Rent The Fast Lady (1962)

A Touch of Tartan - The Fast Lady review by CH

“He works for the Council. Would you like a ride on his handlebars?” So banters a suave Leslie Phillips in The Fast Lady (1962) and is told by another of his fetching young women, “he can ring his own bell!”

This suburban sunlit scene outside the house where he and a very Scottish Stanley Baxter lodge suits a film which, as that dialogue shows, is hardly Ibsen. At other moments it is all the more politically incorrect, so much so that if it were a school essay there would be a “see me!” beneath it.

Phillips is given to amatory/motoring metaphors which find room for such ambiguous terms as “syncromesh”. That said, it also has a contemporary tone, for the opening scenes turn around battle between cyclists and motorists; in particular, when Baxter is out on a group ride along a country lane, he is propelled into a ditch by an impatient James Robertson Justice at the steering-wheel of a Rolls.

Naturally enough, the bureaucratic Baxter tracks down Justice to a smart house in whose garden languishes none other than Julie Christie in an early rôle and a bikini (the technical term for that construction is zeugma). Baxter is so smitten that he resolves to sacrifice his saddle and learn to drive. To this end, he buys the vintage Bentley whose sale keeps Phillips in his salesman job (and so a shortfall in their landlady Kathleen Harrison's rent is cleared).

Many an Elizabethan comedy turned around as slender a pillar as this. It all depends upon the horse-power of the cast (no more motoring metaphors, I promise). Justice is his usual benignly-belligerent self (only the churlish could take exception to his telling Julie Christie that she is smitten by a “haggis-headed half-wit”). The supporting cast make the most of considerably less than fifteen minutes of fame: Derek Guyler has a wonderful turn, three whiskies in, while testing Baxter for drunken-driving; not once but three times does Frankie Howerd's head lift a manhole cover as a motor-car chase ensues.

As such, several sections of the film, which was directed by the prolific Ken Annakin, are de facto scenes from a silent movie. One gasps even when knowing that a handbrake-turn will bring all concerned to heart-pounding safety.

And has there ever been as surreal scene as the dream sequence in which Baxter outpaces once-famous racing driver Graham Hill? It would spoil things to reveal his waking moment. It is not overstating the case to say that there is a touch of Bunuel to this (as there is to the end of Carry On Up the Khyber).

Ours not to reason why: enjoy The Fast Lady for what it is: great entertainment.

What's more, could there be a revival in the Tartan wallpaper and bed-sheets with which Baxter has enlivened his room?

Brilliant British 1962 Film, Great Entertainment, Superb Classic British Cast - The Fast Lady review by PV

I loved this. Really REALLY loved it. In colour for 1962 and stuffed full of great scenes and set pieces, wonderful British character actors galore, genuine humour and it is REALLY funny - except for the po-faced who may object at common sense 1962 portrayals of men and women in the dating game.

A lovely reference to the Common Market here by Leslie Philips whose character would probably be arrested for smiling at a girl these days.

Clive Dunn does an early Jonesie from Dad's Army too - 6 years before it was made - as an old man. The brilliant neglected Dick Emery is here too.

Loved it loved it LOVED IT! Great to see Britain how it was in 1962 as well. I dread to think what this would be like if they remade in now.

4.5 stars rounded up