The Bliss of Mrs. Blossom (1968) Poster

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6/10
Toy in the attic
jotix1007 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Robert Blossom, an English brassiere manufacturer, is a perfectionist. His designs are always being updated so that ladies buying the product will get the best use of it. He is married to Harriet, an American from Ohio, who is clearly bored with her life. She spends all her energies in decorating her suburban London home in what could be taken for a modified psychedelic style, so prevalent from that era. In addition, she is a painter and she likes to create her own clothes.

When Harriet's old sewing machine breaks, she asks Robert for help. Mr. Blossom sends Ambrose Tuttle, a mechanic to his home to repair the damage. Ambrose, who has been with the firm for only a short while, is dazzled by the beautiful woman he meets. Harriet, a kind hearted woman has a soft spot for the man that tells her he is an orphan who never knew his parents. Harriet, who has a spare bed in the attic, invites Ambrose to have it. Well, Ambrose goes a bit further, he decides to move in.

Suddenly, Robert begins hearing strange sounds in the house. He is a man that loves conducting the musical recordings in the evening. As the annoying noises keep waking him up, he decides to have a detective look into the matter. Detective Dylan, and his assistant, arrive on the scene, but they never suspect someone like the missing mechanic is right there carrying an affair with Mrs. Tuttle.

This British farce, directed by Joseph McGraw, is based on a short story by an American writer, Josef Shaftel, which evidently was turned into a play by Alec Coppel, who co-adapted his own material. The comedy was probably a vehicle for its star, Shirley MacLaine, who is seen as Mrs. Blossom. The copy which was presented on cable recently, had a pristine quality and even though it is just a piece of fluff, the great production design by Assheton Gorton and the art direction of Bill Alexander and George Lack, take the viewer to that era of where London was the center of the Mod fashion and a style that was imitated by everyone. Geoffrey Sheldon photographs all the vivid colors contrasting with the stark white paint of the interior of the house. Riz Ortolani contributed the music score.

A subdued Shirley MacLaine proved to be a nice surprise. In contrast, the energetic James Booth is all over the place as Ambrose. Richard Attemborough plays the perfectionist Robert Blossom. Freddie Jones is detective Dylan. John Cleese and Patricia Routledge are seen in small supporting roles.
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7/10
An interesting relic
rdoyle297 October 2017
Shirley MacLaine stars as the wife of brassiere magnate Richard Attenborough. Happily married if somewhat lonely, she ends up sleeping with James Booth, a fellow who works for her husband who swings by to help her fix the sewing machine. Now he won't leave. He moves into the attic, and she has to juggle a husband and a lover under one roof. A bit of a relic of it's era with lots of whacky swinging sixties visuals. It's an amusing film that largely loses it's way during it's repetitive final act. Freddie Jones dominates the film in his handful of appearances as a very eccentric cop investigating Booth's disappearance. John Cleese and Barry Humphries appear in very small roles.
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This film captures the spirit of the 60's.
d-pants15 March 1999
I teach a high-school Film History class and use this movie to give the students a real taste of the 60's. London is the setting for this film, and London was the THE happening place in 1968. The Art Direction is superb. Every scene gives a visual clue to the styles and sensibilities of that "mod" generation. The costumes designed by the famous Zandra Rhodes were on the cutting edge for their time. I'd kill for one of those dresses today. The plot is silly,sweet and no great shakes, but this film captures the spirit of the time better than any I've seen. I waited for 25 years for this movie to come out on video, and finally received it from my husband on our 25th wedding anniversary. I believe some scenes were cut for the video, but it still remains our all-time favorite movie, if only for the nostalgia it evokes. My students LOVE it!!
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3/10
Some Good People and Sets Wasted
jayraskin123 May 2012
I found the film extremely hard to watch. I saw it on Netflix and I kept stopping it after fifteen or twenty minutes and resuming it the next day until I got through the whole thing.

I generally like Shirley Maclaine and Richard Attenborough and I like splashy British psychedelic 60's movies like "Casino Royale" and "What's New Pussycat" However, Maclaine was unexpectedly listless and dull and Attenborough, despite a brave attempt, could not bring a spark of life to the movie. The great sets are wasted in a movie that seems to want to be hip or hippie, but doesn't know how.

Someone named James Booth is the real star. It was a surprise to see such an unknown actor actually given more screen time than big stars like Maclaine and Attenborough. I kept thinking he was going to disappear from the movie, but instead his part just grew bigger and bigger to the point of pushing the other stars out. To be fair, He apparently did star in five or six movies low budget, moderately successful films in the 60's, but then went into playing mostly guest star television roles for the next 40 years. He plays a part that desperately needs the zaniness of Peter Sellers. One feels as if the part of Ambrose Tuttle, a crazy spaced out genius was written with Sellers in mind. Booth is much too laid back for the absurd cartoon style of the character and the work.

The movie is visually quite interesting, but it pitches, rolls and jumps all over the place. Sadly, the director seems to know nothing about directing actors or scenes. The actors seem to be talking directly to the audience and not each other. This has the effect of making the movie seem like a long episode of the 1960's television show "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-in," but without any jokes. The wonderful time that all the characters appear to be having is not infectious, but annoying.

Anyways, I give the movie one star for Maclaine, one star for Attenborough and one star for the sets, but everything else is a gigantic bore in the film. If you're heavily stoned when watching, as the filmmakers appear to have been when putting this mess together, you can add another three stars.
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1/10
Late sixties flower power tosh.
Maverick196223 May 2021
Oh dear, was the loveable Shirley MacLaine tricked somehow into starring in this celluloid disaster? I don't know the answer to that but maybe she had to fulfil a contract or something as it's so bad. Pairing her with Richard Attenborough appealed to me when I saw it was on TV but the real lead went to her screen lover, the English actor James Booth, best remembered if at all for Zulu. Peter Sellers may or may not have rescued the picture in the part but Booth is neither funny or has any charm. It's a chemistry dud between him and Shirley, best forgotten. Even the supporting comedy actors are a dreadful embarrassment. There's Bob Monkhouse, Freddie Jones, Clive Dunn, Patricia Routledge and others, all struggling with the weight of it all. Ghastly 60's psychedelic dream sets add to the tedium and I'm baffled by the high ratings on here written by people. Maybe the director was drunk or on drugs when it was made.
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1/10
Tiresome and messy
swalbj868 June 2021
The worst excesses of the 60's are on display in this messy confusing effort.
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10/10
Shirley MacLaine in a Mod, Mod World
Pangborne5 June 2003
I am hesitant when recommending this movie, not because I doubt the movie, but because I doubt people. There are so many criticisms that non-believers could throw at THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM - that it's silly, obvious, crude, cartoonish, dated - but they would all be beside the point. The point is that this movie is a sweet-natured ding-bat adolescent pro-feminist look at sex and marriage in a world where people don't seem to have naughty bits - except women, whose most noticeable naughty bits need to be covered by industrial strength brassieres. The dialogue is a step above Benny Hill, but the performances (Shirley MacLaine, Richard Attenborough, James Booth and even [briefly] John Cleese) lift it to the level of Noel Coward, just by putting an aching sincerity into the outlandish situations. Most memorable, however, is the art direction, costume design, and editing, all of which take off from Carnaby Street and land somewhere on the planet Swinging Mod Paisley Surprise. The editing is particularly trippy, with deliberate disjunctions of time and space that give the title character an almost otherworldly cool. And why reach for THE BLISS OF MRS. BLOSSOM when there are so many other relics of Mod London in the late sixties to choose from? Because, like Linus's pumpkin patch, it's really and truly very sincere: whereas other movies of the period where aimed cynically at the youth market, T.B.O.M.B. is aimed at adults.
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1/10
Almost unwatchable
malcolmgsw7 August 2020
You get the feeling that the writers have decided to do a homage to Joe Orton.This is one of a showy bunch of films made by American companies in the UK in the sixties.Trouble was when they viewed the films they financed they upped sticks and went back to America.The film has little humour,poor acting performances and is virtually unwatchable.
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2/10
"Insomnia is Nothing to Loose Sleep About"
richardchatten20 August 2020
The sort of nonsense that brought the British cinema to its knees at the end of the sixties. Considering how politically correct Shirley MacLaine was to become during the seventies this seems to have something to offend everyone. Suffused throughout with gaudy Dayglo colours; and believe it or not written by the guy who ten years earlier had shared script credit on 'Vertigo' and shot by the cameraman who had recently shot '2001'!

Nothing dates faster than something trying hard to be trendy; and Fellini seems to have inspired the raucous fantasy scenes. Constant product placement of long vanished items like the 'Teach Yourself' series of handbooks make this film feel as it was made over fifty years ago.

Ye Gods it was!
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4/10
No bliss for the viewer
jjnxn-110 October 2013
A relic of its time this poorly conceived so called comedy coupled with Sweet Charity and several other losers killed off Shirley's film career the first time around. Within two years she was finished on screen and was out of pictures for almost a decade until her comeback in The Turning Point. This is one of the unfortunate crop of late 60's movies that tried to cash in on the so called youth wave with the overuse of psychedelic colors and disjointed scenes rather than a cohesive script. The desired effect, whatever that was, is not achieved all that is accomplished is to bore the audience and leave them with eye strain from the overdone color scheme. Skip it!
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4/10
It's got everything going for it. As in going, going, gone.
mark.waltz1 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
You could make millions in an auction of the costumes and props for this oh so silly British farce that is overloaded with everything but plot and substance. It's one of those 1960's acid stained comedies where bored brazier manufacturer's wife Shirley MacLaine takes a lover, hides him in her attic(above the marital bed it seems) and has all sorts of strange surrealistic fantasies to comment on her strange situation. When husband Richard Attenborough has a sudden health crisis, her fantasies change to seeing him get better, thus neglecting her hidden stud (James Booth).

Made around the time that various popular actresses such as Bette Davis, Elizabeth Taylor and Rosalind Russell took on roles that made them seem like drag queens, MacLaine took on several of them. From 1964's "What a Way to Go!" through this four years later, she really had only one hit ("Gambit") with the remainder getting more and more outrageous. There's no real sense of direction except just to keep getting sillier with each fantasy and costume change, basically turning Shirley into Liberace without a piano. Top that off with balloon like dummy dolls modeling braziers pulling people up for a mad, mad, mad world type final, and you've got Shirley MacLaine's real boobie prize. If this is what an acid trip looks like, keep me sober!
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10/10
A wonderful English comedy farce.
d_maccarter13 May 2009
In 1968 I worked as a projectionist. I saw thousands of movies. Memories of this one, among few, have stuck with me for all these years.

Richard Attenborough at his "dry" best. Shirley Maclain at her most sexy and appealing as a bored housewife. James Booth, her "house guest" is a charmer. Along with a host of other fascinating characters an extraordinary look at the 60s English culture and sense of humor.

Keeping your paramour in the attic for the occasional tryst whilst hubby is off making brassieres. It makes for great comedy If you get a chance to see this.....do it. It is worth your time and you will enjoy it.
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Amusing
diana-18 March 2001
This light-as-a-bubble comedy annoyed me at first with its giddy farcicality but slowly won me over with the gentle wisdom at its core. Polyamory may not be for everybody, but in this story it transforms life for the three main characters: a lonely housewife, her businessman husband, and her underachieving lover. The story moves right along and takes some clever, unexpected turns before arriving at an enormous final irony. All the performances are good.

(Special note to "Zulu" fans: "Blossom" contains a few sly allusions to that great film, including scenes where James Booth shows up in a red tunic. The effect is somewhat incongruous, though, because Tuttle's voice and manner are completely unlike Hookie's.)
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4/10
Far out, man!
plan9916 September 2021
A psychedelic film from the 60s that hasn't aged very well. It was probably rated higher when it was released and may have been popular with the teenagers of the time but now it's difficult to watch. A lot of money must have been spent on the fantasy sequences with lavish sets that appear only briefly. A strange film to have some big name actors, and actresses, in it which would not have come cheap. I wonder if it ever manage to make a profit?
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10/10
Just Plain Sweet & Funny or is that Funny & Sweet!
alphaspace14 July 2001
Who knew you could have so much fun making Bustenhalter's (Bra's)<only word I know in german that I can also spell so I was aching to use it>. This movie is so sweet. The plot is totally odd having a sort of Casino Royale weird off beat flavor to it. This is the ultimate in a quirky Addam's Family gone oh so British yet bonkers kind of movie. I think the MUSIC in The Bliss of Mrs Blossom movie rocks. Well Lets say it ROCKS only if you like frightfully odd music but its wild. The ending is a real tear jerker as things go full circle. The Psychodelic influences of the time were celearly in evidence throught this movie in the fast pace of the cutting and all sorts of weird camera angle and, slow motion shots did give on a disconcerted feeling as if one might well be tripping out.

I love this movie with all the talk and, visuals of bra's and, ladies ever wearing bra's it never got crude or dead common. The movie is tasteful from beginning to end... Back in 1968 when the world was full of industrial strength prudes this movie might have been labeled a bit blue but in our more enlightened Millennium this is just tame good nature fun. This is a movie for onle and, all.

If you like weird off beat comedy enough you owe yourself a look at this one. Oh and, when you see the movie say hi to Binky for me! I think the high moral water mark in this movie is hit when Mr. Blossom suggests that all man's wars were not the result of his willingness to follow his countries flag into battle... Insteed Man was really Following the Brazaire which you know just might be true . hmmmmm :)
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10/10
Marvelously marvellous
pitchinvasion-16 October 2007
Gotta just love this swinging feast of fun and frolics. Jam packed visual gags oodles of charm. Attenboroughs a comic tour De force, note how he attacks the intruder sliding along the dining table on his belly. Maclaine is in essence an unparalleled joy and ravishing to boot. Booth is Mr smooth cool and infectiously charming. Supporting Jones is a scream of camp perfection quietly assisted by the understating Rushden. Throw in some cameo gems by Cleese, Dunn and alike and we've got a perfect ten. Perfectly cast with zippy direction by the wonderful Joe McGrath. 90 minutes of sheer bliss so "let em eat chocolate cake"
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8/10
A charming period film that asks some timeless questions
mew-45 January 2000
This movie is completely charming. I've never seen a more wonderful Shirley MacLaine. I fell in love with her. If you liked the Austin Powers films, then you will especially enjoy the costumes and decor of this movie. The artworks that Mrs. Blossom creates are terrific. With the recent public appearance of the polyamory community, it's apparent that the idea of being in love and devoted to two people, and being "faithful" to them both, is still relevant. As a small, funny movie, it still asks some good questions about the nature of relationships and fidelity. Bravo.
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10/10
Gloriously Groovy
withnail-45 November 2008
This movie is about color, rhythm, blossoms, visual wit, vibrant states of mind love, and being in love all over the place. And wonderfulness. No one since Charles Laughton has made faces as amazingly as the great Freddie Jones does here as the inspector. The level of film-making is the absolute top. In its own very different way, it is as well scored, composed, and photographed as a David Lean film, or something archly impressive like that. Quintessence of film art, really. But this movie couldn't be more unlike those movies. A visual equivalent of a great 60s pop music love song. The Beatles movies are less like Beatles songs than this tripped out valentine. An Overwhelmingly warm charming and dreamy psychedelic love trip. This movie hugs you and takes you to a place called nice.

Cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth (2001) and a great score by Riz Ortolani, and New Vaudeville Band (those guys who did "Winchester Cathedral") were used perfectly in the soundtrack.

Patricia "Hyacinth" Routledge and John Cleese add to the fun.
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8/10
Shirley was great, the 60s were too
psully9917 March 2005
I only saw this movie once, around 1982. Sorry to admit, I was still doing some of the 60s things at the time, like smoking pot, and so my recollections are not so vivid of the movie (except for laughing too much, and a giant bra), but it is remarkable that even now when I see Shirley McLaine movies I always wonder why Ihave never seen Mrs. Blossom again. I looked it up on Internet just now and came here, because "What a Way to Go!" came on, and it is another even older (1964) Shirley McLaine movie. She's So CUTE!

Hmm, now that I recall, I was also in a love triangle at the time. Maybe that's why it seems so poignant.
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Dizzy
Mary-5217 April 1999
I absolutely despised this film. It was a fluff and swirly colors that did not entice me in the least. Well acted? No. Well directed? No. Interesting story line? No. All this film was was a psychadelic blast of bright colors and a mess of awful 60's furniture. Basically, Mrs. Blossom gets pleasured by a horrid man who loves in the attic of her and her husband's funky house. If you ever dare to view this film, be prepared to get dizzy by ridiculous film angles and nauseating colors. You have now been warned.
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