Man About the House (1974) Movie Review

Man About the House (1974)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Sally Thomsett and Paula Wilcox in Man About the House (1974)

British Friends 70s Style

Poor old Robin Tripp (Richard O'Sullivan - The Young Ones) as he may share a flat with the beautiful Chrissy (Paula Wilcox - The Stalker's Apprentice) and gorgeous Jo (Sally Thomsett - The Railway Children) but living with two women and sharing a small, lockless bathroom is not ideal. But when their landlords, Mildred (Yootha Joyce) and George Roper (Brian Murphy), receive an offer to sell up to developers the friends and other residents along Myddleton Terrace band together to stop the development from going ahead, not so easy when George goes behind everyone's back to sell up.

I have but a distant memory of watching the "Man About the House" sitcom when I was a child and have a much better recollection of the follow up "Robin's Nest". But in truth that doesn't matter because "Man About the House" was such an iconic British sitcom that you don't need to have watched any of the episodes to be aware of the set up of Robin, Chrissy and Jo living in a flat owned by the Ropers with Robin being a typical lad who likes to flirt with his flat mates. And a big part of this movie spin-off is the comedy of Robin and the humorous living arrangements as these three share a small bathroom whilst Robin comes up with all sorts of playful games to try and get Chrissy and Jo out of their clothes.

Richard O'Sullivan in Man About the House (1974)

But "Man About the House" is not just an extended episode of the sitcom solely reliant on set piece lad gags as we also have the storyline surrounding a property developer trying to buy up Myddleton Terrace. In truth the storyline is just a vehicle for some different set piece gags including some doctoring of a steak at the restaurant where Robin works. But the storyline also offers plenty of opportunity for other familiar faces to pop up such as Bill Pertwee, Johnny Briggs and the great Arthur Lowe. Plus towards the end of the movie there is even a cameo appearance from Spike Milligan being as daft as ever.

What this all boils down to is that "Man About the House" is a lot of fun thanks to its sitcom heritage which it doesn't lose even when extended to 90 minutes. Plus "Man About the House" features one of the best theme songs ever written which takes you back to your childhood and puts a huge smile on your face when you listen to the lyrics.

Tags: British TV Shows & Their Movies


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