421
00:23:38,800 --> 00:23:40,520
They fight. 
Yeah. 

422
00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:42,920
Yeah, and the. 
Negatives were nowhere to be 

423
00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:47,400
found when we did this still. 
It's got a. 

424
00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:49,960
It adds a charm to it. 
There's a, There's a. 

425
00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:53,640
Degree of colour correction. 
But by the same token, when you 

426
00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:56,240
try and get a film back to how 
it used to look, you don't want 

427
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:58,000
to make make it so it's too 
zingy. 

428
00:23:58,000 --> 00:24:00,800
You don't want to make it so you
can be sure it didn't look like 

429
00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,040
that. 
I there's that fine line you 

430
00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,800
have to trade with these 
remasterings, you know. 

431
00:24:06,680 --> 00:24:08,360
Oh absolutely. 
You wouldn't want to be 

432
00:24:08,360 --> 00:24:12,280
artificially colouring it, no. 
Stuff now avoid all that sort of

433
00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:16,360
thing, yeah. 
The The screenplay for this was 

434
00:24:16,360 --> 00:24:20,680
written by Pierre Roof. 
Roof, who'd been on the producer

435
00:24:20,680 --> 00:24:22,880
on the Millionaire S, which I 
think was Seller's previous 

436
00:24:22,880 --> 00:24:24,240
film. 
Yeah, that was just. 

437
00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:26,160
Around this time, wasn't it? 
Yeah, yeah. 

438
00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:28,840
He was supposed to be working 
with Wolf Mank events but he 

439
00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:31,880
sort of threw that out so he 
could do this instead. 

440
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:35,760
Yes. 
Because I've reread the Roger 

441
00:24:35,760 --> 00:24:37,600
Lewis Sellers book. 
I love that. 

442
00:24:37,880 --> 00:24:39,480
It's great, isn't it? 
It's great. 

443
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,080
I interviewed Roger last year. 
He's a great guy. 

444
00:24:42,080 --> 00:24:44,400
And I mean, it's a controversial
book in many ways. 

445
00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:46,720
Yeah, but how? 
Great to have such opinions, you

446
00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,640
know, such a oh, it's. 
Writing it's, it's the it's 

447
00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:52,480
exhilarating. 
Yeah, you don't. 

448
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:55,000
Have to agree with it to, to 
enjoy it. 

449
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,760
Sort of the sort of attack of 
it's writing style. 

450
00:24:57,760 --> 00:24:59,680
It's brilliant, yeah. 
Yeah. 

451
00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:03,120
And he, yes, I reread so I 
interviewed him, but obviously I

452
00:25:03,120 --> 00:25:05,920
reread the book when it was when
it was republished last year. 

453
00:25:06,480 --> 00:25:09,120
And there's a there's quite a 
bit, there's an extended bit in 

454
00:25:09,120 --> 00:25:14,560
there about his sellers fallout 
with Wolf Mankiewicz and the the

455
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:17,760
production company that they 
were going to set up. 

456
00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:21,040
Yes. 
So that that was around this 

457
00:25:21,040 --> 00:25:22,960
time. 
Now the other thing, but it's. 

458
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:24,680
So instead it was written by 
Pierre Roof. 

459
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:29,960
Now I looked on and I looked at 
the Mr. Topaz's Wikipedia page 

460
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:33,320
as a starting point. 
You know, I don't rely on 

461
00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:36,200
Wikipedia, but that's the, 
that's where I start. 

462
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,480
And then I add stuff right in 
terms of my research, lots of 

463
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:41,200
people said. 
For lots of people, that's the 

464
00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:43,160
only place they go. 
Oh, I know. 

465
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,800
I salute you. 
I cannot stand that just. 

466
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:48,800
Read. 
No contract, just reading. 

467
00:25:48,800 --> 00:25:53,320
Out a Wikipedia article on no no
no, but one thing I did pick up 

468
00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,240
on there I've not been able to 
see find anything else about 

469
00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:58,320
this. 
It's said such it's it's said 

470
00:25:58,320 --> 00:26:01,040
it's written by Pierre Roof, but
also said Johnny Spate was 

471
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:02,600
script associate. 
Oh really? 

472
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:06,560
Yeah, it's interesting, I don't 
think. 

473
00:26:06,560 --> 00:26:09,680
That's he's not credited, is he?
No, no. 

474
00:26:09,680 --> 00:26:11,160
I. 
Didn't see him so I don't know 

475
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,480
what where that's from. 
He's not credited on the film. 

476
00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:17,400
And I've never. 
Heard Oh, hang on a minute, hang

477
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:23,200
on a minute script associate. 
Yes, John spite, but I've spelt 

478
00:26:23,200 --> 00:26:27,480
it differently with a line. 
So maybe it's maybe. 

479
00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:29,640
It's a different man. 
It's a different John Spite. 

480
00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:33,440
Yeah, but on Wikipedia it's 
definitely Johnny Spade spell. 

481
00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:35,880
This is the problem. 
With Wikipedia, isn't it, You 

482
00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:38,480
know you've been properly cross 
checked. 

483
00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:42,200
You know we really all go and 
double and triple check this. 

484
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:46,120
Now the paper Wikipedia, they 
just whack in the first name 

485
00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:49,000
that comes up right? 
Absolutely, Yeah. 

486
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:54,720
So we we mentioned that Sellers 
plays this this character, Mr. 

487
00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:58,880
Topaz or Albert Topaz. 
And he's he's a very earnest, 

488
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:04,400
very honourable school teacher 
in this little French provincial

489
00:27:04,760 --> 00:27:06,480
town. 
Is it on the outskirts of Paris 

490
00:27:06,480 --> 00:27:08,800
or it would seem to be. 
Yeah, they certainly say it is. 

491
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:11,320
Yeah, and you see the Eiffel 
Tower in some shots. 

492
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,120
Yeah, that's right. 
And he's he's honest to a fault.

493
00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:17,880
And he lives and digs with his 
his colleague and friend Tamiz, 

494
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:20,880
who's Michael Gough. 
Yeah, he's great. 

495
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,640
In this isn't he, he's he's. 
Amazing. 

496
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:29,120
I've only ever seen him playing 
Grumpy Men and he's far from 

497
00:27:29,120 --> 00:27:31,640
grumpy in this. 
He's very much hat on the side 

498
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:33,160
of the head, isn't he? 
She is. 

499
00:27:33,360 --> 00:27:35,840
A woman, you must appeal to her 
as a man. 

500
00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:37,200
That's what they want. 
Women. 

501
00:27:37,360 --> 00:27:39,320
They want men. 
Yes, Yes, yes, yes. 

502
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,400
I I quite agree with you, Tammy.
I I agree about that. 

503
00:27:41,400 --> 00:27:44,520
But I mean, do you think she'd 
see me in that light? 

504
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,040
I mean, do you think I, I'd have
any appeal to her as a man? 

505
00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,640
Stand up as a stand up. 
Yes. 

506
00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,360
You, you, you, you. 
You present quite a manly 

507
00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:57,600
appearance. 
Your your own teeth. 

508
00:27:58,040 --> 00:27:59,160
Yes. 
And healthy hair. 

509
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:01,320
Hair. 
A good beard. 

510
00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:03,880
The beard. 
Your beard is really like 

511
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:06,800
masculine, you know, from 
certain angles your face is 

512
00:28:06,920 --> 00:28:09,640
positively leonine. 
Do you think so? 

513
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:11,920
Yes. 
Yes. 

514
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:14,960
Yes. 
Yes. 

515
00:28:15,200 --> 00:28:16,640
Yes. 
I see what you mean, Tam. 

516
00:28:18,120 --> 00:28:20,840
I am not of unprepossessing 
features. 

517
00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:23,320
You've got a very distinguished 
nose. 

518
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:24,560
Do you think so? 
Yes. 

519
00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:27,520
I never, never used to like my 
nose. 

520
00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:30,320
Oh, it's a very good nose. 
A commanding nose. 

521
00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,840
I think it is commanding. 
It's just that one never thinks 

522
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:38,560
of 1's nose as being commanding.
The guess is gone. 

523
00:28:38,560 --> 00:28:39,680
Let me do it. 
Let me do it. 

524
00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:42,000
Let me do it. 
There's some matches and coins 

525
00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:43,240
on the meter, if you can find 
them. 

526
00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,720
Yeah, they're they're. 
Very much best friends, aren't 

527
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:52,120
they? 
Yeah, very poorly paid, but they

528
00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:55,400
enjoy their work. 
And as I said, with the film 

529
00:28:55,400 --> 00:29:01,840
opens we see we see Topaz with 
the children and the headmaster 

530
00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:06,360
is the aforementioned Leo Mckern
who plays Moosh, Monsieur Moosh.

531
00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:13,240
He puts social status and 
financial betterment before the 

532
00:29:13,240 --> 00:29:16,680
well-being of his pupils. 
And he has a coquettish 

533
00:29:16,680 --> 00:29:18,800
daughter, Ernestine, who was 
Billy Whitelaw. 

534
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:20,280
Yeah, and. 
She's great too. 

535
00:29:21,160 --> 00:29:22,840
She is. 
I've not seen enough of Billy. 

536
00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:24,440
Billy Whitelaw. 
Very, very. 

537
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,920
Fine actress. 
Very, very fine, I always think.

538
00:29:27,920 --> 00:29:31,880
Of her from the craze film. 
I particularly like a one of her

539
00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,560
very early films. 
It's a little film she did 

540
00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,640
called Small Hotel with Gordon 
Harker, where they're playing 

541
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,520
the staff at this little hotel. 
It's it's not a film that anyone

542
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:44,080
ever talks about, but I really 
like it. 

543
00:29:44,320 --> 00:29:45,160
So I recommend that. 
OK. 

544
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:46,320
And. 
She's got this weird 

545
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:48,040
relationship. 
She's she's kind of leading 

546
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:51,440
Topaz on, isn't she? 
I don't, I don't, I don't get 

547
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:54,280
the feeling that she's got any 
real interest in him. 

548
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:56,280
No, she just. 
Wants him to mark her books 

549
00:29:56,320 --> 00:29:59,440
right? 
Yeah, she wants to borrow his 

550
00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:02,640
red ink and then she that she 
gives it back to him because 

551
00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:04,040
he's going to do all the marking
for her. 

552
00:30:04,040 --> 00:30:05,880
But she's. 
Obsessed with money, right? 

553
00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,320
Like everyone is in this film, 
you know, money is the in wire 

554
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:12,160
or not that everyone is is 
defined by money, whether 

555
00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:14,440
they've got it or haven't got it
or whether they want it or don't

556
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:15,920
want it. 
So it's that's true. 

557
00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:16,920
That's. 
True. 

558
00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:19,520
Very much. 
A film about about money. 

559
00:30:19,680 --> 00:30:23,520
Yeah. 
And you see Topaz and his, his 

560
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,280
charm walking along at the start
there. 

561
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,400
You both got no overcoats. 
And they, he says he'd rather 

562
00:30:29,400 --> 00:30:31,800
buy a book of poetry than have 
an overcoat. 

563
00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:35,760
And that gives you a sort of 
idea of how he is when it 

564
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:38,720
begins. 
Yeah, well, everyone in this 

565
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:44,640
film is working at Angle apart 
from to me by the end, I mean, 

566
00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,840
everyone's working, working at 
Angle and yes. 

567
00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,040
So. 
So Topaz is living in these 

568
00:30:50,040 --> 00:30:51,720
digs. 
He's he doesn't make much money 

569
00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,480
as a as a teacher. 
So he gives private lessons, 

570
00:30:54,520 --> 00:31:00,240
including to a small boy called 
Gaston, which is which was 

571
00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:01,760
played by his own son, Michael 
Salas. 

572
00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:02,720
Yeah. 
Interesting. 

573
00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:05,960
We only get a glimpse of the 
young man now. 

574
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:12,800
Michael Sellers turns up in 
another Sellers film, at least 

575
00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,120
one that I can think of, anyway.
He turns up in The Magic 

576
00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:18,440
Christian at the end of the 
decade. 

577
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,120
Yeah. 
You know the bit I mean. 

578
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:23,840
I love the Magic Christian. 
Me too. 

579
00:31:24,720 --> 00:31:27,880
The bit where it goes all 
chaotic at the end where you've 

580
00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:32,000
got Christopher Lee as Dracula 
and everyone sort of thinks that

581
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:35,600
the ship's sinking or whatever, 
and there's there's a there's a 

582
00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:37,240
mass panic. 
Oh yeah, yeah. 

583
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,040
There's sort of the big scramble
that you get in a lot of those 

584
00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:41,960
films around that time when 
they. 

585
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:45,600
Yeah, that's right. 
Yeah. 

586
00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:48,920
And then you've got you've got a
scene with a bunch of passengers

587
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:55,320
stalking along this corridor. 
And one of them is about 7 foot 

588
00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,640
tall with this, like, ginger 
Afro sort of thing. 

589
00:31:59,640 --> 00:32:01,760
And it was it was teenage 
Michael Sellers. 

590
00:32:02,480 --> 00:32:04,200
Well, so yeah, but get books on 
me. 

591
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:05,040
He wrote a. 
Book, didn't he? 

592
00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:06,840
I've got it. 
Line around it did. 

593
00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:08,880
PSI Love. 
You, yeah. 

594
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:13,400
Yeah, which was quite revelatory
at the time, wasn't it? 

595
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:15,960
Yeah, it's in. 
My stack here somewhere, I 

596
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,440
think. 
Yeah, it's in piles of books all

597
00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:19,720
around me. 
He had. 

598
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,720
A tragic life in this, in many 
ways. 

599
00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:23,280
And he died. 
He only died. 

600
00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,000
I think he's sort of in his mid 
50s when he died. 

601
00:32:26,000 --> 00:32:28,240
It's another heart attack. 
Like, well, it's a heart attack 

602
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:32,360
like his dad, I think you say. 
He plays young Gaston. 

603
00:32:32,360 --> 00:32:37,680
And Gaston is the nephew of 
Susie Courtois, who is played by

604
00:32:37,680 --> 00:32:41,080
Nadia Gray. 
Yeah, who I wasn't aware of, but

605
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:45,000
she's AI think she's from 
Romania originally. 

606
00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:45,680
Yeah. 
Yeah, I had. 

607
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:49,360
AI had a fairly prolific career 
all sort of around Europe in 

608
00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,120
loads of different she's French 
stuff and German stuff and 

609
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:53,800
Italian stuff. 
She was all over the place. 

610
00:32:54,480 --> 00:33:00,360
And she is AI don't know if 
she's a successful or she or up 

611
00:33:00,360 --> 00:33:05,880
and coming musical actress. 
And she lives in this Chateau 

612
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,480
with he's not her husband, is he
her but Lum he's her. 

613
00:33:11,440 --> 00:33:16,200
What is he? 
She wants him to put the money 

614
00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:18,080
up for for sure, yeah. 
Yeah, yeah. 

615
00:33:18,560 --> 00:33:20,160
But we'll come back to to her. 
But Lum in a bit. 

616
00:33:20,400 --> 00:33:25,880
So Michael Gough, I love that 
scene where right at the 

617
00:33:25,880 --> 00:33:28,000
beginning of the film where 
where Topaz is in his little 

618
00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:32,240
Garrett room at night. 
Or is it early in the morning? 

619
00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:33,760
Still marking? 
Yeah, Yeah. 

620
00:33:33,760 --> 00:33:34,840
First. 
Thing in the morning, isn't it? 

621
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:37,520
Yeah, that's right. 
Still marking Ernestine's 

622
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:41,320
people's books. 
And Michael Gough comes in and 

623
00:33:41,320 --> 00:33:43,280
he's just a childlike character,
isn't he? 

624
00:33:43,280 --> 00:33:46,600
Yeah, yeah, really. 
And he, he. 

625
00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:50,440
It's almost like he's got this 
platonic love for Topaz. 

626
00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:52,320
Absolutely. 
Yeah, I think. 

627
00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:57,640
And he describes Topaz as having
this leonine appearance with a 

628
00:33:57,640 --> 00:33:59,680
fine commanding nose. 
Yeah, that's. 

629
00:33:59,680 --> 00:34:01,080
Interesting, isn't it? 
And by. 

630
00:34:01,080 --> 00:34:03,960
The way Salaz has got a full 
beard in this, which you don't 

631
00:34:03,960 --> 00:34:07,600
see very often, no. 
I, I he sort of trims it off 

632
00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:11,000
later, sort of narrows his face 
down later in the film, doesn't 

633
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:11,960
he? 
When he becomes the sort of 

634
00:34:12,639 --> 00:34:14,400
bloodthirsty businessman 
instead. 

635
00:34:15,239 --> 00:34:18,400
Yeah, he gets a kind of a almost
like a Van Dyke sort of thing, 

636
00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:22,400
like he had as the Prime 
Minister in the Mouse that 

637
00:34:22,400 --> 00:34:25,880
roared. 
Of course he's got a full beard 

638
00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:27,639
in the Block house. 
Have you ever seen the Block 

639
00:34:27,639 --> 00:34:28,320
house? 
Love the block? 

640
00:34:28,320 --> 00:34:30,760
House. 
I wrote about it in my book The 

641
00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:34,199
Bodies Beneath. 
OK, one of my very favorite 

642
00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,719
seller's performances. 
Oh, really? 

643
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:37,760
Yeah. 
OK. 

644
00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,360
Yeah, we've covered that and 
it's a very dark in many ways, 

645
00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:45,320
in both senses of the word, very
dark film. 

646
00:34:46,199 --> 00:34:47,280
Super film. 
Lovely. 

647
00:34:47,440 --> 00:34:51,159
What's his name as well? 
Peter Vaughan is marvellous. 

648
00:34:51,159 --> 00:34:52,639
Yeah, Charles. 
Ezner was great in it. 

649
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:56,280
Oh, God, I forgot he was in it. 
Yes, yeah. 

650
00:34:57,000 --> 00:35:03,440
So anyways, we get this scene at
the school where Topaz confesses

651
00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:07,920
his love to Ernestine and he he 
kisses her, she allows him to 

652
00:35:07,920 --> 00:35:09,640
kiss her and then she slaps him,
I think. 

653
00:35:10,560 --> 00:35:14,800
And and he recognises that as as
as sort of tacit agreement that 

654
00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:17,920
they are kind of an item. 
Yeah, Yeah, it's a bit. 

655
00:35:18,480 --> 00:35:21,320
You know, the the gender 
politics are perhaps a little 

656
00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,360
peculiar, perhaps. 
Yes, yeah. 

657
00:35:25,320 --> 00:35:28,200
Did you pick up on Because 
obviously Sellers is is 

658
00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,240
directing it. 
Did you pick up or did you 

659
00:35:31,240 --> 00:35:34,360
suspect much ad libbing on his 
part in this film? 

660
00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,120
I. 
Think. 

661
00:35:37,120 --> 00:35:40,760
He pretty much stayed on the 
script. 

662
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,480
I mean, I, I, what I think he 
might have added is, I mean, I 

663
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:48,440
one of the things that there's 
not quite enough of in this film

664
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:50,640
are sort of laugh out loud 
moments and there are a couple 

665
00:35:50,640 --> 00:35:53,400
of little bits of physical 
business which I think he's 

666
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:54,960
added in. 
There's a lovely bit where he 

667
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:58,400
slides off her but long sofa. 
Do you remember this bit? 

668
00:35:58,560 --> 00:35:59,400
Yes, I do. 
It's. 

669
00:35:59,720 --> 00:36:01,800
Just. 
Suddenly slips and it's 

670
00:36:01,800 --> 00:36:04,800
brilliant and it's sort of 
you're suddenly thinking, Oh 

671
00:36:04,800 --> 00:36:06,880
yeah, this is what he would come
to do. 

672
00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:09,040
So well in those Pink Panther 
films, you know, this sort of 

673
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,160
just sudden trip and then he 
trips up the step on the way 

674
00:36:12,160 --> 00:36:13,480
out. 
So I think there's a few 

675
00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,720
physical adletes certainly I'm 
not sure about script wise. 

676
00:36:16,720 --> 00:36:19,440
What do you think? 
Well, so there's the bit where 

677
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:24,720
So he, Topaz is delighted that 
it all seems to be going well 

678
00:36:24,720 --> 00:36:28,480
with Ernestine, and he goes to 
tell Tamiz and Tamiz is doing 

679
00:36:28,480 --> 00:36:31,440
this scientific experiment 
thing. 

680
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:32,640
Oh yeah, I know the bit. 
You. 

681
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:36,800
Mean and. 
And as Topaz is about is talking

682
00:36:36,800 --> 00:36:39,840
to him and then as Topaz is 
about to depart, he's he sniffs 

683
00:36:39,840 --> 00:36:42,760
what that like the chemical 
experiment and he says, oh, 

684
00:36:42,760 --> 00:36:44,200
smells lovely. 
Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

685
00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:45,760
Maybe. 
That is, that could well be, 

686
00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:47,280
couldn't it? 
Yeah, it. 

687
00:36:47,280 --> 00:36:49,160
Just seemed the sort of thing 
sellers would do. 

688
00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:54,120
Leave this room. 
Immediately. 

689
00:36:55,040 --> 00:37:03,320
Yes, thank you. 
That means it's happened. 

690
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:05,880
What's happened? 
She just slapped my face. 

691
00:37:06,360 --> 00:37:14,160
Congratulations. 
Yes. 

692
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:16,120
I. 
Forgot about the headmaster. 

693
00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:25,320
What do you think someone might 
find out how the land lies? 

694
00:37:26,000 --> 00:37:30,080
Me, Would you? 
All right, not only it's a good 

695
00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:32,400
moment because I'm just about to
to introduce a new boy to the 

696
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:33,720
school. 
Where did you find him? 

697
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:35,560
Oh, well, it said boy guest on 
Courtois. 

698
00:37:35,560 --> 00:37:39,040
I give him lessons, you know. 
And what is it? 

699
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:41,480
A poor child who I was to help 
this morning. 

700
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:43,320
Must been waiting for hours. 
I must rush. 

701
00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:44,520
I must rush. 
Yes. 

702
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:49,360
Timmy's discreet. 
Yes. 

703
00:37:49,520 --> 00:37:51,680
Yes, yes. 
What must I do? 

704
00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:53,360
Rush. 
Yes. 

705
00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:55,680
Smells lovely. 
Thank you. 

706
00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:58,080
Your best ever. 
He doesn't. 

707
00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:01,200
Overindulge himself, does he? 
You think as the director he 

708
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:04,280
could, but he doesn't he. 
Doesn't I want the voice because

709
00:38:04,280 --> 00:38:05,800
obviously he's known for his 
voices. 

710
00:38:06,280 --> 00:38:10,160
It's a very, it's a very bland, 
colourless voices. 

711
00:38:10,160 --> 00:38:12,320
It's Seller's own voice 
slightly. 

712
00:38:12,600 --> 00:38:13,600
Is he his? 
Own voice. 

713
00:38:13,600 --> 00:38:16,320
I never quite know what his own 
voice is, you know, he's such a 

714
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,000
slipper chap. 
I'm I'm never quite sure, you 

715
00:38:19,000 --> 00:38:21,480
know. 
And he does 2 voices in this 

716
00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:24,320
film, doesn't he? 
Does he? 

717
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,920
Yeah, he does the. 
The changed Topaz voice in the 

718
00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:31,240
latter film, yeah. 
Yeah, yeah. 

719
00:38:31,240 --> 00:38:34,640
But at this. 
Point, he has that colourless 

720
00:38:34,640 --> 00:38:36,440
voice. 
I mean, he this is around that 

721
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,520
time where he's starting to tell
the interview interviewers that 

722
00:38:39,520 --> 00:38:42,200
he had no personality of his 
own, right, which was nonsense, 

723
00:38:42,200 --> 00:38:46,080
but he was telling them that, 
yeah, I can't. 

724
00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:49,240
Believe why he thought that was 
a that was a good thing to say. 

725
00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:50,880
I think he was just sort of 
wiping. 

726
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:52,080
The slight, you know, he thought
it. 

727
00:38:52,240 --> 00:38:54,240
This sort of enigmatic quality, 
you know? 

728
00:38:55,160 --> 00:38:57,840
Yeah, and also I suppose that it
kind of it gives him permission 

729
00:38:57,840 --> 00:39:03,520
to to to misbehave. 
So you said there's not that 

730
00:39:03,520 --> 00:39:06,400
many laugh out loud moments that
there isn't. 

731
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:10,640
But certainly the funniest 
performance in in this film is 

732
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:11,600
Leo Mckern. 
He's great. 

733
00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:15,880
He's great. 
And it's all these little ticks 

734
00:39:15,880 --> 00:39:20,080
and twitches and and he's 
picking lint off his tie and 

735
00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,480
he's his eyebrows, his bushy 
eyebrows are are going up and 

736
00:39:23,480 --> 00:39:26,720
down at at a lick. 
And when we first see him, he 

737
00:39:26,720 --> 00:39:32,320
comes into Topaz's classroom and
there's a poster that's a bit 

738
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:37,040
ripped and he says that's torn. 
And then, and then the, the 

739
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:39,320
scene continues. 
And then he, as he's about to 

740
00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:43,360
leave the, the, the classroom, 
he says that's torn again, which

741
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:47,200
again, all that seemed to me, I,
I that felt improvised, right, 

742
00:39:47,240 --> 00:39:47,560
right. 
Could. 

743
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:51,520
Well, have been, you know. 
Although you know how sellers 

744
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:53,880
hated being upstaged? 
Yeah, it's. 

745
00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:56,680
Interesting how he allows others
to. 

746
00:39:57,480 --> 00:40:00,960
I mean, I, I would say, you 
know, Mccurran probably upstages

747
00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:05,080
him a couple of times in this. 
Yeah, well, we know about 

748
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:09,440
obviously Lionel Jeffries in two
way stretch and then wrong with 

749
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:10,960
the law as well. 
It's. 

750
00:40:11,160 --> 00:40:14,120
Kind of quite remarkable. 
He seems to be very generous 

751
00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:19,600
with these actors in this film. 
Herbert Lum years later said 

752
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:24,160
that Sellers directorial touch 
was so light it was practically 

753
00:40:24,160 --> 00:40:28,600
non existent in this film and 
and he said he was a direct. 

754
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:32,760
He was kind of like a director 
in name only, not, not really 

755
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,960
pushing the actors in any 
particular direction. 

756
00:40:36,960 --> 00:40:40,920
And I don't know, I don't think 
that's a good thing. 

757
00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:42,120
Is it? 
If if you're making a film. 

758
00:40:43,040 --> 00:40:46,080
I wouldn't say this looks like a
shoddily directed film either. 

759
00:40:46,520 --> 00:40:48,480
No were. 
There were there any particular 

760
00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:52,520
interesting shot choices that 
caught your eye or yeah, I. 

761
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,160
I like like you say that first 
sequence I think is very 

762
00:40:56,160 --> 00:41:00,320
impressive. 
I think his sense of design 

763
00:41:00,320 --> 00:41:03,480
around the the Garrett and the 
school is is very good that sets

764
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:07,600
of neatly photographed. 
I think it's a sort of 

765
00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,880
functional direction rather than
a flashy direction, but I think 

766
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:12,960
it does the job. 
You know there's. 

767
00:41:13,920 --> 00:41:17,120
This bitch as well. 
The bit of strange subplot minus

768
00:41:17,120 --> 00:41:20,120
subplot with this mysterious 
music box that keeps playing. 

769
00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:25,360
Oh yeah, and it's one of the 
people's trying to wind up Topos

770
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:30,200
and I I don't get the feeling 
that Topaz has got a lot of 

771
00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:32,720
control over the pupils 
generally. 

772
00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:34,920
Does he have their respect, do 
you think? 

773
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:37,160
No, I don't. 
Know it's hard to say isn't it I

774
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:39,720
do know that when he finds the 
music box he suddenly goes into 

775
00:41:39,720 --> 00:41:42,240
this sort of shrill register 
that almost reminds me of some 

776
00:41:42,240 --> 00:41:45,320
of his gun show voices. 
You know who not to buy, you 

777
00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:49,200
know, all this sort of thing. 
And yes, it's quite an 

778
00:41:49,200 --> 00:41:50,880
escalation. 
It's it's odd. 

779
00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,240
And you you then sense maybe, 
you know, is this a man just on 

780
00:41:54,240 --> 00:41:56,840
the verge of snapping? 
You know, it sort of almost has 

781
00:41:56,840 --> 00:42:01,000
that air about it. 
He wants to become engaged to 

782
00:42:01,520 --> 00:42:03,360
Ernestine, doesn't he? 
But he. 

783
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:05,920
But he needs to broach the 
subject with her father, and 

784
00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:07,720
he's nervous about that. 
So I think he's going to get 

785
00:42:08,400 --> 00:42:11,520
Timmy's to do it on his behalf. 
Yeah, that's right. 

786
00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,400
Oh, but we've got the scene, as 
you mentioned before, with the 

787
00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,280
Baroness. 
Now I want to. 

788
00:42:17,280 --> 00:42:19,680
Talk to you about a small matter
which is worrying me 

789
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,840
electrically. 
A mere bag of tale which will 

790
00:42:22,840 --> 00:42:25,320
soon be settled. 
I have just received my 

791
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:29,400
grandson's monthly report and I 
haven't dared to show it to 

792
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,760
anyone. 
I explained to the baronet that 

793
00:42:32,760 --> 00:42:34,520
there must have been a slight 
mistake on the part of the 

794
00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:40,160
secretary who copied your notes.
Well, I I don't imagine so, 

795
00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:43,800
Headmaster, since I have no 
secretary and I wrote the report

796
00:42:43,800 --> 00:42:48,080
by hand. 
Madam, would you excuse us? 

797
00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:50,520
Yes, of course, just for a 
moment. 

798
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:58,560
The Baroness who has just asked 
you to give her grandson private

799
00:42:58,640 --> 00:43:03,960
lessons, already has three boys 
in the school and I myself have 

800
00:43:03,960 --> 00:43:07,200
certain obligations. 
It is For these reasons that I 

801
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:12,080
put it to you that I will not be
surprised if there has been a 

802
00:43:12,080 --> 00:43:15,920
slight mistake The. 
Actress who played the Baroness?

803
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:21,560
Is it Martita or Marsha? 
Martita, who's best known, I 

804
00:43:21,560 --> 00:43:25,400
suppose, as Miss Havisham in 
David Lean's Great Expectations.

805
00:43:27,680 --> 00:43:32,080
Roger Lewis says in in his book 
on Sellers that she was she she 

806
00:43:32,080 --> 00:43:35,760
liked to tipple, apparently the 
actress, and she was given to 

807
00:43:35,800 --> 00:43:39,000
unexpected farting during 
filming, right? 

808
00:43:40,160 --> 00:43:44,120
Which left Sellers paralysed 
with laughter a lot of the time.

809
00:43:45,040 --> 00:43:50,640
So I suppose it would do. 
Leo Mckern as the headmaster is 

810
00:43:50,640 --> 00:43:53,880
fretting because he thinks that 
the Baroness is going to remove 

811
00:43:54,320 --> 00:43:58,760
her grandchildren, I think, from
the school because she's so 

812
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:01,840
outraged at Topaz. 
And that's when Michael Goff, as

813
00:44:01,840 --> 00:44:05,520
to me, comes in and is talking 
to the headmaster about his his 

814
00:44:05,520 --> 00:44:09,360
friend. 
He's your friend, a perfectly 

815
00:44:09,360 --> 00:44:12,040
honest man. 
He couldn't be more honest. 

816
00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:15,960
And is the general a kind, 
generous minded man? 

817
00:44:15,960 --> 00:44:18,040
Oh, yes, he has a general's 
heart. 

818
00:44:18,520 --> 00:44:19,840
And let your friend make his 
request. 

819
00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:22,560
I'm certain he will be received 
with open arms. 

820
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,920
Well, you are the general. 
Hi, General. 

821
00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:32,320
The Lieutenant is Topaz. 
And the young woman is the kind 

822
00:44:32,320 --> 00:44:33,960
and beautiful Miss Mulch. 
What? 

823
00:44:36,000 --> 00:44:37,240
Tovaz wants to marry my 
daughter? 

824
00:44:37,760 --> 00:44:39,120
Yes. 
Have you all got mad? 

825
00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,120
But great love is akin to 
madness. 

826
00:44:42,480 --> 00:44:45,840
Think of Romeo and Juliet. 
Paula and Francesca. 

827
00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:54,040
I listen Dante and. 
Beatrice This performance 

828
00:44:54,080 --> 00:44:57,520
reminded me quite a bit of his. 
Have you seen him in The 

829
00:44:57,520 --> 00:44:58,640
Prisoner? 
I love him in the. 

830
00:44:58,640 --> 00:44:59,800
Prisoner. 
He's great in that, isn't he? 

831
00:45:00,360 --> 00:45:04,160
Yeah. 
And then we we get to the sort 

832
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:10,640
of beat of the film where we 
have Monsieur Benak, who is a 

833
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:17,800
wealthy but bent Paris city 
councillor and it's Herbert Lum.

834
00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,520
So this would be what the second
time he's worked with sellers 

835
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,480
because he was in the lady 
killers as well. 

836
00:45:26,240 --> 00:45:32,280
And he's he's annoyed because he
had like as a as a front man for

837
00:45:32,280 --> 00:45:34,160
some of his shady financial 
dealings. 

838
00:45:34,160 --> 00:45:40,160
He had Roger Deberville played 
by John Neville, and John 

839
00:45:40,160 --> 00:45:45,160
Neville's decided to stop 
working with him or stop lending

840
00:45:45,160 --> 00:45:50,920
his his aristocratic name to to 
to Ben X shady dealings. 

841
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,040
It's it's a bit. 
I found that this bit a bit 

842
00:45:55,040 --> 00:45:57,000
complicated or a bit. 
Yeah, it's. 

843
00:45:57,360 --> 00:45:59,160
Much more complicated than it 
needs to be. 

844
00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:02,960
I I think that's one of the 
problems with this film, that 

845
00:46:02,960 --> 00:46:06,040
that stuff in the school at the 
start is so beautifully done and

846
00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:09,200
just right. 
And then you get the sense that 

847
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:12,600
there's this dense knot of plot 
that you don't really need in 

848
00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:15,520
the middle. 
Maybe a more assured director 

849
00:46:15,520 --> 00:46:19,120
would have would have had a 
scene better establishing 

850
00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:20,120
everything. 
Maybe so. 

851
00:46:20,120 --> 00:46:23,440
Maybe, maybe that is one of the 
the problems with settlers doing

852
00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:27,040
a first time director's job. 
But it's, you know, the script 

853
00:46:27,040 --> 00:46:30,800
has to take some blame too. 
Oh yeah. 

854
00:46:30,960 --> 00:46:35,320
Absolutely. 
And Susie, who is the 

855
00:46:35,320 --> 00:46:39,440
forementioned Susie, she's 
hooked up with Benac and she 

856
00:46:39,440 --> 00:46:42,600
needs her show financing. 
So she's desperate. 

857
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:49,480
So she hits on the idea of using
Topaz as the the front man for 

858
00:46:49,480 --> 00:46:52,400
Benac. 
Maybe that's how they did things

859
00:46:52,400 --> 00:46:55,160
back in Paris back then, I don't
know. 

860
00:46:55,160 --> 00:47:02,520
But Topaz is wined and dined and
he's made managing director of 

861
00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,200
Topaz Limited and installed in 
these magnificent officers in 

862
00:47:06,200 --> 00:47:10,680
Paris and and given, Is this 
something like 2 1/2 thousand 

863
00:47:10,680 --> 00:47:12,080
francs a month or something like
that? 

864
00:47:12,080 --> 00:47:14,080
Yeah, he. 
Thinks this is a fortune and 

865
00:47:14,760 --> 00:47:15,560
fortune. 
It's not. 

866
00:47:15,680 --> 00:47:20,800
Yeah, he's crooks though, and 
and I really appreciated Sellers

867
00:47:21,200 --> 00:47:25,320
playing Topaz drunk but still 
proud because at one point he 

868
00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,200
thinks that they're trying to 
give him money as charity 

869
00:47:27,200 --> 00:47:29,000
because he's lost his job. 
Yeah. 

870
00:47:29,640 --> 00:47:34,480
Gradually. 
He becomes this city gent, 

871
00:47:34,920 --> 00:47:38,680
really, with his, with his 
office and his secretary in the 

872
00:47:38,680 --> 00:47:41,400
shape of Joan Sims, who we 
barely see. 

873
00:47:41,960 --> 00:47:45,360
Yeah, she's. 
Yeah. 

874
00:47:46,400 --> 00:47:51,280
She's clearly hopelessly devoted
to Topaz, I think when he first 

875
00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:55,440
meets Herbert Lum's character. 
Herbert Lum offers him a cigar 

876
00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:58,360
and he says, Oh no, I don't 
smoke because he's got no vices,

877
00:47:58,720 --> 00:48:01,240
Topaz. 
But he says he'll he'll take one

878
00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:08,280
for his friend Timmy's, I think.
But then we see Topaz more or 

879
00:48:08,280 --> 00:48:12,160
less in the next scene with a 
cigar on the go. 

880
00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:15,320
Now, is that the first 
indication of his slide into 

881
00:48:15,360 --> 00:48:17,440
into moral laxity? 
Yeah, I think. 

882
00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:19,200
It is. 
I mean, that's the other problem

883
00:48:19,200 --> 00:48:23,120
with the film that's sort of 
very much too compressed, that 

884
00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:26,000
sort of change. 
We, we had such a lovely long 

885
00:48:26,160 --> 00:48:28,480
drawn out first bit. 
This suddenly happens all very 

886
00:48:28,480 --> 00:48:30,440
fast, doesn't it? 
Yeah, yeah. 

887
00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:33,840
We mentioned John Neville. 
Now I really only know John John

888
00:48:33,840 --> 00:48:37,640
Neville from Baron Munchausen. 
Oh yeah. 

889
00:48:38,600 --> 00:48:40,560
Do you know him from much? 
No, not really. 

890
00:48:41,040 --> 00:48:43,200
No. 
They could have swapped him out 

891
00:48:43,200 --> 00:48:45,160
with Jeremy Lloyd. 
They have the same sort of 

892
00:48:45,200 --> 00:48:49,080
physique, the same sort of look.
Yeah, I guess it's a fairly. 

893
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:52,440
Thankless part, isn't it? 
Yeah. 

894
00:48:52,840 --> 00:48:57,560
His character calls on Topaz and
more or less gives the game 

895
00:48:57,560 --> 00:48:59,760
away. 
Tells Topaz that he's being used

896
00:49:00,640 --> 00:49:05,680
and that, you know, Topaz is is 
a front basically for Benak. 

897
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:09,640
And and Topaz is outraged, 
threatens to go to the police. 

898
00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:16,400
And then Susie manages to 
convince him that Benak is the 

899
00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:20,480
executive of her father's will. 
And if if Topaz blows the gaffe,

900
00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:22,560
then she'll lose everything as 
well. 

901
00:49:23,360 --> 00:49:27,440
So he agrees to carry on sort of
playing along. 

902
00:49:27,440 --> 00:49:30,040
He's not not doing it willingly,
but he agrees to continue. 

903
00:49:31,320 --> 00:49:34,640
Yeah, it all sort of moves at a 
on at a pace it. 

904
00:49:35,440 --> 00:49:39,040
Does that, isn't it? 
And I guess we're seeing a very 

905
00:49:39,040 --> 00:49:43,440
gullible Topaz, which doesn't 
really align with the kind of 

906
00:49:43,560 --> 00:49:46,600
slick criminal Topaz that we see
just a few minutes later. 

907
00:49:47,400 --> 00:49:49,920
Well, that, that bit, right? 
We'll come to that shortly. 

908
00:49:49,920 --> 00:49:52,320
I just wanted to because that 
that bothers me. 

909
00:49:53,440 --> 00:49:56,920
Even when he Topaz soon after 
overhears Susie on the phone 

910
00:49:56,920 --> 00:50:02,040
describing him as an idiot and 
he confronts her and she again, 

911
00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:04,640
she has to kind of, I don't know
whether she's lying, but she, 

912
00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:07,520
she has nothing to lose. 
So she confesses to her lowly 

913
00:50:07,520 --> 00:50:09,840
beginnings to try and win him 
around. 

914
00:50:11,240 --> 00:50:13,480
I don't really know where their 
relationship, if there is a 

915
00:50:13,480 --> 00:50:18,560
relationship, goes from this 
point because she's clearly a 

916
00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:20,480
liar. 
She thinks he's an idiot idiot. 

917
00:50:21,440 --> 00:50:25,440
Oh, and of course Topaz's 
success has been front page news

918
00:50:25,920 --> 00:50:32,440
and the headmaster, Liam Mckern 
is He's quick to react and he 

919
00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:37,440
wants to marry off Ernestine to 
him as soon as he can because 

920
00:50:37,480 --> 00:50:39,720
they can smell. 
That money there, yeah. 

921
00:50:39,920 --> 00:50:43,000
And he and Topaz rejects her, of
course, as you would do. 

922
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:50,280
But the most confusing bit of 
the film for me is John Lamez. 

923
00:50:50,280 --> 00:50:57,280
John Lamez ref turning up in one
of the 11 films he made that 

924
00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:00,200
Sellers was in. 
I counted them. 

925
00:51:00,320 --> 00:51:03,080
Yeah. 
He was doing like a different 

926
00:51:03,080 --> 00:51:04,640
film every week, I think around 
this point. 

927
00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:05,560
Wasn't he? 
John de Miserer? 

928
00:51:05,680 --> 00:51:07,840
He's pretty. 
Prolific, and he would take 

929
00:51:07,920 --> 00:51:10,800
everything right. 
Yeah, I mean, he turns up. 

930
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:13,040
In sort of sex comedies in the 
early 70s. 

931
00:51:14,560 --> 00:51:18,520
Well, he generally would play 
authority figures or judges or 

932
00:51:19,200 --> 00:51:21,160
police chief constables or 
whatever it may be. 

933
00:51:21,640 --> 00:51:25,120
Here he's playing a slimy 
journalist, basically. 

934
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:28,200
Yeah, the editor has. 
Made a very serious inquiry into

935
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:33,200
this unsavoury affair and next 
week half a million readers will

936
00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:37,400
learn the truth about Topaz. 
This is my photograph. 

937
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:41,840
The first duty of the press is 
to keep an eye on morals and to 

938
00:51:41,840 --> 00:51:46,040
denounce any abuses. 
Have you nothing to say? 

939
00:51:46,600 --> 00:51:48,120
No. 
What can I say? 

940
00:51:48,800 --> 00:51:50,680
No, Sir. 
You're not just going to wait 

941
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:52,640
for the scandal to burst about 
your ears. 

942
00:51:54,080 --> 00:51:59,920
Think, Sir, honour is our most 
precious attribute and worth 

943
00:52:00,000 --> 00:52:03,560
every sacrifice. 
Come now, can't you guess what 

944
00:52:03,560 --> 00:52:10,440
you must do, Sir? 
I hardly dare put a meaning to 

945
00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:12,640
your words. 
Then dare, Sir. 

946
00:52:13,320 --> 00:52:15,960
Dare. 
And you honestly mean that if I 

947
00:52:15,960 --> 00:52:19,360
did that? 
This edition. 

948
00:52:19,360 --> 00:52:21,120
Would not appear. 
I'll give you my word. 

949
00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:24,720
It'll be a first class burial. 
Come, Sir, make an effort. 

950
00:52:25,760 --> 00:52:28,400
Kill yourself now. 
Certainly. 

951
00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:30,240
The sooner the better. 
What is in front of you? 

952
00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:31,640
Yes, of course. 
In front of me. 

953
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:34,520
Yeah, that. 
Suicide thing was a bizarre 

954
00:52:34,880 --> 00:52:38,840
inclusion, wasn't it? 
Yeah, I was hoping you could 

955
00:52:38,840 --> 00:52:42,920
explain it to me. 
I can't this. 

956
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:47,320
I believe it's referring what 
the source play, which is much 

957
00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:50,320
older, is referring to. 
Some tradition of you'd sort of 

958
00:52:50,320 --> 00:52:52,400
rather kill yourself than be 
dishonoured. 

959
00:52:52,400 --> 00:52:55,400
Some sort of Parisian French? 
Tradition, but we're. 

960
00:52:55,400 --> 00:52:57,640
Going back a long way for that, 
I think we're going back to the 

961
00:52:57,640 --> 00:53:00,640
sort of the days the play was 
written, rather than days in 

962
00:53:00,640 --> 00:53:05,080
which this film was made. 
Yeah, yeah, Although this, this 

963
00:53:05,080 --> 00:53:09,640
feels to me that I remember 
thinking, oh wow, there's 

964
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:12,400
there's cars in this because 
remember thinking, this feels to

965
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:14,200
me like a period piece. 
Yeah, it's a weird. 

966
00:53:14,240 --> 00:53:15,120
One, isn't it? 
Yeah. 

967
00:53:16,920 --> 00:53:20,600
But then, yeah, when you see the
Paris scenes, it's clearly set 

968
00:53:20,600 --> 00:53:24,360
in the in the present day. 
But yeah, yeah, he was. 

969
00:53:24,360 --> 00:53:29,520
He was going to expose Topaz and
the whole operation as it were, 

970
00:53:29,520 --> 00:53:33,960
and then somehow or other he 
gets paid off or mum's. 

971
00:53:34,440 --> 00:53:37,120
Got all the dirt on his boss, 
right? 

972
00:53:37,120 --> 00:53:39,720
And he sells it on the phone. 
And he that's right. 

973
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:41,920
That's something his. 
Son has done so. 

974
00:53:41,960 --> 00:53:43,920
They have to withdraw their 
allegations. 

975
00:53:44,640 --> 00:53:47,520
Lum. 
Basically says look to Topaz. 

976
00:53:47,520 --> 00:53:51,280
Look, it's been a guess, but 
let's sever our connections now.

977
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:55,160
More or less for some reason 
Topaz wants to stick around. 

978
00:53:55,160 --> 00:53:57,800
Yeah, that's. 
That's I think it could have 

979
00:53:57,800 --> 00:54:01,480
been done more plausibly if 
they'd sort of spend a little 

980
00:54:01,480 --> 00:54:04,080
more time around they had a 
little less of a lump in the 

981
00:54:04,080 --> 00:54:06,800
middle where so Topaz wasn't in 
it so much. 

982
00:54:07,960 --> 00:54:11,760
Well, I think this is where we 
have this, the time transition. 

983
00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:15,120
We, yes, we're led to believe 
six months have passed. 

984
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:16,520
Yeah. 
Difficult. 

985
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:21,840
They should have had some sort 
of, I don't know, even like a 

986
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:23,720
montage sequence. 
Yeah. 

987
00:54:23,840 --> 00:54:26,920
Or I would have I would have 
chopped out some of that plot 

988
00:54:26,920 --> 00:54:29,880
that we both agree is a bit 
confusing and put more stuff of 

989
00:54:30,160 --> 00:54:34,120
showing his change, you know? 
Yeah, because the last time we, 

990
00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:37,560
we we seek Topaz, he's he's 
asking for one more chance to 

991
00:54:37,560 --> 00:54:40,920
prove himself. 
And he's, he's, Yeah, we're not 

992
00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:42,960
quite. 
Sure why he wants that one more,

993
00:54:43,120 --> 00:54:45,640
no. 
And and then the next scene we 

994
00:54:45,640 --> 00:54:47,960
see him. 
He's a changed man totally. 

995
00:54:47,960 --> 00:54:50,720
Yeah, which is a little hard to 
swallow given we've just seen 

996
00:54:50,720 --> 00:54:53,280
him so embarrassed in the 
presence of Billy Whitenor's 

997
00:54:53,280 --> 00:54:55,360
character. 
Yeah, yeah. 

998
00:54:56,720 --> 00:55:02,480
But then the the the exposition 
is that while Benak Herbert 

999
00:55:02,480 --> 00:55:07,480
Lum's been away for six months 
in Africa, Susie has been of 

1000
00:55:07,480 --> 00:55:10,760
teaching Topaz how to become 
refined, to dress well. 

1001
00:55:11,480 --> 00:55:13,080
And he's got. 
The new voice now, hasn't he? 

1002
00:55:13,080 --> 00:55:15,120
He's got the new voice. 
Yes. 

1003
00:55:15,440 --> 00:55:19,640
And I guess it's kind of it's 
kind of what Sellers had always 

1004
00:55:19,640 --> 00:55:21,800
wanted to become. 
He'd always used to be because 

1005
00:55:21,800 --> 00:55:23,720
he'd be, he'd be the chubby 
youngster. 

1006
00:55:23,720 --> 00:55:24,960
And he Sellers. 
Well, yeah, this. 

1007
00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:28,480
This totally strikes me. 
It's peculiar in how few of the 

1008
00:55:28,480 --> 00:55:30,520
films he made around this time. 
They almost seem to sort of 

1009
00:55:30,520 --> 00:55:35,520
mirror his own career, past and 
present and future and what he 

1010
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:38,560
wanted to do, you know, it's 
essentially he wants to go from 

1011
00:55:38,560 --> 00:55:41,920
being the chubby voice man to 
being the suave international 

1012
00:55:41,920 --> 00:55:44,480
leading man. 
And that's is, of course, what 

1013
00:55:44,480 --> 00:55:47,000
would happen. 
Well, they're culminating in 

1014
00:55:48,000 --> 00:55:50,040
Casino Royale, I suppose. 
Yeah, I mean, it was. 

1015
00:55:50,080 --> 00:55:52,800
Always a doomed to disaster 
really. 

1016
00:55:52,800 --> 00:55:55,840
And then he goes into that sort 
of missing decade of flops and 

1017
00:55:56,760 --> 00:56:01,320
sort of battling his white and 
having heart trouble and stuff. 

1018
00:56:01,320 --> 00:56:05,480
So he wasn't, he didn't really 
have the DNI to be a sort of 

1019
00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:08,000
suave leading man, but that's 
what he wanted to be. 

1020
00:56:09,280 --> 00:56:16,040
I find Sellers, I call it the 
Wilderness years from from the 

1021
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:19,280
last big hit he had, which was 
there's a good on my suit and 

1022
00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:22,560
then and then a string of films 
until Return of the Pink 

1023
00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:23,760
Panther. 
Yeah, yeah. 

1024
00:56:24,120 --> 00:56:26,280
Pink Panther, didn't it? 
Yeah, yeah. 

1025
00:56:26,280 --> 00:56:27,600
And. 
But that string of films in 

1026
00:56:27,600 --> 00:56:30,600
between, like The Block House 
Lovely, didn't. 

1027
00:56:30,600 --> 00:56:32,480
Get a proper release. 
Great, great string of films to 

1028
00:56:32,480 --> 00:56:34,880
watch, you know? 
Some of my absolute favourites 

1029
00:56:34,880 --> 00:56:37,200
to see in that lost decay, you 
know. 

1030
00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:41,640
I'm I've got a soft spot even 
for ghosts in the noonday sun. 

1031
00:56:41,640 --> 00:56:44,000
Have you? 
Yeah, Blimey, there's. 

1032
00:56:44,080 --> 00:56:45,680
A few people who would admit to 
that. 

1033
00:56:46,800 --> 00:56:50,080
Yeah, well, I watched. 
We covered it on the show a 

1034
00:56:50,080 --> 00:56:52,320
couple of years ago. 
And did you see Peter? 

1035
00:56:52,320 --> 00:56:54,320
Medak's film about the making of
it. 

1036
00:56:54,880 --> 00:57:01,400
Yes, so it what we did was we we
did a show on the film itself 

1037
00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:06,840
and then the documentary follow 
up show, which was fascinating 

1038
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:07,920
story. 
Yeah, that's terrific. 

1039
00:57:07,920 --> 00:57:10,160
That Peter Meddack film, Yeah, 
yes. 

1040
00:57:10,440 --> 00:57:15,040
But no, I I that that period of 
sellers career was was was well 

1041
00:57:15,040 --> 00:57:16,440
in the future. 
Are you going to tell me? 

1042
00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:18,480
You like soft beds, hard battles
as well? 

1043
00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:20,480
No. 
What about? 

1044
00:57:20,720 --> 00:57:21,600
Where does it? 
Hurt. 

1045
00:57:21,600 --> 00:57:22,960
Do you like that? 
Oh I hate that's. 

1046
00:57:23,000 --> 00:57:25,720
That's the film I hate the most.
Where does it hurt? 

1047
00:57:25,720 --> 00:57:27,200
It hurts. 
Everywhere, doesn't it? 

1048
00:57:27,280 --> 00:57:28,640
I mean, it's terrible. 
It's. 

1049
00:57:28,680 --> 00:57:32,080
Awful. 
We've again, we've covered that.

1050
00:57:32,120 --> 00:57:35,120
Oh, it's it's it's made a 2 
hour. 

1051
00:57:35,120 --> 00:57:38,400
Special for that one, right? 
It was about two hours. 

1052
00:57:39,720 --> 00:57:43,440
It was just me and some guests 
going, oh, Blimey, you know, 

1053
00:57:43,560 --> 00:57:46,120
what the hell was that about? 
Yeah, yeah. 

1054
00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:50,640
But no, there's, I mean the the 
optimists of nine Elms. 

1055
00:57:50,640 --> 00:57:52,680
I love the optimists. 
Of nine Elms would very much 

1056
00:57:52,680 --> 00:57:55,240
like to do that one on Blu-ray. 
Oh yeah, I'd love. 

1057
00:57:55,240 --> 00:57:57,280
To see that on Blu-ray, yeah, 
it's been. 

1058
00:57:57,280 --> 00:58:03,680
About in a sort of, you know, 
various semi sort of decent 

1059
00:58:03,680 --> 00:58:06,400
releases, but it'd be good to do
it properly, yeah. 

1060
00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:11,360
Again, that's that's not, I 
mean, this isn't this. 

1061
00:58:11,880 --> 00:58:14,280
We couldn't describe Mr. Topaz 
as a comedy. 

1062
00:58:15,240 --> 00:58:17,640
It's a is it a It's not really a
comedy, is it? 

1063
00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:21,720
It's it's. 
I guess it's a comedy drama or a

1064
00:58:21,720 --> 00:58:22,960
dramatic comedy drama. 
How about? 

1065
00:58:23,960 --> 00:58:25,520
That, but yeah, well, the 
optimists as well. 

1066
00:58:25,520 --> 00:58:28,560
I would class as a light, yeah. 
Light drama. 

1067
00:58:28,560 --> 00:58:30,440
Maybe light drama. 
Light comedy, I guess. 

1068
00:58:30,560 --> 00:58:32,520
Part of. 
The problem with Mr. Topaz is, 

1069
00:58:32,720 --> 00:58:35,640
is how, how do you pitch it? 
You know, you've just had the 

1070
00:58:35,640 --> 00:58:39,560
millionaires with him as the 
funny romantic lead, and there's

1071
00:58:39,560 --> 00:58:43,680
no romance in this and it's not 
that funny. 

1072
00:58:43,680 --> 00:58:46,880
And it ends up with him becoming
nastier than when he started. 

1073
00:58:46,880 --> 00:58:50,200
So it's a bit of a acting. 
It's not really a classic 

1074
00:58:50,200 --> 00:58:52,680
Hollywood trajectory, is it? 
No. 

1075
00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:55,480
What do you think of? 
Sorry, we're going all over the 

1076
00:58:55,480 --> 00:58:57,080
place. 
What do you think of his 

1077
00:58:57,080 --> 00:59:00,160
performance in Never Let Go? 
I love. 

1078
00:59:00,160 --> 00:59:02,240
That that's one of my absolute 
favourites. 

1079
00:59:02,240 --> 00:59:05,280
I think he's great. 
I think that darker side of 

1080
00:59:05,280 --> 00:59:07,800
sellers is something that I 
would have loved to have seen 

1081
00:59:08,440 --> 00:59:11,160
more explored. 
I think the kitchen sink 

1082
00:59:11,160 --> 00:59:13,560
Cellars, when you get only to 
complain that sort of the 

1083
00:59:14,160 --> 00:59:18,040
beleaguered husband working in 
the library, these these sort of

1084
00:59:18,040 --> 00:59:23,080
slightly tougher parts he was 
doing around this time when he 

1085
00:59:23,080 --> 00:59:26,600
shots Adam Faith's fingers in 
the top of the gramophone, 

1086
00:59:26,600 --> 00:59:32,160
that's terrific, I think. 
You see the first stirrings of 

1087
00:59:32,160 --> 00:59:37,800
that side of Cellars on screen 
with one of my all time 

1088
00:59:37,800 --> 00:59:39,320
favourites of his The Naked 
Truth. 

1089
00:59:39,480 --> 00:59:40,480
Oh yes. 
Yeah. 

1090
00:59:41,560 --> 00:59:44,160
When he's obviously he's sunny 
wee Sonny McGregor. 

1091
00:59:44,880 --> 00:59:48,440
But there's that scene where 
he's because he's a television 

1092
00:59:48,440 --> 00:59:55,000
star, he's got some old man up 
on stage who inadvertently tells

1093
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:58,720
him that he he's living in one 
of the flats that Sonny McGregor

1094
00:59:58,720 --> 01:00:02,160
secretly owns, which is like a 
he's a, he's a slum landlord on 

1095
01:00:02,160 --> 01:00:07,160
the side and. 
Sonny McGregor gets angry 

1096
01:00:07,160 --> 01:00:10,520
because the old guy keeps going 
on about this place or whatever.

1097
01:00:10,520 --> 01:00:15,040
And anyway, sell as as Sully 
shouts screams at the man at one

1098
01:00:15,040 --> 01:00:16,600
point, right? 
And it's not he. 

1099
01:00:16,760 --> 01:00:18,680
Had that in him, didn't he? 
He had. 

1100
01:00:18,680 --> 01:00:23,840
That in him, it wasn't funny, 
but it was the first indication 

1101
01:00:23,840 --> 01:00:26,640
of, you know, he could do that. 
He could pull that out, but he 

1102
01:00:26,640 --> 01:00:27,640
needed to. 
Yeah. 

1103
01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:30,160
Yeah. 
And and that's, again, just to 

1104
01:00:30,160 --> 01:00:32,240
go back to the block outs. 
That's one of the reasons that's

1105
01:00:32,240 --> 01:00:33,720
so good. 
You know, the darkness was 

1106
01:00:33,720 --> 01:00:37,120
really there. 
Yeah, there's obviously darkness

1107
01:00:37,120 --> 01:00:40,960
in Sellers his head and in his 
heart, which he could convey 

1108
01:00:40,960 --> 01:00:43,120
quite eloquently in some of his 
roles. 

1109
01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:44,960
Absolutely. 
Yeah. 

1110
01:00:45,120 --> 01:00:49,640
Yeah. 
So look, the film culminates 

1111
01:00:49,640 --> 01:00:55,240
with the tables being turned on 
Bernack on habit. 

1112
01:00:55,240 --> 01:01:02,080
Long, Topaz says. 
Stitched them up like a kipper 

1113
01:01:02,080 --> 01:01:05,160
basically taking over the 
company, taking over his 

1114
01:01:05,160 --> 01:01:06,520
company. 
The the company papers are 

1115
01:01:06,520 --> 01:01:09,600
signed and his name and and 
Bennett can do nothing. 

1116
01:01:09,960 --> 01:01:15,960
And then Topaz has has become 
grand and commanding and 

1117
01:01:15,960 --> 01:01:21,800
arrogant and and he somehow 
takes everything for including 

1118
01:01:21,800 --> 01:01:23,760
Chateau, the Chateau from from 
Bennett. 

1119
01:01:24,760 --> 01:01:26,760
We get to the final scene and I 
don't know what's happened, 

1120
01:01:26,760 --> 01:01:30,240
whether Susie shacked up with 
Topaz in the Chateau or what we 

1121
01:01:30,360 --> 01:01:32,200
we don't find. 
Out. 

1122
01:01:33,840 --> 01:01:36,280
I mean that that sort of, you 
know, the sort of concertinaing 

1123
01:01:36,280 --> 01:01:40,240
of these last few sayings is a 
little bit sort of half hearted,

1124
01:01:40,240 --> 01:01:41,920
isn't it? 
It seems a bit crushed in this 

1125
01:01:41,920 --> 01:01:43,840
last bit of the story. 
It does. 

1126
01:01:44,480 --> 01:01:51,640
Yeah, most films have like a 
hero obviously and and they go 

1127
01:01:51,640 --> 01:01:56,120
on a journey and the journey is 
typified by the hero tempted by 

1128
01:01:57,480 --> 01:02:02,000
bad choices or bad decisions. 
And then they they realise the 

1129
01:02:02,000 --> 01:02:04,120
error of their ways at the end 
of they find redemption. 

1130
01:02:04,440 --> 01:02:09,480
And then this, this doesn't 
happen in Mr. Topaz because the 

1131
01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:15,440
last scene is we see him meeting
to mes his old friend Topaz you.

1132
01:02:15,440 --> 01:02:18,400
Haven't changed, have you? 
It's suggested in the newspapers

1133
01:02:18,400 --> 01:02:24,320
that you want to, son. 
Well, well, why don't you write 

1134
01:02:24,320 --> 01:02:27,080
to the papers and deny it? 
It's true. 

1135
01:02:29,320 --> 01:02:32,160
So you're making fun of me? 
Listen to me. 

1136
01:02:33,240 --> 01:02:36,000
Everything I've done since I 
left the school is punishable by

1137
01:02:36,000 --> 01:02:38,040
law. 
If the world were properly 

1138
01:02:38,040 --> 01:02:39,520
organized, I'd be in prison 
right now. 

1139
01:02:40,320 --> 01:02:42,120
I don't believe it. 
Would I lie to you? 

1140
01:02:43,160 --> 01:02:45,280
But how can you have changed so 
much? 

1141
01:02:46,120 --> 01:02:48,480
You were the most honest man 
I've ever known. 

1142
01:02:48,720 --> 01:02:50,160
Yes. 
And it lost me. 

1143
01:02:50,160 --> 01:02:52,560
The only thing I ever cared for.
My job at the school. 

1144
01:02:53,440 --> 01:02:57,600
Now I'm a so-called crook. 
I'm rich and that, believe you 

1145
01:02:57,600 --> 01:03:00,160
me, is the only thing that gains
one respect. 

1146
01:03:00,720 --> 01:03:03,720
Almost an ending that, you know,
it's sort of strikes me this 

1147
01:03:03,720 --> 01:03:06,360
kind of ending you'd get more in
the 70s, you know, do sort of 

1148
01:03:06,360 --> 01:03:09,760
bleak existential endings. 
Absolutely. 

1149
01:03:09,760 --> 01:03:11,320
That's a really good point. 
Yeah. 

1150
01:03:11,320 --> 01:03:14,520
It's a very muted, muted. 
That's a very muted film. 

1151
01:03:14,520 --> 01:03:19,960
It's, it's very, it's a study of
the cynicism of human nature and

1152
01:03:19,960 --> 01:03:23,800
it and it doesn't really 
there's, there's no, as I say 

1153
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:28,520
before, no redemption, no. 
Interesting again the the 

1154
01:03:28,640 --> 01:03:33,160
reflection of Seller's own 
behaviours, you know, because I 

1155
01:03:33,160 --> 01:03:37,120
mean, we read in all the books 
about how he would try and make 

1156
01:03:37,120 --> 01:03:39,960
friends with people after he'd 
upset them by giving them very 

1157
01:03:39,960 --> 01:03:44,320
expensive gifts. 
So sense that the journey that 

1158
01:03:44,320 --> 01:03:47,640
Topaz has been on is a similar 
journey to one that Sellers is 

1159
01:03:47,640 --> 01:03:51,320
having, you know. 
But I mean, it's definitely one 

1160
01:03:51,320 --> 01:03:53,640
I would recommend people watch 
if they if they haven't seen it,

1161
01:03:53,640 --> 01:03:58,360
well, I guess if it. 
Doesn't, you know, fulfil all 

1162
01:03:58,360 --> 01:04:02,240
its sort of aims and goals in 
its beginning? 

1163
01:04:02,240 --> 01:04:07,200
It sort of certainly is a an 
amount of of a very fascinating 

1164
01:04:07,200 --> 01:04:10,720
little set pieces and very 
entertaining set pieces and some

1165
01:04:10,720 --> 01:04:13,080
beautiful little character 
studies and very well written 

1166
01:04:13,160 --> 01:04:16,720
and well performed scenes and 
sequences, certainly in the 

1167
01:04:16,720 --> 01:04:20,840
first hour. 
Yeah, and it's Sellers were paid

1168
01:04:21,160 --> 01:04:27,880
£75,000 at the time to both star
and direct and and he told a 

1169
01:04:27,880 --> 01:04:32,440
reporter at the time that he 
hated, as we as we know, he 

1170
01:04:32,440 --> 01:04:35,160
hated watching himself on 
screen. 

1171
01:04:35,160 --> 01:04:39,240
He had the self loathing when he
saw himself on screen. 

1172
01:04:40,560 --> 01:04:46,400
Yet interestingly, Kenneth 
Tynan, who was a friend of 

1173
01:04:46,400 --> 01:04:51,520
Sellers, I think he was with 
Sellers when they were watching 

1174
01:04:51,520 --> 01:04:56,560
some rushes from the film during
the filming of of it. 

1175
01:04:56,560 --> 01:05:01,520
And and Kenneth Tyner said 
Sellers was watching himself on 

1176
01:05:01,520 --> 01:05:06,080
screen as if it was a completely
different actor and was enjoying

1177
01:05:06,080 --> 01:05:09,520
what he was seeing as well. 
So Sellers during the filming of

1178
01:05:09,520 --> 01:05:12,880
it wasn't was appreciative of 
what he himself was doing on 

1179
01:05:12,880 --> 01:05:16,880
screen. 
It would appear, but then later 

1180
01:05:16,880 --> 01:05:20,440
on, I guess, like he did with 
most of his films, he panned it 

1181
01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:22,360
or badmouthed it, didn't he? 
Yeah, I think. 

1182
01:05:22,360 --> 01:05:24,920
A lot of it you get the 
impression with Sellers is that 

1183
01:05:24,920 --> 01:05:27,520
if the people tell him it's 
good, he'll think it's good, but

1184
01:05:27,520 --> 01:05:29,960
then if people say it's bad, 
then he'll just take that all on

1185
01:05:29,960 --> 01:05:32,720
board and totally rewrite his 
own view of it. 

1186
01:05:32,760 --> 01:05:35,600
You know, he's sort of, he's 
very much swayed by what people 

1187
01:05:35,600 --> 01:05:37,360
wrote about it, I think. 
And you? 

1188
01:05:37,360 --> 01:05:39,520
Kind of expect, although that 
obviously it was his first 

1189
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:45,480
director's role, but you would 
kind of expect because of what 

1190
01:05:45,480 --> 01:05:48,680
we know about sellers or believe
about sellers, that he would be 

1191
01:05:48,680 --> 01:05:51,600
a bit of a tyrant as a as a 
director on set. 

1192
01:05:51,600 --> 01:05:55,040
You know, I'm not talking 
Kubrick with Shelley Duvall, 

1193
01:05:55,040 --> 01:05:58,440
but, you know, I'm thinking he 
would still be quite a hard 

1194
01:05:58,440 --> 01:06:01,680
taskmaster. 
But it would appear both Billy 

1195
01:06:01,680 --> 01:06:06,240
Whitelore and Herbert Lum said 
that he was easygoing, easy to 

1196
01:06:06,240 --> 01:06:08,200
deal with. 
Yeah. 

1197
01:06:08,600 --> 01:06:11,040
He got good performances out of 
them, right? 

1198
01:06:11,040 --> 01:06:14,160
So he must pay dividends because
they all, they're all good in 

1199
01:06:14,160 --> 01:06:16,520
it. 
Yeah, and Sellers himself. 

1200
01:06:17,360 --> 01:06:20,240
There's none of that self 
indulgence that you would get. 

1201
01:06:20,240 --> 01:06:22,960
Like, I mean, when Jerry Lewis 
started directing himself, you 

1202
01:06:22,960 --> 01:06:26,600
know, suddenly his stuff got so 
overblown and stupid, you know, 

1203
01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:29,240
whereas Sellers is really, he 
really keeps himself in check. 

1204
01:06:30,320 --> 01:06:34,400
Yes, indeed. 
And so, yeah, the film got a got

1205
01:06:34,400 --> 01:06:36,880
a general panning when it was 
released. 

1206
01:06:37,320 --> 01:06:39,560
Didn't really get that many good
reviews. 

1207
01:06:39,560 --> 01:06:40,960
A few. 
Decent reviews. 

1208
01:06:40,960 --> 01:06:44,640
I was, you know, looking through
the cuttings and, you know, 

1209
01:06:46,560 --> 01:06:49,160
William White Bait in the New 
Statesman said. 

1210
01:06:49,160 --> 01:06:51,800
It was brilliant in sports. 
Disjointed, but brilliant. 

1211
01:06:54,000 --> 01:06:56,800
In the. 
Guardian, they said just the 

1212
01:06:56,800 --> 01:06:58,520
right blend of pathos and 
humour. 

1213
01:06:59,240 --> 01:07:02,000
But Sellers has given the wrong 
instructions to his cast. 

1214
01:07:03,560 --> 01:07:05,560
They proceed into classical 
burlesque. 

1215
01:07:05,840 --> 01:07:10,720
A waste of talent in the the 
people, they said. 

1216
01:07:12,320 --> 01:07:17,080
Sellers himself brilliantly 
mingles the solemn and absurd, 

1217
01:07:17,080 --> 01:07:18,880
and he's supported superbly by 
the rest. 

1218
01:07:18,880 --> 01:07:20,360
So there were some decent 
reviews. 

1219
01:07:20,360 --> 01:07:23,880
I mean most of the others all 
said it was a disaster, but a 

1220
01:07:23,880 --> 01:07:28,520
few voices saying it was good. 
Yeah, but sellers obviously 

1221
01:07:28,520 --> 01:07:30,640
didn't read the good ones. 
No, we. 

1222
01:07:30,640 --> 01:07:34,080
Only remembered the bad ones. 
Which is to do when people write

1223
01:07:34,080 --> 01:07:38,680
things about you, yeah. 
So he he vowed never to direct 

1224
01:07:38,680 --> 01:07:41,120
again. 
And and I read somewhere that he

1225
01:07:42,880 --> 01:07:46,800
he upon the panning, if you 
like, or the general sinking 

1226
01:07:46,800 --> 01:07:50,120
without a trace of Mr. Topaz, he
contacted Spike Milligan and 

1227
01:07:50,120 --> 01:07:55,960
suggested they make some more 
good shows, but but then that 

1228
01:07:55,960 --> 01:07:58,480
didn't happen. 
But then he every. 

1229
01:07:58,600 --> 01:08:01,080
Every time he had a sort of 
crisis, he decided he was going 

1230
01:08:01,080 --> 01:08:03,200
to do that, didn't he? 
Yeah. 

1231
01:08:03,200 --> 01:08:05,480
Yeah, I'm trying to think, what 
was the film he did after this? 

1232
01:08:05,840 --> 01:08:08,280
Was it be? 
Should have changed. 

1233
01:08:09,760 --> 01:08:13,320
Yeah, that that's yeah, who can.
Plays just after this. 

1234
01:08:14,320 --> 01:08:16,680
Yes. 
Which, yeah, as we've said, is 

1235
01:08:16,680 --> 01:08:21,319
one of his greatest sort of free
international films. 

1236
01:08:22,120 --> 01:08:23,840
One thing. 
I forgot to mention there is a a

1237
01:08:24,439 --> 01:08:29,080
musical, there's a song in the 
middle of this film which is, 

1238
01:08:29,080 --> 01:08:32,160
which is called I Like Money and
it was written by George Martin.

1239
01:08:32,560 --> 01:08:37,279
Yes, and lyrics by Herbert 
Kretzmer, who was a friend of 

1240
01:08:37,520 --> 01:08:38,880
Solace. 
Yeah, and also. 

1241
01:08:38,880 --> 01:08:40,439
Worked with Anthony newly, 
didn't he? 

1242
01:08:41,080 --> 01:08:41,760
Yes. 
He did? 

1243
01:08:42,040 --> 01:08:43,600
Yeah, newly. 
Another one of my great 

1244
01:08:43,600 --> 01:08:44,600
favourites. 
Yeah. 

1245
01:08:46,399 --> 01:08:51,680
So, yeah, a decent song, I mean.
And you've got to remember that 

1246
01:08:53,200 --> 01:08:57,160
as an actress, Nadia Grey was 
doing a lot of stuff on stage 

1247
01:08:57,160 --> 01:08:59,120
around that time 
internationally, and so she was 

1248
01:08:59,399 --> 01:09:02,240
no stranger to doing numbers of 
that sort it. 

1249
01:09:02,240 --> 01:09:04,680
Reminded me that bit. 
That little sequence reminded me

1250
01:09:04,680 --> 01:09:08,399
slightly of the musical sequence
in Rafifi. 

1251
01:09:11,760 --> 01:09:14,560
Slightly. 
Seems slightly out of place, 

1252
01:09:14,560 --> 01:09:16,880
didn't it? 
But interesting nonetheless, 

1253
01:09:16,920 --> 01:09:19,800
yeah? 
An interesting film to talk 

1254
01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:23,279
about, if not a perfect. 
Flawed film, of course, right? 

1255
01:09:23,279 --> 01:09:25,160
You'd agree. 
Absolutely. 

1256
01:09:25,319 --> 01:09:31,520
Absolutely. 
And I'm just reading your essay 

1257
01:09:32,040 --> 01:09:37,000
from when the Blu-ray came out 
and I, I highlighted some of the

1258
01:09:37,000 --> 01:09:40,560
things you'd you'd said that I 
wanted, that I wanted to mention

1259
01:09:40,560 --> 01:09:41,920
to you. 
But we've, we've kind of covered

1260
01:09:41,920 --> 01:09:43,439
them already during the 
conversation. 

1261
01:09:43,960 --> 01:09:46,240
But you said that I just want to
read this. 

1262
01:09:46,240 --> 01:09:48,439
But if you don't mind. 
Sellers was undergoing the 

1263
01:09:48,439 --> 01:09:51,760
transformation that he'd perhaps
always dreamed of, from podgy 

1264
01:09:51,760 --> 01:09:54,680
radio voice man into a 
glamorous, attractively 

1265
01:09:54,680 --> 01:09:58,280
enigmatic, self consciously 
nebulous film star figure, a 

1266
01:09:58,280 --> 01:10:01,560
faceless comic chameleon of his 
own devising even. 

1267
01:10:01,560 --> 01:10:04,800
Or being, well, an auto 
filmmaker performer in the 

1268
01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:06,960
Chaplain Tati mould. 
Yeah. 

1269
01:10:07,240 --> 01:10:09,360
That's pretty. 
Much what what you've said 

1270
01:10:09,360 --> 01:10:13,280
already, but yeah, so I'm glad I
haven't. 

1271
01:10:13,280 --> 01:10:15,120
Changed my mind. 
No. 

1272
01:10:16,120 --> 01:10:20,320
What did I say that? 
No, and look, the, the, the 

1273
01:10:20,320 --> 01:10:23,240
Blu-ray is still available and 
it comes with a DVD if you don't

1274
01:10:23,240 --> 01:10:25,240
have a Blu-ray player. 
So it's about probably about 

1275
01:10:25,240 --> 01:10:27,080
£15. 
Yeah, it's it's. 

1276
01:10:27,640 --> 01:10:28,800
Well worth buying, don't you 
think? 

1277
01:10:29,320 --> 01:10:33,760
Absolutely. 
Just recommend my if you want to

1278
01:10:33,760 --> 01:10:35,760
read my views on the Block 
House. 

1279
01:10:35,760 --> 01:10:38,280
They're in my book that I wrote 
with William Fowler, The Bodies 

1280
01:10:38,280 --> 01:10:40,640
Beneath the Flip Side of British
Film and Television. 

1281
01:10:41,000 --> 01:10:44,480
Available still on Amazon and 
all good retailers. 

1282
01:10:45,200 --> 01:10:47,440
I will be, I'd, you know, I I 
will do that myself. 

1283
01:10:48,000 --> 01:10:49,600
I would love to read that. 
I didn't know that. 

1284
01:10:50,800 --> 01:10:52,280
I I did not know that that 
existed. 

1285
01:10:52,280 --> 01:10:53,920
I'm ashamed to say that. 
Thank you. 

1286
01:10:54,400 --> 01:10:58,280
All right, so you've got, I 
guess you've got fingers and 

1287
01:10:58,280 --> 01:10:59,680
many pies. 
What are you working on or what 

1288
01:10:59,680 --> 01:11:01,280
have you got that you're doing 
at the moment? 

1289
01:11:01,280 --> 01:11:04,880
Well, listen to Plug if you can.
Keep a secret, I can tell you 

1290
01:11:04,880 --> 01:11:06,880
something and this mustn't go in
the podcast. 

1291
01:11:07,480 --> 01:11:17,120
All right, my God, I can't 
believe that. 

1292
01:11:17,600 --> 01:11:19,400
That is amazing. 
Oh my God. 

1293
01:11:19,560 --> 01:11:22,840
Oh, that's amazing. 
All right, so wow. 

1294
01:11:23,080 --> 01:11:27,040
Any, any, any other Blu-ray 
releases apart from the one 

1295
01:11:27,040 --> 01:11:30,160
you've just told me about? 
What am I doing at the moment? 

1296
01:11:30,240 --> 01:11:35,200
Just finished doing Peter Weirs.
The cards that are Paris that's 

1297
01:11:35,200 --> 01:11:36,000
coming out. 
Very few. 

1298
01:11:36,000 --> 01:11:38,720
Oh wow, you know that one I saw 
that saw. 

1299
01:11:38,800 --> 01:11:40,360
That years ago, Yeah, it's 
really good. 

1300
01:11:40,680 --> 01:11:43,320
Another film on with that called
the Plumber which is may even be

1301
01:11:43,320 --> 01:11:45,480
better which is just done as a 
bonus feature. 

1302
01:11:46,080 --> 01:11:50,240
I really like that too. 
Got the second lot of I don't 

1303
01:11:50,240 --> 01:11:52,280
know. 
Did you see our Read a Fusion 

1304
01:11:52,280 --> 01:11:55,600
set, The Daniel Farson Guide to 
Britain, Volume 1? 

1305
01:11:57,160 --> 01:11:59,800
No, because. 
On there, there's a program 

1306
01:11:59,800 --> 01:12:05,520
about Morris Woodruff, OH, which
has Sellers and the Dion Cilento

1307
01:12:05,520 --> 01:12:07,960
one talking about Morris 
Woodruff. 

1308
01:12:08,000 --> 01:12:10,720
And then we hear all about from 
Morris Woodruff. 

1309
01:12:10,720 --> 01:12:13,080
We go around his house and 
that's in the 50s. 

1310
01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:16,840
OK, you didn't. 
Know about that one I didn't 

1311
01:12:16,840 --> 01:12:18,960
know about. 
That no OK, Although there's an 

1312
01:12:18,960 --> 01:12:22,240
interview with Morris Woodruff 
on the one of the extras on the 

1313
01:12:22,240 --> 01:12:23,600
Mr. Chair. 
Yeah, this is him much. 

1314
01:12:23,600 --> 01:12:26,440
Earlier, much earlier actually, 
at the time when he was sort of 

1315
01:12:26,520 --> 01:12:30,600
and Sellers, he's asked about 
why he believes him and all that

1316
01:12:30,600 --> 01:12:32,720
kind of stuff. 
So it's very interesting stuff. 

1317
01:12:33,680 --> 01:12:36,280
And he's just come off the set 
from I'm All Right, Jack. 

1318
01:12:36,280 --> 01:12:39,520
And so he's got the haircut and 
the chalk powder in his hair. 

1319
01:12:42,440 --> 01:12:44,640
OK, wonderful. 
Oh yeah. 

1320
01:12:44,640 --> 01:12:46,760
We're I'm doing volume 2 of that
next. 

1321
01:12:47,760 --> 01:12:50,600
Thank you, Vivek. 
And I must say much of our 

1322
01:12:50,600 --> 01:12:54,280
latter conversation can't be 
included as it was very hush 

1323
01:12:54,280 --> 01:12:57,640
hush, but hopefully all will be 
revealed later this year. 

1324
01:12:57,640 --> 01:13:01,440
I'm very excited. 
So just before we wrap up the 

1325
01:13:01,440 --> 01:13:05,840
show, some feedback, some 
listener comments on the recent 

1326
01:13:05,840 --> 01:13:08,320
show we did with special guest 
Neil Brand. 

1327
01:13:08,960 --> 01:13:12,160
I went down extremely well. 
Adrian Smith, former guest. 

1328
01:13:12,160 --> 01:13:15,160
Recent guest. 
Actually, he said unlike many 

1329
01:13:15,160 --> 01:13:17,440
fans who seem to Fast forward 
through the songs, when I was a 

1330
01:13:17,440 --> 01:13:20,480
teenager I was making Ray 
Ellington compilation tapes from

1331
01:13:20,480 --> 01:13:23,280
my Goon Show collection. 
I still get a thrill every time 

1332
01:13:23,280 --> 01:13:25,880
they nip around the back for the
old Brandy there and he gets 

1333
01:13:25,880 --> 01:13:28,120
going. 
Absolutely. 

1334
01:13:28,120 --> 01:13:31,640
Donna Reese again, friend of the
show, former guest, she said. 

1335
01:13:31,640 --> 01:13:34,000
That was so good. 
Really love the Ellen Claire 

1336
01:13:34,000 --> 01:13:35,480
story. 
How bittersweet. 

1337
01:13:35,720 --> 01:13:39,920
Thanks Tyler O'Neill. 
Yes, wasn't it Palmer Eldritch? 

1338
01:13:40,000 --> 01:13:42,720
Another great episode. 
I, too, used to skip the music 

1339
01:13:42,720 --> 01:13:45,400
when I was a kid. 
Now, however, as I'm approaching

1340
01:13:45,400 --> 01:13:48,480
Uncle Oscar territory, I always 
listen and marvel at the 

1341
01:13:48,480 --> 01:13:51,480
musicianship, the virtuosity. 
Thank you, Tyler and Neil. 

1342
01:13:52,680 --> 01:13:54,760
Roger Stevenson says excellent 
show. 

1343
01:13:55,040 --> 01:13:57,680
Neil Brand is a veritable gold 
mine of music knowledge, and 

1344
01:13:57,680 --> 01:13:59,240
it's a pity there was so little 
time. 

1345
01:13:59,480 --> 01:14:01,880
Perhaps you can have him on for 
15 minutes every week, preceded 

1346
01:14:01,880 --> 01:14:04,160
by the words round the back for 
Neil Brandy. 

1347
01:14:04,920 --> 01:14:06,440
Yeah. 
So kind of play on words. 

1348
01:14:09,320 --> 01:14:13,480
Finally, John Williams, who said
this was very good. 

1349
01:14:13,480 --> 01:14:16,760
If you also listen to the Goon 
pods with Gavin Sutherland and 

1350
01:14:16,760 --> 01:14:20,160
Louis Barth, then across the 
three podcasts, you'll get a ton

1351
01:14:20,160 --> 01:14:22,840
of insight into why the Goon 
show music is so special. 

1352
01:14:23,200 --> 01:14:26,880
Absolutely right. 
And yes, I would direct 

1353
01:14:26,880 --> 01:14:31,520
listeners to those episodes. 
So thank you for listening as 

1354
01:14:31,520 --> 01:14:34,520
always. 
And the show will be back next 

1355
01:14:34,520 --> 01:14:38,600
week and and I'm not sure what 
it will be about yet, but it 

1356
01:14:38,600 --> 01:14:40,320
will be something cracking no 
doubt. 

1357
01:14:40,880 --> 01:14:44,760
Until then, enjoy the the warm 
weather as it gets warmer and 

1358
01:14:44,760 --> 01:14:48,240
sunnier and I will see you on 
the other side of this week. 

1359
01:14:49,080 --> 01:14:54,280
Bye now I. 
Like money, and I'm not ashamed 

1360
01:14:54,280 --> 01:14:56,240
to say so, although. 
It sounds. 

1361
01:14:56,240 --> 01:14:59,800
Unfaminine and brush. 
The pound, the. 

1362
01:14:59,800 --> 01:15:02,840
Frank the Yankee dollar and the 
peso. 

1363
01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:06,400
The language doesn't matter if 
it's all hard cash. 

1364
01:15:10,080 --> 01:15:14,160
I like money, though it's 
usually presented as the root of

1365
01:15:14,240 --> 01:15:17,920
all unhappiness and strife. 
Well, I should. 

1366
01:15:17,920 --> 01:15:20,960
Care if millionaires are 
troubled and tormented? 

1367
01:15:21,160 --> 01:15:24,200
I hope I have that kind of 
trouble all my life.