What Every Woman Wants (1954 film)

What Every Woman Wants is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring William Sylvester, Elsie Albiin, Brenda De Banzie and Patric Doonan. It also features Brian Rix and Prunella Scales.[1] It was based on a play Relations Are Best Apart by Edwin Lewis.[2] It was shot at Walton Studios outside London. The film's sets were designed by the art director John Stoll.

What Every Woman Wants
Directed byMaurice Elvey
Written byTalbot Rothwell
Based onRelations Are Best Apart by Edwin Lewis
Produced byDavid Dent
StarringWilliam Sylvester
Elsie Albiin
Brenda De Banzie
CinematographyWilkie Cooper
Edited byRobert Jordan Hill
Music byEdwin Astley
Production
company
Advance Productions
Distributed byAdelphi Films
Release date
  • 10 June 1954 (1954-06-10)
Running time
86 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Plot

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A newly married couple have to live with the wife's parents and extended family in a small overcrowded house in the English Midlands.

Cast

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Critical reception

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The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "Maurice Elvey struggles to disguise the stage origins of this adaptation of Edwin Lewis's Relations Are Best Apart. A curious mix of social realism, situation comedy and romantic melodrama, future Carry On scribe Talbot Rothwell's script centres on Middletown newlyweds Elsie Albiin and Patric Doonan, who find themselves living with her adoptive parents because they can't afford a home of their own".[3] Wilkie Cooper's views of the industrial landscape add grit to a thoughtful project full of fascinating socio-historical detail."

TV Guide rated the film two out of five stars, and noted "a realistic drama," in which,"housing shortages and unemployment, both delicate problems in England at the time, are treated in an effective, unpreachy manner."[4]

References

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  1. ^ "What Every Woman Wants". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
  2. ^ Goble, Alan (8 September 2011). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. ISBN 9783110951943.
  3. ^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 579. ISBN 9780992936440.
  4. ^ "What Every Woman Wants". TVGuide.com.
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