Smashing Time (1967)

Perfectly delightful time capsule of a film by Desmond Davis (the original CLASH OF THE TITANS) is a lark of a part slapstick, part musical romp about two naïve “birds” (Lynn Redgrave, Rita Tushingham) from Northern England who move to the swinging London of the 1960s and move to Carnaby Street determined to become famous and they do. Through chance, luck and happenstance, Redgrave becomes a pop star and Tushingham a famous model. The film is heavily influenced by the great slapstick silent comedies (mostly Chaplin I think) and the pie throwing sequence is done with much more verve than the pie throwing sequence in Blake Edwards’ THE GREAT RACE two years earlier. Redgrave and Tushingham can’t sing a lick but it doesn’t matter, they sell their songs whether it’s Redgrave’s irresistibly catchy While I'm Still Young or Tushingham’s sweetly plaintive Waiting For My Friend. The songs are by John Addison (who also did the score) and lyrics by George Melly (who also did the screenplay). With Michael York, Ian Carmichael and Anna Quayle.