POSSIBLE RECOVERY: LUNCH HOUR - JOHN MORTIMER

[Simon Winters]

I've just bought a 16mm b/w print called LUNCH HOUR on Ebay.

According to the seller, it might be a tv play. The details are:

WRITER: JOHN MORTIMER
PRODUCER: IAN RAE HUTCHISON
DESIGNER: ALLAN ANSON
CAST: COLIN GORDON
EILEEN MAYERS

900FT PRINT
NO PRODUCTION COMPANY MENTIONED

This is not the same cast and crew as the b-movie of the same name, or the 1972 BBC play of the same name.

Any ideas on what this is?

[Kev Mulrenan]

Found this on imdb for luch hour 1961.

Does it tally?

Shirley Anne Field plays a schizophrenic, 5 April 2003

Author: DC1977 from United Kingdom

This is the sort of charming little film about the innocence of young love that couldn't be made today without copious love scenes to lure the 'punters' in.

It's also the type of film that nobody ever sees unless, like me, you scour the TV listings for obscure items and curios that are normally shown in the early hours of the morning, as this was, when the sort of innocent people that are portrayed in this film (if they still exist) are tucked up in bed and have been asleep for a good few hours.

This is the story of a young man and woman (Robert Stephens and Shirley Anne Field) who meet at the factory where they work and fall in love. Stephens plays an executive which is a job title that clearly flatters his position and Field plays an artist who having recently left art school paints flowers seemingly all day.

The short time they spend alone together is during lunch hours where they are constantly frustrated in their attempts to have a kiss and a cuddle. Stephens' character attempts to solve this problem by booking a hotel room and attempting to avoid suspicion by telling the landlady an assortment of lies. These include Field being his wife who has come down from the North with the kids (who will be looked after by an imaginary aunt) to discuss something very important.

Why he didn't book the same hotel room and use it overnight so they can really get down to the business at hand is never explained.

This is where the film goes really weird and Field's character starts to imagine the whole lie is actually true and visualises having to dealing with noisy crying kids and all the hassle that goes with it. Maybe this is her scary vision of the pressures of marriage and motherhood that will arise if she hangs around this executive chap much longer. Whatever the reason she comes across as an unhinged psycho who Stephens would do well to steer clear of.

It seems such a shame that Field's character goes from a lovely girl with whom any young man would want to spend their lunch hour to a hallucinating crackpot who probably belongs in a straitjacket. Then again you never truly know your beloved until you have spent an hour together in a grubby little hotel room.

[Kev Mulrenan]

John Mortimer wrote it btw

[Simon Winters]

No - what you have there is the b-movie version of the same play.

Simon

[Phil Leach]

Sounds like it might be an interesting find. I've done a bit of research in The Times and can't find another version of Lunch Hour on TV. There's a BBC radio version from 1960 but that appears to be all. Allan Anson and Iain Rae Hutchinson points towards it being BBC but I'm afraid I've drawn a blank.

The play was written in 1960 (according to the web) and Colin Gordon died in 1972 (according to IMDB) so that narrows the time frame down a bit.

900ft is about 25 minutes.

Any ideas anyone?

[Stuart Huggett]

Hi,
This doesn't give you the source of your print, but I've got a Methuen paperback of 'Lunch Hour and other plays' by John Mortimer, a first edition from 1960. 'Lunch Hour' and 'Collect Your Hand Baggage' are included as 'Two Plays for the Theatre'; and 'David and Broccoli' and 'Call Me a Liar' are included as 'Two Plays for Television'.
I'll quote the frontpiece for 'Lunch Hour':

"LUNCH HOUR was first broadcast in the BBC Third Programme on 25 June 1960, with Wendy Craig as the GIRL and Stephen Murray as the MAN. It was produced by Martyn C. Webster.
The play was first performed on the stage at the Salisbury Playhouse on 20 June 1960, with Nancie Herrod as the GIRL and Patrick Kavanagh as the MAN. It was produced by Robert Cartland."

The photo on the book's front cover is a still from the BBC's production of 'David and Broccoli', by the way.