The Fast Lady (1962)
Directed by Ken Annakin

Film Review

Coming hot on the heels of the caper farce Crooks Anonymous (1962), Ken Annakin, Stanley Baxter, Leslie Phillips and Julie Christie teamed up for another riotous comedy, with the incomparable James Robertson Justice again brought in to add a touch of class to the proceedings.  Looking like a dry run for Annakin's later 'old crock' comedies, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines (1965) and Monte Carlo or Bust! (1969), The Fast Lady is mostly a collection of brisk comedy set-pieces which routinely work their through every motoring gag under the sun, with the thinnest of plots to hold it all together.  Less satisfying than Henry Cornelius's Genevieve (1953), which at least has something resembling a robust storyline, this predictable round of Annakin madness has the virtue of being sprightly and effortlessly enjoyable, although the production values now look shoddy thanks to the over-excessive use of rear projection.

Looking every inch the godfather of British comedy (and knowing it), James Robertson Justice bags most of the laughs - not so hard given he gets all the best lines: "haggis-headed halfwit" and "I doubt if even a woman could drive worse". Meanwhile, poor Stanley Baxter and Leslie Phillips are left with not much more to do than play on their familiar screen personas.  Baxter is the cantankerous and goofy Scot who falls too easily for the shallow Barbie-doll charms of a still fairly unknown Julie Christie (this was only her second film), whilst Phillips plays his customary self-loving charmer to the point of nausea.  A spate of unexpected cameos by some British comedy legends - Dick Emery, Frankie Howerd, Bernard Cribbins, Clive Dunn and Bill Fraser - provides an unexpected treat, although the star of the film is unquestionably the 1927 vintage Bentley of the film's title, who certainly lives up to her name.  The following year, James Robertson Justice, Leslie Phillips and Stanley Baxter joined forces for the semi-sequel Father Came Too! (1963).

Film Synopsis

Murdoch Troon is in no mood to let sleeping dogs lie when, whilst out cycling, he is forced off the road by a Rolls-Royce motorcar.  Working in local government, he has no difficulty tracking down the owner of the offending vehicle.  He is giving Commander Chingford a piece of his mind when his eye catches a beautiful young woman, Claire, who happens to be his enemy's daughter.  To impress Claire, Murdoch allows himself to be persuaded by his fellow lodger, Freddie Fox, to buy a vintage Bentley named The Fast Lady, even though he has yet to pass his driving test.  Another incursion by the pestilential Scot into his pristine garden prompts Chingford to accept a bet with him to the effect that if Murdoch fails to drive him to his golf course within 55 minutes he will never see Claire again.  Murdoch loses this bet but wins a counter-bet.  All he has to do now is to pass his driving test and Claire will be his wife...