''The Man Who Liked Funerals'' is a 1958 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

David Eady Sir David Eady, KC (born 24 March 1943) is a retired High Court judge in England and Wales. As a judge, he is known for having presided over many high-profile libel and privacy cases. He was called to the bar in 1966 and became a Queen's ...

and starring

Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor, director, producer and author. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. ...

Susan Beaumont Susan Beaumont (26 February 1936 – 25 February 2020) was an English film actress who enjoyed a relatively brief film career. Family Susan Beaumont was born (as Susan Anna Black) in London. She was the daughter of musical comedy actress Roma ...

and

Bill Fraser William Simpson Fraser (5 June 1908 – 9 September 1987) was a Scottish actor who appeared on stage, screen and television for many years. In 1986 he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance for his stage role in the play ''W ...

. It was written by Margot Bennett, Cecily Finn and Joan O'Connor.

Synopsis

In order to help a youth club which is under threat of closure, a man begins attending

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

s where he blackmails the relatives of the recently deceased, threatening to publish incriminating stories about them. However, his plans encounter problems when he tries to blackmail the family of a prominent villain.

Cast

as Simon Hurd *

as Stella *

as Jeremy Bentham * Thelma Ruby as junior mistress *

Mary Mackenzie Mary Mackenzie (3 May 1922 – 20 September 1966) was an English actress. One of her earliest credited TV roles was in 1950 on BBC's ''Sunday Night Theatre'', as Miriam in an adaptation of H. G. Wells' ''The History of Mr Polly'', a role she r ...

as Hester Waring *

Paul Stassino Phaedros Stassinos (1930 – 28 June 2012) was a Greek Cypriot actor whose international stage name was Paul Stassino. Early life Stassino was born in Platres and grew up in nearby Limassol, but spent most of his acting career in England. He h ...

as Nick Morelli * Jimmy Thompson as Lieutenant Hunter * Charles Clay as Colonel Hunter *

Anita Sharp-Bolster Anita Sharp-Bolster (28 August 1895 – 1 June 1985) was an Irish-born American actress who appeared in 88 films and 12 TV series from 1928 to 1978. She was sometimes billed as Anita Bolster. Early life She was born 28 August 1895 in Glen ...

as Lady Hunter * Shaun O'Riordan as Reverend Pitt *

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 Bentham's secretary

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' said "This tepid farce fails to live up to the promise of either its original idea or the intriguing title. The direction is shaky, the dialogue amateurish, and several of the actors appear in a state of muted panic." The film was one of 15 films selected by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane in ''The British 'B' Film'', as among the most meritorious of the B films made in Britain between

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and 1970. They describe it as "fresh and gently funny", "consistently amusing, its plot worked out with some wit" and add that "its cast, amiably led by Phillips at the start of his starring career, enters into the spirit of the joke".Steve Chibnall & Brian McFarlane, ''The British 'B' Film'', Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2009, pp. 273–74.

References

External links

*
''The Man Who Liked Funerals''
a
ReelStreets
1959 films British black-and-white films British comedy films Films directed by David Eady 1959 comedy films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films {{1950s-UK-comedy-film-stub