Left Right and Centre *** (1959, Ian Carmichael, Alastair Sim, Patricia Bredin, Richard Wattis, Eric Barker, Gordon Harker, George Benson, Jack Hedley) – Classic Movie Review 7,298

‘You’ll Howl When SEX and POLITICS Collide Head On!’ Director Sidney Gilliat’s 1959 British black and white satirical comedy Left Right and Centre tells a tale we all know quite well – about an English television celebrity (Ian Carmichael) standing for the Conservative Party at a local by-election.

But the spice to the story is that natural history expert Bob Wilcot (Carmichael) finds himself falling for his socialist opponent, the Labour candidate, Billingsgate woman Stella Stoker (Patricia Bredin), and their agents try to put spanners in the works by bringing in their respective old flames. So that is the Right and the Left taken care of.

Producers Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat’s gentle comedy is not much of a political, or media, or class, or sex satire, though it tries to be all of those things. Nor is it an Ealing Studios-style celebration of British national quirkiness. It is just a gentle comedy, but it still boasts amusing situations and dialogue, as well as a cast to treasure.

And now for the Centre. Alastair Sim of course is particularly engaging as Carmichael’s poor upper-crust uncle, Lord Wilcot, who proposes Carmichael as a political candidate in order to gain publicity for his stately home, though this diverts the yarn into a digression cul-de-sac of humour about stately homes.

Also happily cast is Gordon Harker, Sim’s co-star in the Inspector Hornleigh series, as well as a small avalanche of lovely players and celebrities of the era, among them Richard Wattis, Eric Barker, Gordon Harker, George Benson, Jack Hedley, William Kendall, Leslie Dwyer, Hattie Jacques, Irene Handl, Gilbert Harding, Eamonn Andrews, Josephine Douglas, Carole Carr, John Salew, Frederick Leister, Jeremy Hawk, Anthony Sharp, Bill Shine, Moyra Fraser, Anthony Sharp, Moultrie Kelsall, Olwen Brookes, Russell Waters and Erik Chitty.

Harker and Sim starred together in Inspector Hornleigh, Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday and Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It. It is the last film of Gordon Harker, though he lived till 1967 when he was 81.

Hull-born singer and actress Patricia Bredin died on 13 August 2023 at the age of 88 at her farm in Nova Scotia, Canada.

She was just 22 years old when she became the first representative of the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. She starred in The Bridal Path (1959), the period adventure The Treasure of Monte Cristo (1961) and with Sid James in Desert Mice (1959).

Patricia Bredin was born in 1934 in Hull, England. British exhibitors voted her one of the most promising British new stars for Left Right and Centre. She has a place in history as Britain’s first ever contestant in the Eurovision Song Contest, with ‘All’ in 1957. She came seventh out of ten entries with what was for a long time the shortest ever song, at just 112 seconds. [This was finally beaten by in 2015 by the Finnish entry ‘Aina mun pitää’, which was only 87 seconds.] She followed Julie Andrews as Guinevere in the Broadway production of Camelot.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7,298

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