A Weekend with Lulu ** (1961, Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Phillips, Alfred Marks, Shirley Eaton, Irene Handl, Sid James, Sydney Tafler, Kenneth Connor, Graham Stark, Eugene Deckers) – Classic Movie Review 14,004

Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Phillips, Alfred Marks, Shirley Eaton and Irene Handl star in director John Paddy Carstairs’s farcical 1961 British comedy film A Weekend with Lulu, oddly from Hammer, the house of horror.

Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Phillips, Alfred Marks, Shirley Eaton and Irene Handl star in director John Paddy Carstairs’s farcical 1961 British comedy film A Weekend with Lulu.

You could argue with some of the jokes and humour, and attitudes, but not with the grand Brit comedy cast, who are in great spirits. Bob Monkhouse, Leslie Phillips and Alfred Marks, plus Graham Stark and Irene Handl in support have the best of it and make the most of it.

It is a Hammer Film Production, hedging their bets in the middle of their great run of horror movies, produced by Michael Carreras and Ted Lloyd. The screenplay is by Ted Lloyd, based on a story by Ted Lloyd and Val Valentine.

The title? Young couple Timothy (Leslie Phillips) and Deirdre (Shirley Eaton) plan a romantic weekend on the coast in a caravan called Lulu but a train ferry mix-up lands the holiday-makers deep in France with no passports or money.

Brian Wert and Ken Hodges are the camera operators, John Howell is the art director and Chris Sutton is the assistant director.

The film was shot from 6 October 1960 to 10 December 1960. It opened in Halifax (United Kingdom) on 10 April 1961, to good business, and on 1 November 1961 in the United States.

The British print at 89 minutes us two minutes shorter than the American release at 91 minutes.

Shirley Eaton, best known as Jill Masterson in the 1964 Bond film Goldfinger, was born on 12 January 1937.

The cast are Bob Monkhouse as Fred Scrutton, Leslie Phillips as Timothy Gray, Alfred Marks as Comte de Grenoble, Shirley Eaton as Deirdre Proudfoot, Irene Handl as Florence Bell, Sid James as café patron, Kenneth Connor as British tourist, Sydney Tafler as stationmaster, Eugene Deckers as Inspector Larue, Graham Stark as French policeman, Chiron, Tutte Lemkow as Postman Léon, Judith Furse as Madame Bon-Bon, Denis Shaw as Bar Patron, Russ Conway as French pianist.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 14,004

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