1959 film
The Battle of the Sexes is a 1959 British black and white comedy film starring Peter Sellers, Robert Morley, and Constance Cummings, and directed by Charles Crichton. Based on the short story "The Catbird Seat" by James Thurber,[3] it was adapted by Monja Danischewsky. A timid accountant in a Scottish Tweed weaving company cleverly bests a brash modern American efficiency expert whose ideas threaten his way of life.
Plot
Mr Martin, the accountant for a Scottish Tweed weaving company, is in Edinburgh buying whisky and cigarettes on the Royal Mile. He is called to the death-bed of the owner, old MacPherson, at Moray Place. MacPherson offers him a whisky but Martin declines, so MacPherson drinks for the two and promptly dies.
The new owner of the Tweed company, young MacPherson, is enamoured of a zealous American woman, Angela Barrows, who is an efficiency expert and wants to turn her hand to revolutionising the very traditional company. She insists on visiting "the factory" on the Hebrides islands, only to discover that the work is done by old couples, on crofts where they spin the wool.
She plans to replace the 700 weavers, dotted across the islands, with a single large factory. While being driven through the city, she also says the company should change to synthetic fibres, causing the chauffeur to drive into the back of a brewer's dray.
Mr. Martin watches a Sherlock Holmes film at the cinema and is inspired to kill Mrs. Barrows. As he is a non-smoker and a non-drinker, he decides he can mislead any future investigation by smoking and drinking at the scene of the planned crime. He buys a half-bottle of whisky and a packet of cigarettes. However, in her flat, after a series of botched attempts, his conscience gets the better of him and he cannot kill her.
He tries to remove all evidence when young MacPherson suddenly appears but manages to avoid detection. Back in the office, MacPherson interrogates Martin and finds his denial more plausible than Mrs. Barrows' claims. She cannot take any more, accuses them all of being mad, and leaves for good. Thus Mr. Martin wins his "battle of the sexes". Later, seeing her crying at the station, he is moved to buy her a flower.
Production
Film rights to the story were owned by Hecht Hill Lancaster. Billy Wilder was signed to direct.[4] Then Charles Crichton was brought out from London to direct the film but it didn't proceed. Eventually they sold the rights.
It was the first film made by the newly-formed Bryanston Films, who approved it on 13 May 1959.[5] Crichton liked the script, felt Robert Morley was "slightly miscast... but I think it was about the best performance Peter Sellers ever gave in his life."[6]
Reception
Box Office
The film was a minor box office hit earning Bryanston a profit of £10,894.[7] Kine Weekly called it a "money maker" at the British box office.[8]
Critical
On its 1960 release, the film was very warmly reviewed by The New York Times, with critic A. H. Weiler calling it a "gentle, tongue-in-cheek ribbing that cleaves to the spirit, if not entirely to the letter of Thurber's lampoon."[3]
Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic wrote- The Battle of the Sexes, transfers James Thurber's story The Catbird Seat to Scotland and spins it out to unjustified length. There is only one long joke in the picture, full of predictable padding.[9]
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