Rent The Fast Lady Online DVD & Blu-ray Rental

Rent The Fast Lady (1962)

3.3 of 5 from 60 ratings
1h 31min
  • General info
  • Available formats
Synopsis:
Fervent cyclist Murdoch Troon (Stanley Baxter) is ran off the road by impatient tycoon Charles Chingford (James Robertson Justice). Tracing Chingford back to his home he meets and falls in love with Chingford's daughter, car-mad Clare (Julie Christie). Egged on by his fellow lodger and racy car saleman Freddy Fox (Leslie Phillips), Murdoch decides to invest in 'The Fast Lady', a vintage Red Label Bentley to try to woo Clare. First, though, he has to learn to drive. His instructor, a veteran whose nerves are going, is terrified as Murdoch's obstinate nature comes to the fore and they narrowly avoid disasters with lorries and old ladies.
Worse still, an incident in the main street involves none other than Clare's short-tempered father.
Actors:
, , , , , , , , , , John Bolster, , , , , , , , ,
Directors:
Producers:
Leslie Parkyn, Julian Wintle
Writers:
Keble Howard, Jack Davies, Henry Blyth
Studio:
Network
Genres:
Classics, Comedy
Collections:
People of the Pictures, Remembering Bernard Cribbins, Remembering Leslie Phillips
BBFC:
Release Date:
02/02/2004
Run Time:
91 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0 Mono
Subtitles:
None
DVD Regions:
Region 0 (All)
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Full Screen 1.33:1 / 4:3
Colour:
Colour
Bonus:
  • Trailer
BBFC:
Release Date:
24/02/2020
Run Time:
95 minutes
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 1.0, English LPCM Mono
Subtitles:
English
Formats:
Pal
Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen 1.66:1
Colour:
Colour
BLU-RAY Regions:
B
Bonus:
  • Theatrical Trailer
  • Image Gallery

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Reviews (2) of The Fast Lady

A Touch of Tartan - The Fast Lady review by CH

Spoiler Alert
29/03/2022

“He works for the Council. Would you like a ride on his handlebars?” So banters a suave Leslie Phillips in The Fast Lady (1962) and is told by another of his fetching young women, “he can ring his own bell!”

This suburban sunlit scene outside the house where he and a very Scottish Stanley Baxter lodge suits a film which, as that dialogue shows, is hardly Ibsen. At other moments it is all the more politically incorrect, so much so that if it were a school essay there would be a “see me!” beneath it.

Phillips is given to amatory/motoring metaphors which find room for such ambiguous terms as “syncromesh”. That said, it also has a contemporary tone, for the opening scenes turn around battle between cyclists and motorists; in particular, when Baxter is out on a group ride along a country lane, he is propelled into a ditch by an impatient James Robertson Justice at the steering-wheel of a Rolls.

Naturally enough, the bureaucratic Baxter tracks down Justice to a smart house in whose garden languishes none other than Julie Christie in an early rôle and a bikini (the technical term for that construction is zeugma). Baxter is so smitten that he resolves to sacrifice his saddle and learn to drive. To this end, he buys the vintage Bentley whose sale keeps Phillips in his salesman job (and so a shortfall in their landlady Kathleen Harrison's rent is cleared).

Many an Elizabethan comedy turned around as slender a pillar as this. It all depends upon the horse-power of the cast (no more motoring metaphors, I promise). Justice is his usual benignly-belligerent self (only the churlish could take exception to his telling Julie Christie that she is smitten by a “haggis-headed half-wit”). The supporting cast make the most of considerably less than fifteen minutes of fame: Derek Guyler has a wonderful turn, three whiskies in, while testing Baxter for drunken-driving; not once but three times does Frankie Howerd's head lift a manhole cover as a motor-car chase ensues.

As such, several sections of the film, which was directed by the prolific Ken Annakin, are de facto scenes from a silent movie. One gasps even when knowing that a handbrake-turn will bring all concerned to heart-pounding safety.

And has there ever been as surreal scene as the dream sequence in which Baxter outpaces once-famous racing driver Graham Hill? It would spoil things to reveal his waking moment. It is not overstating the case to say that there is a touch of Bunuel to this (as there is to the end of Carry On Up the Khyber).

Ours not to reason why: enjoy The Fast Lady for what it is: great entertainment.

What's more, could there be a revival in the Tartan wallpaper and bed-sheets with which Baxter has enlivened his room?

1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.

Brilliant British 1962 Film, Great Entertainment, Superb Classic British Cast - The Fast Lady review by PV

Spoiler Alert
23/02/2024

I loved this. Really REALLY loved it. In colour for 1962 and stuffed full of great scenes and set pieces, wonderful British character actors galore, genuine humour and it is REALLY funny - except for the po-faced who may object at common sense 1962 portrayals of men and women in the dating game.

A lovely reference to the Common Market here by Leslie Philips whose character would probably be arrested for smiling at a girl these days.

Clive Dunn does an early Jonesie from Dad's Army too - 6 years before it was made - as an old man. The brilliant neglected Dick Emery is here too.

Loved it loved it LOVED IT! Great to see Britain how it was in 1962 as well. I dread to think what this would be like if they remade in now.

4.5 stars rounded up

0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.

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