''The Love Ban'' is a 1973 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
Ralph Thomas
Ralph Philip Thomas Military Cross, MC (10 August 1915 – 17 March 2001) was an English film director. He is perhaps best remembered for directing the ''Doctor Series, Doctor'' series of films.
His brother, Gerald Thomas, was also a film dire ...
and starring
Hywel Bennett
Hywel Thomas Bennett (8 April 1944 – 24 July 2017) was a Welsh film and television actor. He had a lead role in ''The Family Way'' (1966) and played the titular "thinking man's layabout" James Shelley in the television sitcom '' Shelley'' (1 ...
,
Nanette Newman
Nanette Newman (born 29 May 1934) is an English actress and author. She appeared in nine films directed by her husband Bryan Forbes, including ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' (1964), ''The Whisperers'' (1967), '' Deadfall'' (1968), ''The Stepfor ...
and
Milo O'Shea
Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish people, Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in ''Staircase (play), Staircase'' (1968) and ''Mass Appeal (play), Mass A ...
. It was based on a play by
Kevin Laffan
Kevin Barry Laffan (24 May 1922 – 11 March 2003) was a British playwright, screenwriter, author, actor and stage director. Laffan is best known for creating the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale Farm'', now titled ''Emmerdale''.
Raised in a family ...
. It is also known under the
alternative title
An alternative title is a media sales device most prominently used in film distribution. Books and films are commonly released under a different title when they are screened or sold in a different country. This can vary from small change to the t ...
s of ''It's a 2'6" Above the Ground World'' and ''Anyone for Sex?''
Plot
A married couple with six children experience marital difficulties. Wife Kate refuses to sleep with husband Mick until he uses birth control, while their live-in au-pair falls pregnant.
Cast
*
Hywel Bennett
Hywel Thomas Bennett (8 April 1944 – 24 July 2017) was a Welsh film and television actor. He had a lead role in ''The Family Way'' (1966) and played the titular "thinking man's layabout" James Shelley in the television sitcom '' Shelley'' (1 ...
as Mick Goonahan
*
Nanette Newman
Nanette Newman (born 29 May 1934) is an English actress and author. She appeared in nine films directed by her husband Bryan Forbes, including ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' (1964), ''The Whisperers'' (1967), '' Deadfall'' (1968), ''The Stepfor ...
as Kate Goonahan
*
Milo O'Shea
Milo Donal O'Shea (2 June 1926 – 2 April 2013) was an Irish people, Irish actor. He was twice nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performances in ''Staircase (play), Staircase'' (1968) and ''Mass Appeal (play), Mass A ...
as Father Andrew
*
Angharad Rees
Angharad Mary Rees, The Hon. Mrs David McAlpine, CBE (16 July 1944 – 21 July 2012) was a British actress, best known for her British television roles during the 1970s and in particular her leading role as Demelza in the 1970s BBC TV costume d ...
as Jackie
*
Nicky Henson
Nicky Henson ( Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson; 12 May 1945 – 15 December 2019) was a British actor.
Early life
Nicholas Victor Leslie Henson was born in London, the son of Harriet Martha ( Collins) and comedian Leslie Henson. Adam Henson, a fa ...
as Baker
*
Georgina Hale
Georgina Hale (born 4 August 1943) is an English film, television and stage actress. She is best known for her roles in the films of director Ken Russell, including '' The Devils'' (1971), '' The Boy Friend'' (1971), and ''Mahler'' (1974), for w ...
as Joyce
*
Madeline Smith
Madeline Smith (born 2 August 1949) is an English actress. After working as a model in the late 1960s, she went on to appear in many television series and stage productions, plus comedy and horror films, in the 1970s and 1980s.
She is perhaps ...
as Miss Partridge
*
Peter Barkworth
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
as Bra Factory Director
*
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
as Contraceptives Lecturer
*
Marianne Stone
Marianne Stone (23 August 1922 – 21 December 2009) was an English character actress. She performed in films from the early 1940s to the late 1980s, typically playing working class parts such as barmaids, secretaries and landladies. Stone appe ...
as Customer In Chemists
*
Nina Baden-Semper as Skyline Waitress
*
Cheryl Hall
Cheryl Hall (born 23 July 1950 in London) is a British actress. She is best known for playing Shirley Johnson in the British sitcom ''Citizen Smith'' (1977–1979) and had a recurring role as Sadie in ''The Bill'' (1984–1988).
Biography
One ...
as Pregnant Woman
*
Jacki Piper
Jacqueline Crump (born 3 August 1946), known professionally by her stage name Jacki Piper, is an English actress, best known for her appearances as the female juvenile lead in the British film comedies '' Carry On Up the Jungle'' (1970), ''Carry ...
as Pregnant Woman
* David Howey as Barber
*
Tommy Godfrey
Thomas Frederick Godfrey (20 June 1916 – 24 June 1984) was an English comedian and actor who mostly played working-class Cockney characters.
Variety performer
He was born in London, and started his career as a tap dancer in variety shows, a ...
as Barber
* James Leith as Policeman
*
Tony Haygarth
George Anthony Haygarth (4 February 1945 – 10 March 2017) was an English television, film and theatre actor.
Life and career
After leaving Marlborough College, Liverpool, Haygarth worked unsuccessfully in 1963 as a lifeguard in Torquay, and a ...
as Policeman
Production
The film was based on a 1969 play by
Kevin Laffan
Kevin Barry Laffan (24 May 1922 – 11 March 2003) was a British playwright, screenwriter, author, actor and stage director. Laffan is best known for creating the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale Farm'', now titled ''Emmerdale''.
Raised in a family ...
, ''It's a 2'6" Above the Ground World''. Laffan was one of 14 children from a devout Roman Catholic family and his critical view on the Church's stance on birth control was a recurring theme of his work. The play starred Prunella Scales in a production at the
Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...
, and was a hit, moving to the
Wyndham's Theatre
Wyndham's Theatre is a West End theatre, one of two opened by actor/manager Charles Wyndham (the other is the Criterion Theatre). Located on Charing Cross Road in the City of Westminster, it was designed c.1898 by W. G. R. Sprague, the archit ...
.
[THEATRE: A popular giant
Bryden, Ronald. The Observer (1901- 2003) ondon (UK)07 Dec 1969: 40D.]
Filming
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 ...
with sets 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 ...
Anthony Pratt Anthony Pratt may refer to:
* Anthony Pratt (businessman) (born 1960), Australian billionaire, executive chairman of Pratt Industries and board member of Visy Industries
* Anthony D. G. Pratt (born 1937), British art director
* Anthony E. Pratt
...
.
References
External links
*
1973 films
1970s English-language films
Films directed by Ralph Thomas
Films scored by Stanley Myers
1970s sex comedy films
British films based on plays
British sex comedy films
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
1973 comedy films
1970s British films
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