Bindle (One of Them Days)

Bindle , also known as Bindle and One of Them Days is a 1966 British comedy film directed by Peter Saunders and starring Alfie Bass. It was written by Glyn Jones based on the Bindle books by Herbert Jenkins. The film concerns the adventures of an accident-prone furniture remover and his mate.
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; and later in The Temperance Fête ''.''

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
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, but there were no further films; 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."

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 has a surprising amount of charm, 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, the Bindle stories might still make a popular, if modest, series."