All the Right Noises

All the Right Noises
US film poster
Directed by	Gerry O'Hara
Written by	Gerry O'Hara
Produced by	John Quested Si Litvinoff
Starring	Olivia Hussey Tom Bell Judy Carne
Cinematography	Gerry Fisher
Edited by	Antony Gibbs
Music by	Melanie
Production companies	Max L. Raab-Si Litvinoff Films Trigon Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	May 1971 (London)^[1]
Running time	92 minutes^[1]
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

All the Right Noises is a 1971 British romantic drama film directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Tom Bell, Olivia Hussey, Judy Carne and John Standing.^[2]

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Plot

Len Lewin is a man happily married to his wife Joy and father of two young children, who works as a lighting technician for a theatrical company. Despite his commitment to his family, he sleeps with Val, an actress in the show, who then reveals she is fifteen. Despite this he continues the affair. The young woman believes she might be pregnant but is not. The affair ends amicably and the man's wife never finds out.

Cast

Tom Bell as Len Lewin
Olivia Hussey as Val
Judy Carne as Joy Lewin
John Standing as Bernie
Roy Herrick as camera operator (uncredited)
Yootha Joyce as Mrs Bird
Robert Keegan as Len's father
Lesley-Anne Down as Laura
Marianne Stone as landlady
Gordon Griffin as Terry
Edward Higgins as Ted
Rudolph Walker as Gordon
Oscar James as Guard
Chloe Franks as Jenny Lewin
Gareth Wright as Ian
Chrissie Shrimpton as waitress
Peter Burton as stage manager
Charles Lloyd-Pack as stagedoor keeper
Otto Diamant as conductor
Nicolette Roeg as Millie
Paul Whitsun-Jones as Mr. Melchum
Aubrey Woods as foreman
Belinda Sinclair as Lottie

Production

Judy Carne said the film was based on a real-life incident involving Gerry O'Hara's friend Nicholas Roeg, who recommended Carne to play Tom Bell's wife as Carne resembled Roeg's wife.^[3]

O'Hara said he wrote the film with Tom Bell in mind for the lead role as he was friends with Bell since they made The L Shaped Room (1962) together. O'Hara gave the script to Roeg who helped set up the project with Si Litvinoff, who produced Walkabout (1971) and was interested making a film in England.^[4]

It was the first in a slate of films from Max Raab and Litvinoff that also included A Clockwork Orange (1971).

Filming began in London in April 1969. It was a nine week shoot and O'Hara said "I had pretty much total creative control, which is very rare." He also said "I love that film ... probably my best film."^[4]

Release

Although made in 1969 it was not released until 1971.^[5]

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "After a couple of rather nondescript espionage adventures, Gerry O'Hara here makes a welcome return to the mood of his earlier Pleasure Girls (1965). Combining adultery with an old-fashioned backstage setting, All the Right Noises does nothing more than rework familiar themes; but it is built on a solid framework of disciplined direction and animated performances (particularly from Judy Carne in her first leading role), and O'Hara's own script, strong on characterisation, makes the vacillating emotions credible and keeps the dialogue refreshingly natural. (Joy's first post-coital murmur is 'As much as I love you, if you don't move soon you're gonna crush me ribs'). Some idyllic chases around parks and beaches are the only regrettable lapses; and although it seems indulgent of O'Hara to develop the sequence of Joy's premature arrival home into a suspense sketch (constant intercutting between Joy's rapid progress from the airport, and Val taking an age to leave the flat), like nearly everything else in the film, it does work."^[6]

Variety said the film had "tenuous ties to the angry-young-man school of British filmmaking in the late fifties, but lacks the force, ire and social attitudes. Instead, all concerned seem unconcerned, voices are never raised and the atmosphere remains one of self-consciously “adult” sensibility that generates little dramatic excitement."^[5]

The Evening Standard called it "accurate and compelling".^[7]

Liverpool Daily Post called it "neatly observed and nicely edited."^[8]

Leslie Halliwell said: "Sharp, sensible treatment of a cliché situation, as watchable as a superior television play."^[9]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This study of age-gap passion in Swinging London sat on a sheif for two years and is a difficult watch in the post-Savile era, given that it follows the developing relationship between 30 something theatre electrician Tom Bell and chorus giri Olivia Hussey. Trouble is, he has forgotten to mention he has a wife and kids, and she's omitted that she's 15 and still at school. Capturing the free love spirit of the time, O'Hara refuses to judge either, but viewed now this is bound to provoke debate."^[10]

Home media

The BFI released All the Right Noises on DVD and Blu-ray through its Flipside strand.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b "All the Right Noises (1971) - BFI". AFI.
^ "All the Right Noises". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
^ Carne, Judy (1985). Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the Inside. Rawson. p. 157.
^ ^a ^b Dixon, Wheeler Winston (3 December 2010). "Working Within the System: An Interview with Gerry O'Hara". Screening the Past.
^ ^a ^b Variety's film reviews. Bowker. 1983. p. 147.
^ "All the Right Noises". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 38 (444): 115. 1 January 1971 – via ProQuest.
^ Walker, Alexander (6 May 1971). "Love on tour". Evening Standard. p. 23.
^ "The Brando Burn Up". Liverpool Daily Post. 15 May 1971. p. 5.
^ Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 27. ISBN 0586088946.
^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 27. ISBN 9780992936440.
^ Brandon DuHamel. "All the Right Noises [UK] Blu-ray Review". Blu-rayDefinition.com.