The Alf Garnett Saga * (1972, Warren Mitchell, Dandy Nichols, Adrienne Posta, Mike Angelis) – Classic Movie Review 6051

Director Bob Kellett’s 1972 sequel to 1968’s Till Death Us Do Part is a shaky and disappointing comedy feature. It is the second film spinoff from the classic Sixties TV show Till Death Us Do Part, with a script by its creator Johnny Speight that replaces all the TV subtlety and laughs with crude, unfunny jokes. The Garnett family are now relocated to a council flat on the top floor of a tower block in a stark new council estate. But, apart from the new house, most everything else about the situation is more or less the same.

But with Speight’s social comment comes problems. There is a strong sense of unease in his tale of the ‘loveable’ racist London East End old bigot Alf Garnett getting angry about his married daughter Rita eloping with a black singer.

It is just not the same, either, when there are no Una Stubbs and Mike Booth, with Adrienne Posta and Mike Angelis taking over as the Garnetts’ daughter Rita and son-in-law Mike.

Some pleasure comes from the Carry On-style cameos in a sweet cast that includes John le Mesurier (as Mr Frewin), Patsy Byrne (as Mrs Frewin) Joan Sims (cast as Gran), Roy Kinnear (as Wally), John Bird (as Willis), Roy Hudd (as the Milkman), Tom Chadbon, Cleo Sylvestre, Will Stampe, Ellis Dale, Ken Wynne, Derek Griffiths, Arnold Diamond, J G Devlin, Nosher Powell, Patricia Quinn, Sam Kydd, plus author Johnny Speight as Barmy Harry.

Icons Eric Sykes, Max Bygraves, Arthur Askey, Julie Ege, Kenny Lynch, Bobby Moore and George Best all appear as themselves.

It is shot by Nic Knowland, scored by Georgie Fame and produced by Beryl Vertue, Ned Sherrin and Terry Glinwood, who died on 5 March 2017, aged 82.

R.I.P. Warren Mitchell (1926 – 2015).

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6051

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com