Friends and Neighbours

{{Short description|1959 British film by Gordon Parry}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}

{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Friends and Neighbours

| image = "Friends_and_Neighbours"_(1959).jpg

| caption = Original UK quad poster

| director = Gordon Parry

| producer = Bertram Ostrer

| writer = Talbot Rothwell
Val Valentine
Austin Steele (play)

| starring = Arthur Askey
Megs Jenkins
Peter Illing

| music = Philip Green

| cinematography = Arthur Grant

| editing = Bill Lenny

| released = {{Film date|1959|11}}

| runtime = 79 minutes

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget =

}}

Friends and Neighbours is a 1959 British comedy film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Arthur Askey, Megs Jenkins and Peter Illing.{{Cite web |title=Friends and Neighbours |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150041344 |access-date=15 July 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114183411/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/34013 BFI.org] It was written by Talboth Rothwell and Val Valentine based on the play of the same title by Austin Steele.

Plot

At the height of the Cold War, a working-class British family have to entertain two visitors from Russia.

Cast

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Arthur Askey's improvisation atones somewhat for the paucity of wit and ideas in this ingenuous piece of broad knockabout; the targets – pubs and shop hours Act anomalies and cricket – are attacked with zest rather than originality."{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1959 |title=Friends and Neighbours |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305824156/96AE9AB0B2D540D2PQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=26 |issue=300 |pages=158 |via=ProQuest}}

In British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 David Quinlan rated the film as "average", writing: "Vigorous farce along old-fashioned lines."{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=David |title=British Sound Films: The Studio Years 1928–1959 |publisher=B.T. Batsford Ltd. |year=1984 |isbn=0-7134-1874-5 |location=London |pages=312}}

References