The Family Way (1966) on Netflix
Approved19661h 55mComedyDramaRomance
Newlyweds Jenny Piper and Arthur Fitton spend their wedding night at the home of Arthur's parents. A practical joke collapses their bed, and the money for their Majorca honeymoon disappears.
- Netflix4.0/5
- IMDb7.3/102,194 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes86%
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Plot summary
Jenny Piper and Arthur Fitton marry in a Lancashire town and celebrate at a pub with family and friends. Their wedding night is spent in the house of Arthur's parents, Ezra and Lucy, where Arthur's father and his drinking companions keep singing downstairs. When the couple retire, the bed gives way beneath them, a joke arranged by Arthur's employer Joe Thompson, and Arthur cannot bring himself to consummate the marriage. He promises Jenny that their honeymoon in Majorca will put things right, but the travel agent has taken their money and the trip is off. With no savings for a place of their own, the pair move into the small Fitton house alongside Arthur's brother Geoffrey. The thin walls leave them no privacy, and Arthur's night shifts give him and Jenny little time together.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Family Way (1966)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Hayley Mills did a nude scene in the film, which drew much publicity; she called it "a very integral part of the film" and said the whole thing was handled with great taste.
- John Mills went backstage after the opening night of the play at the Mermaid Theatre to seek the film rights as a vehicle for himself and his daughter Hayley, only to find they had already been promised to the Boultings.
- Roy Boulting, writing the script with Naughton and Susskind, was hopeful that Peter Sellers, who had made several films with the Boultings, would play the father.
- Hayley Mills fell in love with Roy Boulting during the film, but he was married; the two later became a couple and married.
- The Family Way was financed by British Lion Films and the Boultings and was the only film made in Britain within a 12-month period financed completely with British capital.
- The Smiths used stills from the film on two single covers, Murray Head as Arthur's brother Geoffrey on "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" and Avril Angers on "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish"; both came from the band's final album, Strangeways, Here We Come.
