All the Right Noises
All the Right Noises is a 1970 British romantic drama film written and directed by Gerry O'Hara and starring Tom Bell, Olivia Hussey, Judy Carne and John Standing.
Plot
Len Lewin is a man happily married to his wife Joy and father of two young children, who works as a lighting technician for a theatrical company. Despite his commitment to his family, he sleeps with Val, an actress in the show, who then reveals she is fifteen. Despite this he continues the affair. The young woman believes she might be pregnant but is not. The affair ends amicably and the man's wife never finds out.Production
Background
Judy Carne said the film was based on a real-life incident involving Gerry O'Hara's friend Nicholas Roeg, who recommended Carne to play Tom Bell's wife as Carne resembled Roeg's wife.O'Hara said he wrote the film with Tom Bell in mind for the lead role as he was friends with Bell since they made The L Shaped Room together. O'Hara gave the script to Roeg who helped set up the project with Si Litvinoff, who produced Walkabout and was interested making a film in England.
It was the first in a slate of films from Max Raab and Litvinoff that also included A Clockwork Orange.
Although made in 1969 it was not released until 1971.
Filming
Filming began in London in April 1969. It was a nine-week shoot and O'Hara said "I had pretty much total creative control, which is very rare." He also said "I love that film ... probably my best film."Release
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "After a couple of rather nondescript espionage adventures, Gerry O'Hara here makes a welcome return to the mood of his earlier Pleasure Girls. Combining adultery with an old-fashioned backstage setting, All the Right Noises does nothing more than rework familiar themes; but it is built on a solid framework of disciplined direction and animated performances, and O'Hara's own script, strong on characterisation, makes the vacillating emotions credible and keeps the dialogue refreshingly natural.. Some idyllic chases around parks and beaches are the only regrettable lapses; and although it seems indulgent of O'Hara to develop the sequence of Joy's premature arrival home into a suspense sketch, like nearly everything else in the film, it does work."Variety said the film had "tenuous ties to the angry-young-man school of British filmmaking in the late fifties, but lacks the force, ire and social attitudes. Instead, all concerned seem unconcerned, voices are never raised and the atmosphere remains one of self-consciously “adult” sensibility that generates little dramatic excitement."
The Evening Standard called it "accurate and compelling".
Liverpool Daily Post called it "neatly observed and nicely edited."
Leslie Halliwell said: "Sharp, sensible treatment of a cliché situation, as watchable as a superior television play."
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 3/5 stars, writing: "This study of age-gap passion in Swinging London sat on a shelf for two years and is a difficult watch in the post-Savile era, given that it follows the developing relationship between a 30-something theatre electrician Tom Bell and chorus girl Olivia Hussey. Trouble is, he has forgotten to mention he has a wife and kids, and she's omitted that she's 15 and still at school. Capturing the free love spirit of the time, O'Hara refuses to judge either, but viewed now this is bound to provoke debate."