''Salt and Pepper'' is a 1968 British

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Richard Donner Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker whose notable works included some of the most financially-successful films during the New Hollywood era. According to film historian M ...

and starring

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

Peter Lawford Peter Sydney Ernest Lawford ( Aylen; 7 September 1923 – 24 December 1984) was an English-American actor.Obituary ''Variety'', 26 December 1984. He was a member of the " Rat Pack" and the brother-in-law of US president John F. Kennedy and sen ...

, Michael Bates,

Ilona Rodgers Ilona Jeannette Rodgers (born 28 April 1942) is an actress of stage, television and film. Born in Harrogate, West Riding of Yorkshire, where she started her career, she later went on to appear in New Zealand and Australian productions. Rodger ...

and

John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation co ...

. It was shot at

Shepperton Studios Shepperton Studios is a film studio located in Shepperton, Surrey, England, with a history dating back to 1931. It is now part of the Pinewood Studios Group. During its early existence, the studio was branded as Sound City (not to be confused w ...

and on location in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and at

Elvetham Hall Elvetham Hall is a hotel in Hampshire, England, in the parish of Hartley Wintney about northwest of Fleet, Hampshire, Fleet. The building is a High Victorian architecture, Victorian Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival English country ho ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. The film's sets were designed by the

art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

Don Mingaye. It was followed by a 1970 sequel '' One More Time'' directed by

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

Plot

Chris Pepper (Lawford) and Charlie Salt (Davis) own a nightclub in

Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London as its centre. It saw a flourishing in art, mus ...

, operating under the suspicious eye of the intrepid Inspector Crabbe. One night, Pepper finds an Asian girl on the floor of the club. Assuming she's drunk or high, he makes a date with her and thinks she responds. It turns out the girl is dying, and her death sets off a chain of events that puts the unlucky Salt and Pepper onto a plot to overthrow the British government, with the girl's dying words the key.

Cast

as Charles Salt *

as Christopher Pepper * Michael Bates as Inspector Crabbe *

as Marianne Renaud *

as Colonel Woodstock *

Graham Stark Graham William Stark (20 January 1922 – 29 October 2013) was an English comedian, actor, writer and director. Early life The son of a purser on transatlantic liners,

as Sergeant Walters *

Ernest Clark Ernest Clark (12 February 1912 – 11 November 1994) was a British actor of stage, television and film. Early life Clark was the son of a master builder in Maida Vale, and was educated nearby at St Marylebone Grammar School. After leaving sch ...

as Colonel Balsom * Jeanne Roland as Mai Ling *

Robert Dorning Robert Dorning (13 May 1913 – 21 February 1989) was a musician, dance band vocalist, ballet dancer and stage, film and television actor. He is known to have performed in at least 77 television and film productions between 1940 and 1988. Origin ...

as Club Secretary *

Robertson Hare John Robertson Hare, OBE (17 December 1891 – 25 January 1979) was an English actor, who came to fame in the Aldwych farces. He is remembered by more recent audiences for his performances as the Archdeacon in the popular BBC sitcom, ''All Gas ...

as Dove *

Geoffrey Lumsden Geoffrey Forbes Lumsden (26 December 1914 – 4 March 1984) was a British character actor who had a lengthy career on television. Lumsden was born in London in 1914 and attended Repton School, where he was a contemporary of Denton Welch. By ...

as Foreign Secretary *

William Mervyn William Mervyn Pickwoad (3 January 1912 – 6 August 1976) was an English actor best known for his portrayal of the bishop in the clerical comedy ''All Gas and Gaiters'', the old gentleman in ''The Railway Children'' and Inspector Charles Rose i ...

as Prime Minister *

Llewellyn Rees Walter Llewellyn Rees (18 June 1901 – 7 January 1994) was an English actor. Career His television roles included appearances on ''Doctor Who'' (in the serial ''The Deadly Assassin'' (1976) playing the assassinated Time Lord President), '' Th ...

as 'Fake' Prime Minister * Mark Singleton as 'Fake' Home Secretary *

Michael Trubshawe Michael Trubshawe (7 December 1905 – 21 March 1985) was a British actor and former officer in the Highland Light Infantry Regiment of the British Army. Trubshawe was very close friends with fellow British actor David Niven, serving with hi ...

as 'Fake' First Lord *

Francesca Tu Francesca Tu (born 1943) is a Chinese-born German film and television actress.Shelley p.35 Selected filmography Film * ''The Face of Fu Manchu'' (1965) * ''The Brides of Fu Manchu'' (1966) * '' You Only Live Twice'' (1967) * ''Lotus Flowers for Mi ...

as Tsai Chan *

Oliver MacGreevy Oliver John MacGreevy (25 July 1928 - October 1981) was an Irish actor who appeared in many British films and television series from the mid 1950s until he retired in 1980, often as brutish, shaven-headed villains. Among his roles he played Hou ...

as Rack * Peter Hutchins as Straw *

Jeremy Lloyd John Jeremy Lloyd, OBE (22 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an English writer, screenwriter, author, poet and actor. He was the co-writer of several successful British sitcoms, including ''Are You Being Served?'' and '' 'Allo 'Allo!''. Ea ...

as Lord Ponsonby *

Ivor Dean Ivor Donald Dean (21 December 1917 – 10 August 1974) was a British stage, film and television actor. Biography With his lugubrious demeanour he was often cast as world-weary police officers or butlers, and indeed it is for the role of Chief I ...

as Police Commissioner *

Beth Rogan Jenifer Puckle (19 July 1931 – 25 November 2015), known professionally as Beth Rogan, was a British film actress and Rank Films starlet of the 1950s and 60s. She was married and divorced three times, said by friends to be charming but "dangerous ...

as Greta * Calvin Lockhart as Jones * Nicholas Smith as Constable

Novelization

About two months before the release of the film, per the era's customary timing, a paperback novelization of the screenplay by

Michael Pertwee Michael Henry Pertwee (24 April 1916, Kensington, London – 17 April 1991, Camden, London) was an English playwright and screenwriter. Among his credits were episodes of '' The Saint'', ''Danger Man'', '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', '' B-A ...

was released by

Popular Library Popular Library was a New York paperback book company established in 1942 by Leo Margulies and Ned Pines, who at the time were major pulp magazine and newspaper publishers. The company's logo of a pine tree was a tribute to Pines, and another P ...

. The book sold extremely well (used and preserved copies are plentiful on the internet) and, commensurate with the film's popularity, went through several printings. The author was Alex Austin (not to be confused with the later novelist of the same name), known most for three bestselling original novels: ''The Greatest Lover in the World'' (1956), a satirical fantasy, ''The Blue Guitar'' (1960), about an incestuous brother and sister, and ''The Bride'' (1964), about the breakdown of a marriage. The same year as his ''Salt & Pepper'' novelization, he would publish ''Eleanore'' (1969) by

Olympia Press Olympia Press was a Paris-based publisher, launched in 1953 by Maurice Girodias as a rebranded version of the Obelisk Press he inherited from his father Jack Kahane. It published a mix of erotic fiction and avant-garde literary fiction, and is bes ...

. His final novel would be ''Looking for a Girl'' (1973) by

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

. Unless he wrote other novelizations pseudonymously, ''Salt & Pepper'' was his only media tie-in.

(About Alex Austin) "A native New Yorker, has been a ranch hand, gold prospector and photographer, and he was once voted No. 14 jazz drummer in the country in a Metronome Magazine Poll. He has published fiction, poetry and articles in Harpers, The Saturday Review, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salt And Pepper (Film) 1968 films 1960s buddy comedy films 1960s English-language films 1960s spy comedy films Films directed by Richard Donner British buddy comedy films British spy comedy films Films set in London 1968 comedy films Films shot at Shepperton Studios Films scored by John Dankworth 1960s British films