George and Mildred * (1980, Yootha Joyce, Brian Murphy, Stratford Johns, Sheila Fearn, Kenneth Cope, Dudley Sutton, Harry Fowler) – Classic Movie Review 9847

Director Peter Frazer-Jones’s 1980 comedy George and Mildred is a fairly dismal film version of the popular British TV comedy show (1976-80) with Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy as the Ropers, whose anniversary package trip at a smart London hotel is disrupted when hubby is confused with a gangsters’ hitman.

Poor production values, a bottom-of-the-barrel script with few laughs and a general air of seediness permeate the proceedings, holding back the genuinely talented star comics and some very good support performers.

Yootha Joyce died between the filming and the film’s release, and it is a poor epitaph: fans should catch reruns of the TV series instead.

Dick Sharples’s screenplay is based on the TV scripts and characters by Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke.

Michael Angelis (as Cafe Proprietor).

Also in the cast are Stratford Johns, Norman Eshley, Sheila Fearn, Kenneth Cope, Dudley Sutton, Harry Fowler, David Barry, Sue Bond, Nicholas Bond-Owen, Neil McCarthy, Garfield Morgan, Bruce Montague, and Michael Angelis (as Cafe Proprietor).

The film is a sequel to Man About the House (1974), based on the TV series featuring the Ropers, who then got a spinoff TV series.

There are two witty word-plays in the sell-line though: ‘She’s still trying to steer him towards romance. He still doesn’t know what she’s driving at.’

Yootha Joyce died on August 24, 1980, age 53. She had battled alcoholism and died of liver failure, with Brian Murphy at her bedside.

Michael Angelis (1952–2020).

RIP Michael Angelis, who died on May 30, 2020 in England, age 68.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9847

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