A quiet clerk takes drastic steps when an American efficiency expert comes for his Edinburgh tweed firm.
1959 · British comedy · Black and white · UK release February 1960
Synopsis
On a trip to Edinburgh, American businesswoman Angela Barrows meets Robert Macpherson, the new head of a traditional tweed firm. He brings her in to modernise the business, but her plans alarm Mr. Martin, a clerk who knows the firm inside out. The more Angela tries to change, the further Martin is prepared to go to stop her.
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Meet the cast
Crew
Director · Charles Crichton
Screenplay and producer · Monja Danischewsky
Based on ‘The Catbird Seat’ by James Thurber
Cinematography · Freddie Francis
Editing · Seth Holt
Music · Stanley Black
Art direction · Edward Carrick
Production and film notes
Danischewsky moved James Thurber’s American office satire to Edinburgh and made the future of a Scottish tweed firm the point of contention. According to Toronto Film Society, Peter Sellers asked to play Mr. Martin when he learnt of the adaptation. Toronto Film Society
The film is catalogued as 1959 by the British Film Database. Its UK release followed on 25 February 1960, and the BFI dates its edition 1960. British Film Database · BFI
Related films
The Long Haul (1957) · A different view of British working life, set in the haulage trade.
Séance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) · A British drama in which a quiet man is drawn into a drastic scheme.