Smashing Time
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Desmond Davis
Rita Tushingham
Lynn Redgrave
Michael York
Anna Quayle
Irene Handl
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Two North Country young women, plain Brenda and flamboyant Yvonne, arrive in London and head immediately for the mod scene on Carnaby Street to find fame and fortune. They are misdirected and end up eating at a workman's cafe. Their money is stolen, and Yvonne runs off, leaving Brenda to wash a mountain of dishes. On the street, Yvonne's picture is taken by a successful fashion photographer, Tom Wabe, who uses her "look" as an illustration of what not to do. Taking jobs at the Menagerie Club, Yvonne, as a seductively-dressed hostess, is pursued by a lecherous member, Bobbi Mome-Rath, while Brenda, as a pussycat waitress, looks on worriedly. When Mome-Rath entices Yvonne to his apartment, Brenda goes along and creates enough mood-destroying havoc to "save" Yvonne. When the women lose their jobs, Brenda goes to work for the Honorable Charlotte Brilling, who owns a boutique frequented primarily by freeloading friends. Brenda changes this state of affairs, however, and when Charlotte returns one day, with Tom Wabe in tow, she finds her entire stock sold. Wabe then takes Brenda to a restaurant where Yvonne has become a waitress. When Yvonne sees them together, she begins throwing pies; and soon everyone is engaged in a free-for-all. Both out of jobs again, the girls return home and find their apartment demolished, the result of a practical joke perpetrated by a TV station, for which they are given £10,000 compensation. Yvonne spends the money on a manager, Jeremy Tove, and moves to Chelsea. Tove promotes her into a wildly successful recording star and "now" personality, and Brenda becomes little more than Yvonne's body servant. Wabe eventually woos Brenda away, ensconces her in a luxurious houseboat, and publicizes her, through modeling, as "the face of the Seventies." As Yvonne's career begins to wane, Tove throws a publicity party in the Post Office Tower's revolving restaurant. Brenda arrives with Tom and, appalled by what she and Yvonne have become, short circuits the tower and sets the restaurant spinning so fast that the generator explodes and blacks out an entire section of London. Reunited, Yvonne and Brenda sneak out and wander the darkened streets, knowing they are now ready to return to the North Country.
Director
Desmond Davis
Cast
Rita Tushingham
Lynn Redgrave
Michael York
Anna Quayle
Irene Handl
Ian Carmichael
Toni Palmer
Jeremy Lloyd
Arthur Mullard
Sydney Bromley
Howard Marion-crawford
Murray Melvin
Paul Danquah
Valery Leon
Adele Strong
Jerold Wells
Peter Jones
George A. Cooper
Ronnie Stevens
John Clive
Mike Lennox
Bruce Lacey
Cardew Robinson
David Lodge
Ray Mackin
Amy Dalby
The Tomorrow
Bart Allison
Gabor Baraker
Eve Belton
Kate Binchy
Yuri Borienko
Teresa Buckingham
Veronica Carlson
Golda Casimir
Richard Coe
Julian Curry
Desmond Davies
Jonathon Elsom
Olivia Farjeon
Tom Gill
Danny Green
Luanshiya Greer
Geoffrey Hughes
Brenda Kempner
Leigh Kostelanetz
Sam Kydd
Valerie Leon
Arthur Lovegrove
George O'gorman
Stuart Saunders
Frank Sieman
Will Stampe
Bernard Stone
Michael Ward
Susan Whitman
Crew
John Addison
John Addison
Charles Blackwell
Ken Bridgeman
Evansky
Robin Gregory
Betty Harley
Raymond Jones
Stephanie Kaye
Bruce Lacey
Paul Lee Lander
John Leuenberger
George Melly
George Melly
Roy Millichip
Richard Mills
Jane Moscrop
Ruth Myers
Ray Parslow
Alan Pattillo
Carlo Ponti
Carlo Ponti
Selig J. Seligman
Bruce Sharman
Victor Smith
Trog
Barry Vince
Jake Wright
Manny Wynn
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
I'm glad I'm just a pussy!- Brenda
He's got an awfully nice speaking voice when he's not pretending to be common.- Yvonne
Trivia
Notes
Filmed on location in London. Opened in London in December 1967.
Miscellaneous Notes
Released in United States December 1967
Released in United States Winter December 1967
c Eastmancolor
8640 feet
Released in United States December 1967
Released in United States Winter December 1967
