Stop the World: I Want to Get Off

Apr 25 1966 N/A 1h 40m
Musical

The Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse London and Broadway musical hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is given literal treatment in this filmization. Newley stars as Littlechap, whose allegorical rise to success is countered by the instability of his private life. Like the play, the film is staged impressionistically, with Newley decked out in mime makeup and periodically stopping the action to address the audience, and with all the women in his life -- German, American and "Typically English" -- played by a single actress (Millicent Martin, taking over from the stage version's Anna Quayle). In Wizard of Oz fashion, the play itself is lensed in color, while the brief prologue, showing the actors preparing for their performance, is in black-and-white. The production includes such standards (and perennial audition pieces) as What Kind of Fool Am I? and Gonna Build a Mountain.

Plot

The lead in a British semi-improvisational musical theater troupe introduces the troupe's featured players - his wife, two adult daughters and adolescent son - as they rehearse for their next performance. That performance tells the story of Little Chap, a working class stiff, who marries the boss' daughter Evie because she is pregnant. He wouldn't have married her otherwise. As Evie is the boss' daughter, Little Chap, over the course of thirty-five years, is given opportunity after opportunity to enhance his professional life by his new father-in-law. In turn, Little Chap, being opportunistic, builds upon those experiences to try and be fulfilled both professionally and personally, rarely taking Evie and his burgeoning family into consideration despite the fact that they love him. At the end of those thirty-five years, he comes to an understanding of who he is and why he made the decisions in his life that he did.

Written by

Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, David Donabie

Directed by

Philip Saville

Cast

Tony Tanner, Millicent Martin, Leila Croft

Crew

View crew

Production Countries

United Kingdom

Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures

Languages

English

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 nominations total

Scores
# of Votes
249
Average Rating
5.1 out of 10
Metascore
NA
Popularity
NA