The Best House in London

The Best House in London is a 1969 British comedy film directed by Philip Saville and starring David Hemmings, Joanna Pettet, George Sanders, Warren Mitchell, John Bird, Maurice Denham and Bill Fraser.^[2]

The Best House in London
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Philip Saville
Written by	Denis Norden
Produced by	Kurt Unger Philip M. Breen
Starring	David Hemmings Joanna Pettet George Sanders Bill Fraser
Cinematography	Alex Thomson
Edited by	Peter Tanner
Music by	Mischa Spoliansky
Production company	Bridge Film
Distributed by	MGM
Release date	June 1969 (1969-06)
Running time	97 minutes (UK)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$374,655 (US)^[1]

Plot

Victorian London. Sir Francis Leybourne is an aristocrat, city councilor, land baron, and businessman with interests in the far east. Like most aristocrats, more important for the married ones in needing refuge from one's wife, widowed Sir Francis has a kept woman, Babette. What Sir Francis doesn't know is that Babette is also sleeping with his estranged son, Walter Leybourne, their mission to get Walter back into Sir Francis' will as his primary beneficiary. It is in the role of land baron that Sir Francis is approached by the Minister in charge to head the pilot on a new initiative: to open London's first bordello. This effort is in understanding the necessary role of prostitutes in aristocratic society, yet get them off the streets, this house modeled on the French way. Concurrently, Sir Francis' orphaned young adult niece, Josephine Pacefoot, heads the League of Social Purity, a reformist organization aimed at giving streetwalkers technical skills to get them out of prostitution. She has recently joined forces with Benjamin Oakes, a freelance publicist, his current primary contract to publicize the work of Italian Count Pandolfo who is building an airship i.e. a dirigible. Benjamin confesses to Josephine that he is a bastard, his long passed mother, a servant, never having told him the identity of his father, a birthmark on his wrist the only clue as to who his father is. Benjamin wants to help Josephine publicize her work in further helping young women caught in prostitution. Further complications ensue when Sir Francis unexpectedly passes away, he having left his entire estate to Josephine including his London property, Belgravia Hall, where, in his temporary absence in a business trip to India, he left the task of setting up the property as that bordello to Babette. As such, Walter, with Babette by his side, does whatever required to obtain the property from Josephine to run the bordello as planned, Josephine, in her naïveté, having no idea of Sir Francis' plan for the house, she wanting to use it to further her work for the League.

Cast

• David Hemmings – Benjamin Oakes / Walter Leybourne
• Joanna Pettet – Josephie Pacefoot
• George Sanders – Sir Francis Leybourne
• Dany Robin – Babette
• Warren Mitchell – Count Pandolfo
• John Bird – Home Secretary
• Jan Holden – Lady Dilke
• William Rushton – Sylvester Wall
• Bill Fraser – Inspector MacPherson
• Maurice Denham – Editor of The Times newspaper
• Wolfe Morris – Chinese Trade Attache
• Martita Hunt – Headmistress
• Arnold Diamond – Charles Dickens
• Hugh Burden – Lord Tennyson
• Avril Angers – Flora's Mother
• Betty Marsden – Felicity
• Tessie O'Shea – Singer
• Arthur Howard - Mr. Fortnum
• Clement Freud - Mr. Mason
• Peter Jeffrey – Sherlock Holmes
• Thorley Walters – Doctor Watson
• John Cleese – Jones
• Margaret Nolan – Prostitute
• Penny Spencer – Evelyn
• Veronica Carlson – Lily

References

1. "U.S. Films' Share-of-Market Profile", Variety, 12 May 1971 p 179
2. Simon Sheridan, Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema, Titan Books, 2011 p 58

External links

• The Best House in London at IMDb