A pithy if at times slightly unsubtle British comedy set in working class Bolton, Lancashire, the story concerns young newly-weds Hywel Bennett and Hayley Mills, the latter in her first adult role, whose marriage gets off to a faltering start with an unconsummated wedding night at his parents' house and then a cancelled honeymoon trip to Majorca.
As it will in a small neighbourhood, news of Arthur and Jenny's "problem" leaks out via a network of nosey neighbours heaping more pressure on the young lad to do his duty so to speak, while in the background he also has to contend with a lack of support from his vulgar old dad, his better-looking younger brother chasing after Jenny and cheap derogatory remarks from his boorish boss at the cinema where he works as a projectionist.
Matters come to a head when Arthur reacts to one jibe too many from said boss and then returns home early, determined to leave town, until Jenny confronts him as he's packing his bags and the heat of an argument gives way to the heat of passion...
There's a neat back story concerning Arthur's true parentage and which helps explain the sudden disappearance of dad's best mate years before and why his two sons don't resemble each other, pivoting round a fine, knowing performance by Marjorie Rhodes as the long-suffering wife and the lad's sympathetic and supportive mother. John Mills stars as said dad and husband, who with his symbolic wearing of belt and braces personifies but slightly overdoes the windy Northerner dad but daughter Hayley and Bennett are charming and believable as the beleaguered lovers.
The leads get good support elsewhere from familiar faces like John Comer, Liz Fraser and Barry Foster and good use is made of actual locations in and around mid-60's Bolton, with a pleasant, pastoral-leaning soundtrack in the background which I suspect owed more to George Martin than the highly publicised accredited Paul McCartney at the time. Funny, but I kept expecting the main acoustic guitar theme to break into 'Stairway To Heaven" all the time!
Despite occasional lapses into cliche and regional stereotyping and excusing a clumsy allusion to possible homosexuality on Bennett's part, the film mostly takes an awkward subject and manages it well both for comedic and dramatic effect, even inserting a cheeky, no pun intended, shot of Miss Mills' bare behind at one point.
Shot in bright colour, when black and white might have served its kitchen-sink appeal better, this was still a typically perceptive and breezy Boulting Brothers production which got there in the end.
As it will in a small neighbourhood, news of Arthur and Jenny's "problem" leaks out via a network of nosey neighbours heaping more pressure on the young lad to do his duty so to speak, while in the background he also has to contend with a lack of support from his vulgar old dad, his better-looking younger brother chasing after Jenny and cheap derogatory remarks from his boorish boss at the cinema where he works as a projectionist.
Matters come to a head when Arthur reacts to one jibe too many from said boss and then returns home early, determined to leave town, until Jenny confronts him as he's packing his bags and the heat of an argument gives way to the heat of passion...
There's a neat back story concerning Arthur's true parentage and which helps explain the sudden disappearance of dad's best mate years before and why his two sons don't resemble each other, pivoting round a fine, knowing performance by Marjorie Rhodes as the long-suffering wife and the lad's sympathetic and supportive mother. John Mills stars as said dad and husband, who with his symbolic wearing of belt and braces personifies but slightly overdoes the windy Northerner dad but daughter Hayley and Bennett are charming and believable as the beleaguered lovers.
The leads get good support elsewhere from familiar faces like John Comer, Liz Fraser and Barry Foster and good use is made of actual locations in and around mid-60's Bolton, with a pleasant, pastoral-leaning soundtrack in the background which I suspect owed more to George Martin than the highly publicised accredited Paul McCartney at the time. Funny, but I kept expecting the main acoustic guitar theme to break into 'Stairway To Heaven" all the time!
Despite occasional lapses into cliche and regional stereotyping and excusing a clumsy allusion to possible homosexuality on Bennett's part, the film mostly takes an awkward subject and manages it well both for comedic and dramatic effect, even inserting a cheeky, no pun intended, shot of Miss Mills' bare behind at one point.
Shot in bright colour, when black and white might have served its kitchen-sink appeal better, this was still a typically perceptive and breezy Boulting Brothers production which got there in the end.