Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

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MichaelB
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Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

#1 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jan 19, 2010 4:35 pm

A double bill of early 1950s Diana Dors comedies from the BFI's Adelphi Collection - now confirmed as a 2010 release, courtesy of a brief mention on Kim Newman's Guide to the Flipside of British Cinema.

Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary is also getting a big-screen outing at BFI Southbank next month on 23 February - the programme note reads:
Don't miss a rare opportunity to see this juicy, fast-moving bedroom farce - featuring a sizzling performance from a young Diana Dors - on the big screen.American Army pilot Laurie Vining (Bonar Colleano) - on leave in London for his honeymoon - is hoping for a little rest and recreation. But his idyllic bliss is shattered abruptly when his stunning ex, Candy - saucily played with mischievous relish by Dors - unexpectedly arrives at his hotel, insisting that they're still man and wife. Under pressure to think quick and act fast, he enlists the assistance of his gum-chewing, wisecracking co-pilot Hank Hanlon (Sid James) and nervous, girl-shy lawyer Frank Betterton (David Tomlinson). But his troubles have only just begun...
More details when I get them.
Last edited by MichaelB on Tue May 18, 2010 9:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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antnield
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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?/My Wife's Lodger

#2 Post by antnield » Tue Jan 19, 2010 6:02 pm

A little bit of further reading:

The Adelphi Films website has brief details on both films and a number of stills from Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?, not to mention info on BFI restorations, etc. Also worth a mention that Maurice Elvey was at the helm on these two efforts. Quite an interesting career, with as many ups as there were down. Here's the BFI Screenonline bio (which also links to a complete filmography and articles on some of his prolific output) and also a link to the discussion in this forum on his 1918 epic The Life Story of David Lloyd George as well as the man himself.

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antnield
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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?/My Wife's Lodger

#3 Post by antnield » Mon Feb 22, 2010 3:05 am

Cover art:

Image

DCSholtis
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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?/My Wife's Lodger

#4 Post by DCSholtis » Fri Feb 26, 2010 1:47 am

Saw these up at Amazon UK and got my pre order in. I cannot wait to see these.

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MichaelB
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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary?/My Wife's Lodger

#5 Post by MichaelB » Tue May 18, 2010 7:54 am

Full specs announced:
The Adelphi Collection
Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary & My Wife’s Lodger
Two films by Maurice Elvey


A delicious double-dose of effervescent vintage comedy starring Britain's blondest bombshell, the one-and-only Diana Dors, at her saucy best. Released in a Dual Format Edition (DVD & Blu-ray).

Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary sees US army airman Laurie Vining hankering after a little rest and recreation with his new bride, when his gorgeous ex, Candy (Diana Dors), arrives insisting they're still man and wife. Wisecracking co-pilot Hank Hanlon (Sid James) and girl-shy lawyer Frank Betterton (David Tomlinson) try to lend a hand – but Laurie’s troubles have only just begun...

My Wife’s Lodger finds hapless soldier Willie Higginbottom (Dominic Roche) hoping for a hero’s welcome when he returns home after the war. But, while he was away, shifty spiv Roger the Lodger (Leslie Dwyer) got his arms around his wife and his feet under the table, and now Willie’s ditzy daughter (Diana Dors) only wants to sing, dance and jitterbug!

With striking new transfers taken from the original negatives preserved at the BFI National Archive, both films are made available here for the first time. They are packaged with a lavish illustrated 30-page booklet featuring original promotional materials and specially commissioned essays, including ‘Diana Dors, My Mother’ by Diana’s son Jason Lake, ‘David Tomlinson and I’ by David Tomlinson’s widow Audrey and ‘That Diana Dors Moment’ by Damon Wise, author of Come By Sunday: The Fabulous, Ruined Life of Diana Dors.

Adelphi Films was a small British company run by Arthur Dent and his sons that produced more than thirty films in the 1940s and 1950s from noir-ish crime pictures and buoyant musicals to colourful melodramas and slapstick comedies. Sid James, Diana Dors, Ted Ray, Petula Clark, Ronnie Corbett, Rolf Harris and Prunella Scales are just some of the many well-loved performers who appeared before Adelphi’s cameras early on in their careers. Adelphi is now managed by Arthur Dent’s granddaughter Kate Lees and the company’s original film materials – for a long time stored in a suburban garage in London – are now safely preserved at the BFI National Archive.

Release date: 21 June 2010
RRP: £19.99 / cat. no. BFIB1075 / cert PG
UK / 1953 + 1952 / black & white / English, optional hard-of-hearing subtitles / PCM stereo audio (48k/16bit) / 79 mins + 79 mins / Original aspect ratio 1.33:1
Disc 1: BD50 / 1080p / 24fps / PCM mono audio (48k/24-bit)
Disc 2: DVD9 / PAL / PCM mono audio (48k/16-bit)
Incidentally, to forestall pedants, the title of Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary appears exactly like that on screen - i.e. without the question mark.


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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

#7 Post by goner » Wed Jun 16, 2010 12:53 pm

Any word on the region code?

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MichaelB
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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

#8 Post by MichaelB » Wed Jun 16, 2010 5:57 pm

Thanks for reminding me - it's region-free. I'll add it to the region codes master list.

For the record, every future release in the Adelphi Collection will definitely be region-free.

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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

#9 Post by cdnchris » Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:56 am

I was hoping to have an article done on this this weekend but wasn't able to finish before I head out for Father's Day weekend, but yes as Michael says it's region free. I also have to say the transfers look incredible and I have to commend BFI on the amount of effort they put into every one of their releases.

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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

#10 Post by cdnchris » Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:07 am


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Re: Is Your Honeymoon Really Necessary/My Wife's Lodger

#11 Post by MichaelB » Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:10 am

Mondo Digital
Mondo Digital wrote:The black and white transfer easily rivals the best the format has to offer; these film both look staggering and could have been fresh from the lab, easily ranking with the best monochromatic transfers available from Warner or Criterion. (...) [The films'] negative materials have, according to the press notes, been stashed aside in a garage for years before being rescued for preservation. Judging by the eye-popping quality on display here, English garages are apparently much better cinematic safehouses than most studio vaults.

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