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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spells &amp; Karma" data-source="post: 428346" data-attributes="member: 23">Last night I closed out the Love Thy Neighbour series by watching the 1973 big screen adaption. Director John Robins worked on this project in between the Hammer big screen adaptions of Nearest And Dearest and Man About The House, which appear to be about the extent of his non-TV work. <img src="https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vintagemovieposters.co.uk%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F07%2FIMG_98031-1024x768.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=7fc0a983bee8beb4a978176edfa4e52baf94a93e50e8b5604442cb07981bd845" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="width: 817px" />As with the On The Buses film, the adaption took some adjustment. My comments about the first OTB film below also hold true for Love Thy Neighbour. Another element I noticed last night was the music. The score was fine but felt a little intrusive at times because I've just become so used to there not being one in the series. On the other hand, I enjoyed the different recording of the theme music. Not that I have anything against the TV version - I like it very much - but I'm glad we have both.As with most of these Hammer adaptions the increased location work also changed the tone. While the houses were clearly different from those used at any point in the series, care had been taken to match the orientation and floorpan. This helped the sense of familiarity, even though most of the details were different. Speaking of details, one little touch I really liked about the exterior of the homes was the fact that they were surrounded by fences at the front, but the only thing between the two adjoining houses was a stump where a fence had once been. This meant that it was just a footstep between the doorways rather than having to clamber over a fence.At the factory things felt less familiar, and this is especially true of the social club which looked completely different to anything seen in the series. The film has a huge space which is more authentically a social club than the small bar area of the series. Of course, something this generously sized would not have been practical for a sitcom set. Apart from the lack of space in which to do this, it would have lacked intimacy. One thing the film gets right is clearly establishing that the social club is on the site of the factory where they work. This feels more oblique in the series where it looks as though the colleagues have all chosen to socialise after work.Naturally, there's a bigger cast for the film with lots of familiar faces from various sitcoms: Melvyn Hayes is cast against type as a ladykiller (a year before he'd play camp Gloria in It Ain't Half Hot Mum). Arthur English plays the journalist who sniffs round (literally, since he has a constantly blocked nose). No Place Like Home's Michael Sharvell-Martin is the police constable who decides tracking down a naked Eddie will be too much paperwork. Bill Pertwee plays the postman who reads the Booth's mail before it's delivered, and his Dad's Army compatriot James Beck has a cameo at the end as Joan's brother (in the film's big twist, he has [ISPOILER]married Barbie's sister, and Eddie is horrified to realise he is now related to Bill[/ISPOILER]). It's one of James's final screen appearances: he would die a month after this was released. In bigger roles are Patricia Hayes and Jamaican actor Charles Hyatt as, respectively, Eddie's mother and Bill's father who become the best of friends.The large ensemble means that TV series supporting players Arthur and Jacko are pushed into tertiary roles. They're kind of the same characters, but at the same time they're not, because they serve different functions here. In the series, they're sounding boards for Eddie, and often mediators between him and Bill. The film versions are more observers, with little to distinguish them from the dozen or so other factory workers. It's not a dealbreaker, but certainly a noteworthy difference.The union theme present in the series is amped up here, and this aspect of the film plays out rather like Carry On At Your Convenience with strikes and whatnot: a slightly odd choice given the poor reception and box office that film had received due to its cack-handed depiction of trade unions. Having recently watched not only Eighties Brookside, but also films like Dockers, Pride and Billy Elliott which all have more sympathetic treatment of striking union members, it's easy to see that it's awkward to see the subject trivialised in broad comedies. Still, though, these were different times. This was before the Winter Of Discontent, and a full decade before Thatcher's Government's stranglehold on the country stopped this from being a laughing matter.With these films, it often goes one of two ways: either it feels like several episodes strung together, with a "greatest hits" of the series, or it can feel like one long story that's diluted and over-padded. While this had elements of both, it did lean heavily into the latter for me. This is particularly true of the factory stuff, with the strikes and the "grudge" cricket match on the grounds. When it worked, it worked, though. I was surprised that the scenes between Eddie's mum and Bill's dad worked so well, even though they were often in isolation from the rest of the characters, but they were very enjoyable. It helped that they had a river cruise tour and we were able to see London at its Seventies best. Speaking of which, many "then and now" locations for the film can be found on <a href="https://www.reelstreets.com/films/love-thy-neighbour/" target="_blank">Reelstreets</a> (mostly Borehamwood).As predicted, the pregnancies - actresses and characters - weren't referenced and I actually forgot to look for signs of this as I watched anyway. As with most such adaptions, this film is non-canon, existing in its own timeline, and best enjoyed in this context. The beauty of this is that it's easy to make it "fit" in with any point of the series, and adding it on at the end allows me to give the series a proper ending.So often when I get to the end of a long-running series, I feel I'm ready to leave as there's a sense it is past its prime. I feel with Love Thy Neighbour I could have happily watched another series or two. And I like that it's left me wanting more. I liked all the characters, the catchphrases, the comfortable familiarity. And especially Bill's shrieking "whistle" laugh, which has taken me far too long to mention as it never fails to make me smile.</blockquote>

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