- Mr. Figg, the barber, is fond of telling customers about his family, but he hasn't really got one - he's a bachelor quite alone in the world. But that may change.
- Local barber Mr Figg (John Bennett) natters away to his clients, he fibs about his domestic life and imagines for himself a wife and children. After he lights the Sabbath candles one Friday evening, nostalgia for the warmth of his childhood home leads the Jewish bachelor to act on his fantasy. He takes a break from his regular chess evening with mute friend (Maxwell Shaw) Dober to pursue the hand of his neighbour Mrs Werner (Megs Jenkins) a busy and charming widow with two teenage children. Will family life meet Figg's high expectations?
- The film opens in Mr. Figg's barbershop in Stamford Hill, in which he discusses his family life with his customers. Upon his arrival home, however, it is revealed that he is a bachelor and his stories of family life are inventions he concocts because he believes they are what his customers want to hear. In fact, he lives on his own in a flat in Stepney and on Friday nights lights the Shabbat candles before his mute friend Dober comes to visit and they spend the evening eating and playing chess. As he sits with Dober, Mr. Figg discusses his sadness at not having had a family and subsequently decides to propose to Mrs. Werner, a widowed neighbour with two children, so, leaving Dober in the flat, visits her in the hope of doing so. However, as he sits in her kitchen he is not only surprised by her admitting she does not follow Jewish tradition by lighting the candles but is unsure how to respond to domestic conflicts that take place between Mrs. Werner and her children, as her son noisily plays the drums in the front room and her daughter argues with her about being allowed to go out. Before he can get round to proposing, Mrs. Werner mentions that she recently received an offer of marriage from the local butcher only to laugh the idea off as preposterous, leading Mr. Figg to abandon his plan and return to his flat. The film ends with Mr. Figg back in his barbershop, chatting to a customer and relating the story of Mrs Werner's son playing the drums as if it is a story about his own, fictional, family.
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By what name was The Barber of Stamford Hill (1963) officially released in Canada in English?
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