The Green Man (film)
| The Green Man | |
|---|---|
 Movie poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Day Basil Dearden |
| Written by | Frank Launder Sidney Gilliat |
| Starring | Alastair Sim George Cole Terry-Thomas Jill Adams |
| Cinematography | Gerald Gibbs |
| Music by | Cedric Thorpe Davie |
Release date | 1956 |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The Green Man is a 1956 British black comedy film based on the play Meet a Body by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, who produced and adapted the big-screen version.
Plot
Freelance assassin Hawkins (Sim) is contracted to blow up Sir Gregory Upshott, a Cabinet minister (Huntley), and to that end he feigns courtship of Upshott's secretary, Marigold (Angers). He decides to do the deed at the Green Man Hotel, where Upshott will be spending an illicit weekend. However, Hawkins' plan is accidentally uncovered by vacuum cleaner salesman Blake (Cole) who forges an unlikely alliance with Ann (Adams) who is engaged to a rather stuffy BBC announcer, Willoughby-Cruft (Gordon). That relationship breaks down when Willoughby-Cruft finds his fiancée under their bed with Blake and later, in her lingerie, accidentally entangled on the floor with him. There are some romantic, and some not-at-all romantic, interludes as Hawkins tries to deliver his bomb.
Cast
- Alastair Sim as Harry Hawkins
- George Cole as William Blake
- Terry-Thomas as Charles Boughtflower
- Jill Adams as Ann Vincent
- Raymond Huntley as Sir Gregory Upshott
- Colin Gordon as Reginald Willoughby-Cruft
- Avril Angers as Marigold
- Dora Bryan as Lily
- John Chandos as McKechnie
- Cyril Chamberlain as Police Sergeant Bassett
- Richard Wattis as Doctor
- Lucy Griffiths as Annabel
- Arthur Brough as Landlord
- Arthur Lowe as Radio salesman
- Eileen Moore as Sir Gregory's weekend companion, Joan Moore
- Alexander Gauge as Chairman
- Peter Bull as General Niva
- Willoughby Goddard as Statesman
- Michael Ripper as Waiter
- Marie Burke as Felicity
Production
Cole's then wife, Eileen Moore, appeared in the film as the typist with whom Upshott has a liaison.
The film, rated U, has been re-released on Region 2 DVD with School for Scoundrels.
Novel
It was produced some 13 years prior to a Kingsley Amis novel of the same name. There are no connections between the two.