Network Distributing’s The British Film label is bringing classic comedy titles Futtocks End and Other Short Stories and Just Like a Woman to Blu-ray, Digital HD and DVD on July 5th.
Both come from prolific director, producer and writer Bob Kellett who was a notable presence in the British film industry throughout the 1960s-70s and is best known for directing feature film spin-offs, including Up Pompeii and its sequels (1971-72) with Frankie Howerd, The Alf Garnett Saga (1972) with Warren Mitchell and Are You Being Served? (1977) with John Inman.
Futtock’s End and Other Short Stories was his foray into fiction films. These wordless ‘sound effect comedies’ utilised the talent of their ensembles, harking back to the silent era comedies incorporating slapstick and music.
Drawing from a band of British talent, they feature Ronnie Barker, Richard Briers, Bernard Cribbins, Barbara Windsor, David Lodge, Wilfrid Brambell, Joan Sims, Michael Hordern and many more.
Futtocks End and Other Short Stories (1964-70)
A HOME OF YOUR OWN
A young couple select a site to build their new dream home, setting in train a series of incompetent events!
SAN FERRY ANN
A hilarious look at the British at play, as a group of holidaymakers board the San Ferry Ann to France.
FUTTOCKS END
A gathering at the decaying country pile of Futtocks End give rise to an ongoing series of saucy misunderstandings!
VIVE LE SPORT
Two young women roar through Europe in their Mini Cooper, with a sinister organization in hot pursuit!
Just Like a Woman (1966) marked Kellett’s first full-length feature film production and Robert Fuest’s directorial debut, with whom he would later collaborate with for the short Vive Le Sport.
This psychedelic oddity captured the swinging sixties vibrancy and idiosyncrasies as Wendy Craig (Butterflies, And Another Makes Three & Five) and Francis Matthews star as a bickering couple going through an acrimonious separation.
This offbeat comedy co-starred John Wood, Dennis Price, Miriam Karlin, Peter Jones, and Clive Dunn as the eccentric interior designer Graff von Fischer.
Futtocks End and Other Short Stories and Just Like a Woman are presented as brand-new High-Definition restorations from their original elements in their as exhibited theatrical aspect ratios.
Making their Blu-ray and Digital debuts, they contain a host of special features including newly recorded interviews with Bob’s wife, Anne Kellett, and Oscar winning cinematographer Billy Williams (Gandhi), who shot San Ferry Ann and Just Like a Woman.