Thursday, November 05, 2020

Movie review - "Lunch Hour" (1962) **

 Shirley Ann Field was one of the most gorgeous actors of early 60s British cinema - I mean she was really stunning. She's too hot for Robert Stephens here yet the plot is meant to have them in to each other.

This was based on a short John Mortimer play about a couple who sneak off for sex at lunch. That's the sort of idea that seems to naturally suit one act plays... it's been expanded out here but feels like padding.

Also isn't the point meant to be that they are married? Or he is? They don't feel married here. There's a lot of PDA - they make out in the storeroom, at the movies, in the park.

There's simply not enough story. There are fantasy sequences. Walking around. But really the guts of it is a ten minute argument.

Stephens is excellent - he looks like someone cheating. Field is... fantastic to look at, and gazes at Stephens with such adoration she seems to really like him. But why is she with him? My prejudice no doubt. But I think Maggie Smith, who also auditioned, would have suited the part better.

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