From:Roger Mellor roger@mellor48.freeserve.co.uk
Stop the World - I Want To Get Off (1966)
Technicolor (with B/W sequences) Warner Bros.
Anailable on video in the USA (NSTC only)
Book, Music and Lyrics :Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley Based on the Stage Productions at Queens Theatre, London (1961) (485 performances), and Shubert Theatre, New York (1962) (555 perfs) Filmed in at Pinewood Studios outside London and at the (old) Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith.
Cast: Tony Tanner (Littlechap) Millicent Martin (His wife) Twins:Leila Croft [Susan], Valerie Croft[Jane] (His daughters) Dancers: Georgina Allen, Natasha Ashton, Sandra Burville, Carlotta Barrow, Vivyan Dunbar, Katerina Holden, Margaret Frost, Ann Holloway, Liz Gold, Derina House, Marion Horton, Carolyn Irving, Pam Hart, Pam Jones, Sarah Hardenberg, Kay Korda, Rosemary Phillips, Judith McGilligan, Jo Anna Short, Julie Pitcher, Liz White, Heather Simms
Credits: Director: Philip Saville Mime and Movement Director: Tutte Lemkow Production Designer: Sean Kenny (as Stage Production) Custumes: Kiki Byrne (as Stage Production) Photography: Oswald Morris (Mitchell Camera System 35) Music Director: Al Ham Producer: Bill Sergeant Stage Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg Additional Material by: David Donabie, Al Ham, Alan and Marilyn Bergman
As the overture commences, we are presented with a sequence of monochrome still photographs, of a theatre musical director waving his baton; of scenes in a recording studio, with the principals, chorus , conductor, a large orchestra, surrounded by microphones, booms and other equipment; of scenes in the theatre dressing rooms as the principals and other performers the actors preparing for the night's performance, applying their custumes and make up, with a particular emphasis on Tony Tanner's transformation from almost unrecognisable everyday self to the white faced clown Littlechap. At the end of the credits, the image switches to orange hued Technicolor and movement, and the performance begins................with a mime sequence.
>From the very beginning therefore, theatricality is emphasised. We are to see a PERFORMANCE It is Brechtian, in the sense that one is never allowed to forger the PROCESS of production. There are various 'alienation' devices to comment on the action, and prevent the viewer getting too involved in the story: the film is on several occasions interrupted when Littlechap shouts 'Stop the World! , and he launches into a monologue to camera which returns to Black and White. The film also shows us shots from the stage, of a theatre audience applauding after some songs, and shots of the conductor in the pit. The essence of the appeal of STW is theatrical, a real challenge (if not impossible) to turn into a film, and the film's producers have wisely avoided all attempts at naturalism.....
Here we have what is basically a filmed record of a stage production, so one's response to the film depends entirely on one's response to the show, and the performers. Promoted in London and New York as a 'new style musical' with a 'new style entertainer' (Anthony Newley) in 1961, STW was a considerable stage success. It is a young man's show, and , in mood, a typically early 1960s piece which seems rather 'quaint' by today's standards. It caught the mood of the time with its comments on social class and politics, and (some would say, banal) attempts to make a statement on 'the human condition'. At a time when audiences were willing to accept experiment in the arts [including theatre(Beckett) and movies Godard)], it had some of this sense of 'experiment'. A musical with very little narrative, especially by todays standards ('Cats', also a mime show is its nearest equivalent, but is much cosier and less challenging). In STW one can see the influence of Charlie Chaplin on Newley and on the production (especially 'Modern Times' - the images of the depersonalising effect of machinery, skillfully portrayed in mime by the dancers). The film also reflections certain 1960s notions of 'Art'. It opens with a very stylised mime routine, revealing the influence of the French mime artist Marcel Marceau, with Littlechap's clown costume and white face make up. A circus ring setting is suggested in Sean Kenny's design.
The central character Littlechap is an Everyman figure, with roots going back to medieval theatre, but also an 'antihero' (another very 1960s term !), a 'little Englander' and a 'chauvinist' in his relations with Evie and his daughters. (there are also 21 pretty girl dancers in the film, who have an important role in the film - they act as a chorus, and comment on the action, both visually in mime, and in words). The satire is at a pretty shallow level, however. The role of Littlechap is a tour de force for the leading actor, placing heavy physical and vocal demands on the performer, who is never off the stage. The film 'Introduces' Tony Tanner (but this was not his first film - he appeared in 'Strictly For The Birds' in 1963). Tanner followed Newley in both the London and New York stage productions, and replicates Anthony Newley's performance, including his vocal mannerisms. Personally, although he gives a skilful performance in a very demanding role, I found Tony Tanner overbearing and very irritating after a while, and if one finds Littlechap tiresome, the show loses a lot of its appeal. As a show STW had many admirers, especially Sammy Davis Jr. who recognised the quality of its songs and appeared in it more than once, and adopted several of its songs. Certainly, nobody could complain about the quality of the songs in this show. With several excellent numbers [with powerful ('What Kind of Fool am I?') and tender ('Someone Nice Like You Evie' songs], it is one of the best scores of the period (from any source), and together with 'Oliver' is one of the great British musicals of the 1960s. Other songs include: 'The ABC Song'(TT), 'I Wanna Be Rich' (TT), 'Typically English[Deutsche/Russian/Japanese/All American]' (MM), 'Lumbered' (TT), 'Gonna Build a Mountain'(TT), 'Meilinki Meilchick' (TT/MM), 'Mumbo Jumbo'(TT), and 'Once in a Lifetime'(TT).
Also both Newley and Bricusse deserve credit for the boldness of the concept- a concept musical before the term became fashionable, it is only preced by the Weill/Gershwin 'Lady in the Dark' and Rodger's and Hammerstein' s 'Allegro' in its originality. Unfortunately, what was new and 'fresh' in the 1960s was bound to date quickly, and the show, far from being timeless and universal, subsequently proved to be unrevivable, as various short-lived attempts since the 1960s have shown.
This film attempts to capture the experience of live theatre. As this is an impossible task, one has to give the producers credit for attempting to place the show on record, although the film is fatally flawded by not having Anthony Newley in the leading role. Whether Newley's non appearance was due to contractual disagreements, or because he was appearing on Broadway in another show, is not certain (if the latter, why wasn't the production of this film moved to New York to accommodate Anthony Newley's other committments?). It was crazy to proceed with a film of 'Stop The World' without Anthony Newley on board.
The experience of seeing 'Stop The World' live in the theatre in 1961 ,with the show's creator/performer, Anthony Newley on a good night, and in top form, in 1961 must have been electrifying. Love it or loathe it, this film is a poor substitute, but let's be grateful - it is all we have as a visual record of this show..
By Roger Mellor If you have any comments on this review, or the movie, you can e mail me at: roger@mellor48.freeserve.co.uk
Check out the British Musical Movies site at: http://britmusicalfilm.webjump.com
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