Bindle (One of Them Days)
| Bindle (One of Them Days) | |
|---|---|
_film_still_(1966).png) Still from the film | |
| Directed by | Peter Saunders |
| Screenplay by | Glynn Jones |
| Produced by | Arthur S. Ferriman |
| Starring | Alfie Bass |
| Cinematography | Gerald Gibbs |
| Edited by | Peter Weatherley |
Production company | Tannsfeld Productions |
Release date |
|
Running time | 60 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Bindle (One of Them Days), also known as Bindle and One of Them Days. is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Peter Saunders and starring Alfie Bass, based on the Bindle books by Herbert Jenkins.[1] The film concerns the adventures of an accident-prone furniture remover and his mate.
Plot
Joseph Bindle is an ageing furniture remover and antique seller. In a dream he relives a day in the 1920s when he and his workmate Ginger are hired to move the furniture of Mr. Fawcett. One thing after another goes wrong.
Cast
- Alfie Bass as Joseph Bindle
- Johnny Wade as Ginger
- Carmel McSharry as Mrs. Bindle
- Janina Faye as Millie
- Patrick Newell as Mr. Hearty
- Brenda Cowling as Martha Hearty
- John Tate as Mr. Stokes
- Ivor Dean as Mr. Fawcett
- C. Kenneth Benda as Rev. Sopley
- Hugh Janes as William
- Hugh McDermott as American tourist
- Doris Nolan as American tourist
- George Tovey as stallholder
- Pat Gilbert as barmaid
- Bill Shine as man in country pub
- Jeffrey Chandler as little boy
Production
The film was to have been the first of a series of films for TV, later aborted. In February 1966 Kine Weekly reported: "Arthur Ferriman, head of Tannsfield Films Ltd., and Tom Donald, joint managing director of Global Television, announce that it has been mutually agreed that the 'Bindle' series of hour-long films will not be handled by Global Television as previously announced."[2]
The Bindle books had been previously brought to the screen in the 1926 series of two-reeler shorts Bindle Introduced, Bindle at the Party, Bindle in Charge, Bindle's Cocktail, Bindle, Millionaire, and Bindle, Matchmaker;[3] and later in The Temperance Fête (1931).
Critical reception
In a contemporary review John Gillett wrote in Monthly Film Bulletin: "Apparently the first film in a projected series based on the popular characters created in the Twenties by Herbert Jenkins, Bindle (One of Them Days) has a surprising amount of charm (albeit of a slightly old-fashioned kind), deriving mainly from the lively, stylised dialogue-presumably taken from Jenkins' original and from the sharply observed playing of Alfie Bass as the much put-upon but resilient hero. Although allowing a few of the minor characters some excessive, TV-style mugging, Peter Saunders generally maintains a quietly humorous tone and a gently relaxed pace, and makes no attempt at any spurious set-pieces. The period decoration is unusually apt ... and there is a rich, though never overdrawn portrait of Mrs. Bindle, sharp-tongued and perpetually wailing, by Carmel McSharry. ... Certainly more varied and believable than Steptoe and Son (to which they are distantly related), the Bindle stories might still make a popular, if modest, series."[4]
References
- ^ "Bindle (One of Them Days)". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 5 November 2023.
- ^ "Bindle". Kine Weekly. 584 (3045): 3. 10 February 1966 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Bindle Introduced". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
- ^ "Bindle (One of Them Days)". Monthly Film Bulletin. 40 (468): 23. February 1973 – via ProQuest.