''Live Now, Pay Later'' is a 1962 British black-and-white film starring

Ian Hendry Ian Mackendrick Hendry (13 January 1931 – 24 December 1984) was a British actor. He worked on several British TV series of the 1960s and 1970s, including the lead in the first series of '' The Avengers'' and '' The Lotus Eaters'', and played ...

June Ritchie June Ritchie (born 31 May 1941) is a British actress. Biography Ritchie trained at RADA, where she graduated in 1961, having won the Emile Littler Award for Most Promising Actress and the Ronson Award for the outstanding female student. She ...

and

John Gregson Harold Thomas Gregson (15 March 1919 – 8 January 1975), known professionally as John Gregson, was an English actor of stage, television and film, with 40 credited film roles. He was best known for his crime drama and comedy roles. He was cr ...

. Hendry plays a smooth-talking, conniving

door-to-door salesman Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a ...

Plot

Unsavoury door-to-door salesman Albert Argyle's (Ian Hendry) technique involves bedding his female customers in an attempt to seduce them to buy on credit. As well as being unfaithful to his pregnant girlfriend (June Ritchie), the unrepentant Albert is also cheating his boss (John Gregson) out of profits, and also trying his hand at a spot of blackmail.

Preservation status

The only known print was discovered and finally made available on DVD in June 2020. The film premiered on

Talking Pictures TV Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage-film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky channel 343, but later also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media. It is on air for 24 h ...

on 9 October 2022.

Cast

as Albert Argyle *

as Treasure *

as Callendar *

Liz Fraser Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles. Early life Fraser was born in Southwark, London. Her year of bi ...

as Joyce Corby *

Geoffrey Keen Geoffrey Keen (21 August 1916 – 3 November 2005) was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the ''James Bond'' films. Biography Early lif ...

as Reggie Corby *

Jeanette Sterke Jeanette Laura Sterke is a British actress. Sterke was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her parents emigrated to England to escape the Nazis. She went to school in England and attended RADA. She has had a long stage and television career. She ...

as Grace *

Peter Butterworth Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth (4 February 1915''Prisoner of War Co ...

as Fred *

Nyree Dawn Porter Nyree Dawn Porter OBE (born Ngaire Dawn Porter; 22 January 1936 – 10 April 2001) was a New Zealand–British actress. Early life and career Porter was born in Napier, New Zealand in 1936. Her first professional work was touring with the N ...

as Marjorie Mason * Ronald Howard as Cedric Mason * Harold Berens as Solly Cowell * Thelma Ruby as Hetty *

Monte Landis Max Landstein (born 20 April 1933) is a Scottish-American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing the comic foil in multiple episodes of ''The Monkees'', most notably as "Mr. Zero" in "The Devil and Peter Tork". He began ...

as Arnold (as Monty Landis) * Kevin Brennan as Jackson * Malcolm Knight as Ratty * Bridget Armstrong as Gloria *

Judith Furse Judith Furse (4 March 1912 – 29 August 1974) was an English actress. Career A member of the Furse family, her father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse and mother Jean Adelaide Furse. Her brother, Roger, became a stage designer and ...

as Mrs. Ackroyd (as Judith Furze) * Joan Heal as Mrs. Pocock * Michael Brennan as Bailiff *

Geoffrey Hibbert Geoffrey Hibbert (2 June 1922 – 3 February 1969) was an English stage, film and television actor. Biography He made his screen debut with the lead role in John Baxter's '' The Common Touch'' (1941) and appeared in two other Baxter films, ''L ...

as Price * William Kendall as Major Simpkins *

Georgina Cookson Antoinette Georgina Cookson (19 December 1918 – 1 October 2011) was a British film, stage and television actress. She died in Sydney, aged 92, on 1 October 2011. Family Cookson was the daughter of racing driver Roger Cookson and Sybil Tayl ...

as Lucy *

Justine Lord Justine Lord (born Jennifer Schooling; 8 March 1937) is an English actress, active on television throughout the 1960s. She began her acting career in repertory theatre, and in the 1960s made guest appearances in “Live Now Pay Later” (1962 ...

as Coral Wentworth * Andrew Cruickshank as Vicar * John Wood as Curate *

Peter Bowles Peter Bowles (16 October 1936 – 17 March 2022) was an English television and stage actor. He gained prominence for television dramas such as '' Callan: A Magnum for Schneider'' and ''I, Claudius''. He is however, best remembered for his roles ...

as Reginald Parker *

Diana King Diana King (born 8 November 1970) is a Jamaican-American singer-songwriter who performs a mixture and fusion of reggae, reggae fusion and dancehall. They were born to an Indo-Jamaican mother and an Afro-Jamaican father. They are best known f ...

as Woman Looking Round Flat *

Robert Raglan Robert Raglan (7 April 1909 – 18 July 1985) was a British actor best known for his semi-regular role in ''Dad's Army'' as Colonel Pritchard. He also starred in a number of other television series and films such as ''Fabian of the Yard'' (1954 ...

Production

Filming locations included

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Elstree Elstree is a large village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England. It is about northwest of central London on the former A5 road, that follows the course of Watling Street. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of t ...

and

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

. A collection of location stills and corresponding contemporary photographs is hosted at reelstreets.com.

Critical reception

In a contemporary review, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' considered it to have "many amusing moments, but overall it is untidy and does not develop the personalities of some of the main characters sufficiently"; whereas more recently, the '' Radio Times'' gave the film four out of five stars, noting "...a remarkably cynical and revealing portrait of Britain shifting from postwar austerity into rampant

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

and the Swinging Sixties."

References

External links

* *
''Live Now, Pay Later''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery (United Kingdom), National Lot ...

's Film and TV Database 1962 films 1960s black comedy films British black-and-white films British black comedy films Films scored by Ron Grainer 1962 comedy films 1962 drama films 1960s English-language films 1960s British films {{1960s-comedy-film-stub