| Complete credited cast: | |||
| Peter Sellers | ... | ||
| Dany Robin | ... | ||
| Margaret Leighton | ... |
Emily Fitzjohn
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| John Fraser | ... | ||
| Cyril Cusack | ... |
Dr. Grogan
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| Prunella Scales | ... |
Estella Fitzjohn
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Denise Coffey | ... |
Sidonia Fitzjohn
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| Jean Anderson | ... |
Agnes
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| Raymond Huntley | ... |
Ackroyd, Court President
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Cardew Robinson | ... |
Midgley the Undertaker
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John Glyn-Jones | ... |
Jenkins the Innkeeper
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| John Le Mesurier | ... |
Rev. Grimsley
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| Vanda Godsell | ... | ||
| Catherine Feller | ... |
Rosemary, the young maid
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This is the end of a glorious military career: General Leo Fitzjohn retires to his Sussex manor where he will write his memoirs. Unfortunately, his private life is a disaster: a confirmed womanizer, Leo has infuriated his wife Emily, now a shrewish and hypochondriac woman, all the more bitter as she still loves him. The General has two plain-looking daughters he dislikes and an attractive French mistress, Ghislaine, with whom he has had a platonic affair for seventeen years. When Ghislaine resurfaces, determined to complete her love with him and to get rid of Emily, Leo is at a loss what to do... Written by Guy Bellinger
I saw this on cable recently, out of curiosity more than anything else, and I wasn't sure I was really going to watch it. However, it turned out to be quite a little gem that I would recommend for those of us who have a few years on them. Peter Sellers, who was only in his 30s at the time, puts on aging makeup and plays a retired general around the turn of the 19th century who is still chasing skirts (Sellers appears in flashbacks looking his real age). It is a bittersweet look at marriage, sexual desire, maturity, the advantage men have over women with respect to aging, etc. And, to its credit, it doesn't have the stock Hollywood ending one might expect.