Bless This House (1972) Movie Review

Bless This House (1972)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Sidney James and Diana Coupland in Bless This House (1972)

Bless British Comedies

All Sid Abbot (Sidney James) wants is a quiet life, well that and his own secret distillery in his shed, but everything seems to be working against him. His wife Jean (Diana Coupland) and her best friend Betty (Patsy Rowlands) are filling up the house with junk from jumble sales as well as from their neighbours so they can open an antiques shop. Then there is his art student son Mike (Robin Askwith) who has brought a noisy clapped out banger and on top of that there is Mike's sister Sally (Sally Geeson) who is concerned about the environment. And to make matters worse there are the new neighbours next door Ronald (Terry Scott) and Vera Baines (June Whitfield) along with their daughter Kate (Carol Hawkins).

As a Brit born in 1972 I bypassed a few of the comedies which filled the small screen during the 70s and only remember those which were still being shown in to the 80s. As such when I came to watch "Bless This House", the movie spin-off from the popular 70s TV series, I realised I had never actually watched any of the TV series. But you don't need to in order to watch "Bless This House" as this is really just 87 minutes of 70s British comedy which unsurprisingly has a distinct "Carry On" feel about it with many familiar faces from the series both in front and behind the camera.

What that means is that "Bless This House" doesn't really have much of a storyline but more a series of sketches which has Sid Abbot at the focus of them, often exasperated due to the actions of others. The thing is that the majority of it works despite none of it being great comedy and much of that is down to the comic talent of the entire cast from Sid James playing it perfectly grumpy or Robin Askwith as his student son who is a bit of a slacker.

What this all boils down to is that "Bless This House" is a must for those who are not only a fan of 70s British TV comedies but also those who enjoyed the Carry on movie franchise. It is little more than a series of sketches but the majority of them work and certainly gives you that nostalgic feeling when watched now.

Tags: British TV Shows & Their Movies


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