- 07/07/2025
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Short filmTranscript
00:00I never passed an exam in my life. The only exams I ever passed were when I was
00:06in the service, in the war. Two and two made five or three, never four. I couldn't do
00:18arithmetic. I was only vaguely interested in English, hated Latin and all that sort
00:26of thing. I loathed school, of course. Loathed it. And I had to have a job, which didn't
00:35require quite qualifications. I had a stammer. It didn't help. My father said,
00:41you're going to be an actor. You can't even speak.
00:48I don't think I ever really had hard times, you see. I mean, a lot of actors struggle, and I was
00:53rather lucky. I didn't really struggle very much. I managed to, I lied my way into
01:03repertory, you know, by pretending I was enormously experienced. And, you know,
01:08they'd say, what have you done? Well, where have you been? And I'd say, I was, you
01:13know, one repertory manager would ask me which companies I'd worked for. And I'd tell
01:18him, two or three, which, of course, I'd never been near. And then one, so one conned
01:23one's way in. But then the moment came when you began to move up a bit, and they'd take
01:29you off making the tea and sweeping the stage and all that sort of thing. I always thought,
01:36I used to sit there, like all, I think, actors do, thinking, that's good, that's bad, he's terrible,
01:44I could do it better than that. Why don't they give it to me to do? I'd do it cheaper,
01:48too, you know. Comparison. And then the moment of truth came, and they gave you something to
01:57do. And if you got away with it, you were lucky. And I began to sort of, I was very interested,
02:07you see. I mean, it's very easy for people who play comedy to say it's more difficult.
02:20I don't really know the answer to that one. I think that if you have a, if you're lucky
02:26enough to have, I'm not saying I have, but I mean, assuming a comedian by nature has a
02:34sort of knack of timing. I think timing is something that's so terribly important, you
02:42see. And that's really the secret for comedy, timing. It's all timing, isn't it? The whole
02:49thing. And I think that if you have that sort of timing, if you have that in here, I don't
02:57think it's something that can be learned. I think you could work with an actor who will
03:02say to you, by the way, you know you're not getting that laugh because you're coming too
03:07quickly and on the feed line. If you pause, take another beat, you know, and then you suddenly
03:13do that one night. And you realize that you might learn a little from that sort of thing. But
03:18then eventually it's instinctive.
03:25I was working in the theatre, and Asquith, Anthony Asquith, saw me. And I was in a play
03:37called Quiet Wedding, as an understudy actually. And I, he saw me on tour in it, that's right.
03:45And I got, he put me into the film, playing not the leading part, but playing a supporting
03:52part. Opposite Peggy Ashcroft, I may say. That was the first sort of really, that sort of
04:02started me off a bit. And he was a, he was a very nice, very civilized, charming director.
04:12I did only one film with him, just about at the, just about at the point when I was resisting
04:24going into the service as long as possible, called Pimpernel Smith. And he, he acted in
04:31it and directed it and was responsible for the whole thing. And I thought it was rather
04:36a good filmmaker. But I was very, very interested in him. He was a beautiful actor. Very, very
04:42clever actor. Had marvellous sort of romantic secret quality of, um, the sort of thing they
04:51don't go for so much today. They like sort of, uh, people with, they like violence now today,
04:57don't they? They don't want the gentleness. But yeah, that one did the strength thing
05:02underneath it all. You know, you knew he was really the hero and he'd fight to the last.
05:07Do it in a sort of, uh, gentle way.
05:11Edward G Robinson came over and gave his services for nothing. Lovely man, brilliant actor, top,
05:24top class, right. I mean, when you talk about top class, people say, you know, he's right
05:29on the top line. What an extraordinary actor he was. Tiny, big backside, fat tummy. Um, not
05:42exactly, uh, but not handsome. But he had an attraction about him that was riveting. He
05:49was a brilliant actor, beautiful actor.
05:52He started filming that. They, the producers should be nameless. And I think they shot three
06:03weeks of it and they, uh, threw it away and started again. I wasn't in the original one.
06:09Uh, and the, and everybody, uh, nobody was very, very confident about it. And I remember
06:16the, the writer, God rest his sale, a writer called Robert Westerby, saw a rough cut of the
06:21paper and demanded to have his name taken off it. And it was the only film he was ever
06:25attached to that was successful. It was an enormous success, as you probably may remember.
06:30When I say an enormous, yes, it was a pretty big success.
06:38Charming little bit of nonsense, William Douglas Hume, A. Matthews, Cecil Parker, Marjorie Fielding,
06:45all three wonderful.
06:50Matty was rather wonderful than David A. Matthews.
06:55Sweet old man. He was my, I never, nobody ever really knew how old he was. I think he must
07:01have been about 150.
07:03It was the most chaotic picture I ever worked on. And in the end, I think, uh, uh, uh, Alexander
07:13Korda edited it himself. I may be doing all the other people in injustice, but the story
07:19is that he sat in the theater and we had about 17 times as much film as we needed. And he edited
07:27it on his own. He was a very clever man, of course. Marvellous thing about Korda was he would
07:33do it all, couldn't he? Probably act the parts as well. So he wasn't just a sort of promoter
07:38like so many of them are. He was responsible. Everybody thought it would be a disaster. And
07:43it was a great success.
07:45three men and a boat. Yes, three men and a boat was great fun. Made in the worst summer
07:58in the whole, uh, the worst summer recorded in the history of, of England. It rained more
08:05that summer than any other time since, uh, you know, the Romans. And they, they filmed it,
08:12if you please, on the river Thames. Have you ever got it, got into the Thames? Have you
08:19ever had a swim in the Thames? Well, it's North Pole, of course. It's the coldest, it's
08:25an unbelievable experience. It poured with rain. And he, not the producer, John Wolfe
08:32was very, very good natured about the whole thing. He came down and didn't seem to mind.
08:36We did an awful lot of sitting around, uh, Larry Harvey and Jimmy Edwards and I in a, in
08:43a little boat. And all we could do was knock it back, you know, and try and keep warm.
08:50And then they'd suddenly, the sun would come out and they'd say, get in the water. And all
08:54this. The director got used to get very nervous. I remember the wonderful, lovely, uh, moment
09:00when the sun was shining. And everybody was pleased. And they got the, uh, the camera on
09:07a pontoon in the river. And they'd got a crowd of over a thousand researchers, uh, I may be
09:12exaggerating, but it makes the story better. And a lot of boats. And the assistant director
09:17was saying, ladies and gentlemen of the crowd, would you be so kind as to get in the boats
09:22and row out towards us? Thank you so much. Well, they got in the boats. And of course, three
09:28hours later, when they'd collected them all, because they'd been, they'd, the one thing
09:32they hadn't ever heard about, the, the, the, the powers that be, it was the current, you
09:39see, of the, of the river. For instance, Kenan came to say to me, David, get in. The sun's
09:44coming. Oh, hold it. Quick, quick. And I, I jump in the water. And of course, he'd say,
09:49I told you to be, I said, current, you see, they thought that I was Johnny Weissmuller.
09:55That film, which was made for very little money. And incidentally, was the, it wasn't
10:08the first time I'd met Peter Sellers, but the only other time I worked with him. And
10:13how brilliant he was in that film. He played a crooked bosun with broken spectacles, Irish.
10:20Oh, I'll never forget the first day I worked with him. I thought to myself, well, if this
10:29man isn't going to make it as a film actor, I should be very, very surprised.
10:35Man of perception. No, I liked, I was, I was lucky to, lucky to, to, to spend some time
10:47with him. It was a funny story about, about how I came to work for Disney. I was in a play,
10:57which was being presented by Robert Morley, called The Ring of Truth at the Savoy Theatre. And
11:03one night I got, he was always pulling me. He's a terrible, practical joke, a leg puller,
11:09and, you know, evil behavior in that, in that sort of way. And one night I got a message that
11:15Walt Disney was coming to see the play. And if I were free afterwards, he would love to have
11:20a drink with me, or even better to take me out to supper. And I thought, well, that's
11:24Robert Morley, you see. And I said to the company manager, Walt Disney's not in front,
11:29is he sick as he is? So anyway, he, he, he came round. It was terribly nice. And, uh,
11:37Mr. Tomlinson, it was very, very pleasure to meet you, sir. Would you come out and have
11:41dinner with me? And I said, I'd love to. Absolutely. Well, I thought the pen is going to come out
11:45any minute with the contract, and, you know. So he took me to dinner at a very posh joint,
11:53with quite a lot of other people who sort of joined us. A man who owned the Beverly
11:59Wilshire Hotel with a rather attractive South American wife and one or two other
12:03characters. And there was a chap, uh, rather formally dressed in the sort of
12:10dinner jacket that Cliff Richards would have been wearing in those days. But he was, um,
12:14middle-aged, bald-headed, and didn't look quite right. And all of a sudden, he stunned
12:20the dinner party by saying, Walt, Walt, I want to say this, Walt. I'm going to say it. No,
12:25I'm going to say it right here and now. Nobody was stopping him, I may say. You, sir, you,
12:30Walt, are a genius. You are the great. No, I'm going to say it. No, I'm going to say it.
12:36Nobody was stopping him. And Walt sat there, and he went on telling Walt how, you know,
12:40how great he was. Well, I mean, we can all stand that for a, I could stand it for a certain length
12:48of time, probably longer than most, because it happened so, so seldom to me. But poor
12:53Walt was pretty well embarrassed, you see. And so was I. And I made the fatal mistake
12:58of hurting the man's feelings by saying, now, you did very well, but don't do it again. And
13:03everybody giggled. And the poor man looked, and I realized I shouldn't have done it. And
13:07I, you know, because he looked absolutely crestfallen. So then Walt said to me, where
13:13are you going now? And I said, what do you mean? He said, let's go and have a drink. So
13:18we, he paid the bill, and we crept off to the Dorchester, where he was staying in the
13:23Oliver Messel suite. And what was so touching is when we got there, there was an old pair of
13:28hair pajamas and a, and a brush with a comb and nothing else, in this very grand suite.
13:35And so he chatted and talked, and he told me what he thought of the play. And he thought
13:39I was lovely in the play. And I said, thank you very much. And he said, well, it's just
13:44a great pleasure. And I just hope we're going to meet again. And next thing I found myself
13:49in the lift. And I thought, well, that's nice. What about, you see? Well, now, two years
13:55later, or even longer, three years possibly, I was asked to go to make Mary Poppins. I was
14:04then in a play called Boeing, Boeing, which ran for 25 years in London. And when I got
14:12to Hollywood, I made friends with the producer who I was very fond of, who I did
14:16incidentally, I did three films for Disney, all produced by Bill Walsh, who died not all
14:22that long ago. He was an interesting character. I was very fond of him. But he said, you know,
14:29it's true. When we got to know each other, he said, you know, it's one of the wildest
14:32really. He said, you know, David, he said, you know, Walt had never heard of you. And I
14:36showed him up the creek. So I said, what do you mean, never heard of me? He said, he'd never
14:41seen you. I showed him up the creek. And after a minute and a half, he said, yes, that's the guy. I want
14:49him to play the father. Get him. He's going to play the father. So I said, well, you've
14:56got that wrong, Bill. I said, Walt took me out to dinner three years ago. He said, he what?
15:06He said, he never tells me anything.
15:10I love working in Hollywood. I never understand the actors who say they don't like Hollywood.
15:19I find the whole thing absolutely marvelous. I enjoy America. I like Hollywood. I love the
15:25sort of, I feel the very, I feel stimulated. I like the, I like the, I mean, of course,
15:33you, if you go as an actor, they treat you marvelously, you know, you go in a privileged
15:40situation. And that's how I prefer it. I'd rather be privileged than unprivileged, you
15:45know. I like the way they give you the big hello. I'd rather have the big hello than the
15:50English method of saying, huh? Huh? Well, there they give you the impression sometimes that
15:56you are the only person they've ever wanted to meet. And they've been keeping themselves well
16:00all these years, just for this big moment. I want to tell you, I want to tell you, John,
16:07it's a great pleasure to meet you, sir. Well, it's true that when you get out of earshot,
16:12they say, I never liked the bastard anyway, you know, but I don't care whether, as Robert
16:17Morley says, as long as they're nice to my face, that will suit me. I never understand
16:22the people who say, of course, there's a sort of chap who says unpleasant things behind
16:26your back. He says, as long as they're nice to my face, they can say what they like to
16:29behind my back. And of course, there's some truth in it, isn't there?
16:37Nice film, directed by a marvellous director, Lionel Jeffries, who directed The Railway Children,
16:46which I would think is one of the best English films ever made, and will wear well.
16:51Oh, I liked doing that very much. A lot of nice people. Mason, James Mason, very good actor.
17:00He had a uniqueness. I mean, this is the thing. I mean, it was, it was, it looked right, but
17:12but it looked so right and so perfect. And at the same time, you couldn't imagine anybody
17:17else doing it like that. He had a wonderful way of doing it. He was very, very thoughtful
17:25about, he did a lot of preparation. He was a great one for preparing things. He liked the
17:30preparation almost better than doing it. In the end, I felt that if he could have invented
17:36a way of actually shooting it without rolling the cameras, he would have liked to have done so, you know.
17:45Everything's changed. And not always for the better. I think an awful lot of what one sees
17:54is it's not really funny.
18:13Interview with Mr. David Tomlinson, Ree Fu Manchu. David, I read in your biographical notes
18:20are that you abandoned a career in big business with BP, admittedly as a youth,
18:27to become an actor. Your father got you the job.
18:30Shell. Shell.
18:31Big business with BP.
18:35Why did you abandon a career in that area to become an actor?
18:38I mean, it's not true to say, I never even had an interview.
18:41He said, I've got a job for you. You might get a job in Shell.
18:48And, well, I didn't get into that, of course.
18:53Why did you become an actor?
18:58Seriously?
19:00Because it was a profession that required no qualifications of any kind.
19:07Go on.
19:08Where do you want me to go to?
19:11I mean, you say that, um, you were...
19:14I'm serious about that.
19:15You write to me even now and ask me how I cured my stammer.
19:19How did you?
19:21Tenacity.
19:23I was going to be an actor, so I've got to learn to.
19:26I still stammer, of course.
19:28Let me know if I stammer, won't you?
19:30I will.
19:32What was it about the art of acting that appealed to, per se?
19:35Oh, well, I never really wanted to be anything else.
19:40I mean, when I first went to the theater, I thought, what a wonderful way of...
19:44Do they get paid for this?
19:45Oh, wonderful.
19:46What a lovely way of...
19:48And it is a very, very attractive way of spending one's time.
19:54You confess total incompetence as a youth, and total reliance upon a protective family.
20:02How did you cope with early experiences in your career when you were out on your own?
20:07Well, I think that I was lucky, really.
20:14You know, I...
20:16Good eye and good ear, I think.
20:18I'm good...
20:20I think I have a good eye and a good ear.
20:22And I think that's what being an actor is all...
20:26Not all about, but a great deal of what being an actor is.
20:32Listening and...
20:35Observation.
20:37Yeah.
20:39Surprised to learn that you never intended to be a comedy actor.
20:44That happened by chance.
20:46Well, I just intended to learn living in the theater, you know.
20:51And I think it is by chance.
20:53If you happen to play a so-called funny role, and if you have my sort of appearance,
21:02you'll become an eccentric comedian.
21:05If you manage to...
21:07That's rather good.
21:09Play an eccentric comic role.
21:12And from there onwards...
21:16That you're inclined to play those sort of things.
21:19Anyway, I'd rather be an eccentric comedian than...
21:25A straight actor.
21:28How much validity is there in this oft-quoted suggestion
21:33that comedy is more difficult to play?
21:35Well, I never really...
21:39I always should be instinctive.
21:44That's a rather garbled reply to your question, isn't it?
21:47No.
21:48Not?
21:50How do you think comedy styles have changed over the years, Dave?
21:53Well, I think that...
21:54Well, I mean, they're bound to have changed, aren't they?
22:05I mean, everything's changed.
22:06Films have changed.
22:07It's all changed.
22:08It's Gary Cooper, isn't it?
22:09I mean.
22:10But I think...
22:12Well, there obviously have been changes.
22:17It always strikes me, though, that there is more self-indulgence now.
22:23Oh, yes.
22:24Of course there is.
22:26People...
22:27People...
22:28People are greedy.
22:29More greedy than they've ever been.
22:31More grasping.
22:33I mean, thinking back to the time when you made things like...
22:36Films like...
22:37Well, for Chiltern, hundreds, Miranda.
22:40Yeah.
22:41These were very tightly controlled productions, both artistically and in the production areas.
22:50Whereas, they seem to get out of hand now, and the artist controlled.
22:57Yes, I suppose so.
23:00I'm not sure that even in those days they were all that much under...
23:04You mentioned Miranda, for instance.
23:06Now, Miranda was an interesting story.
23:09If people still remember it.
23:12About a mermaid.
23:13Clear.
23:14You couldn't very well say that was tightly controlled.
23:17I mean, the idea of starting a film, even in those days, and throwing three weeks work away is really incomprehensible.
23:26How and when did you make a start in films, David?
23:29I was very, very well-liked, and very clever.
23:40Extremely nice man.
23:42Some other people with whom you worked...
23:45You were talking about...
23:47Yes, I'll give you the line.
23:49Another person of genius with whom you worked in the early days, David, was of course Leslie Howard.
23:55Why did you say another person of genius?
23:57Because you told me earlier on.
23:58That's right.
23:59Quite right.
24:01Yes, he was a marvellous, marvellous actor, Leslie Howard.
24:06And there are only three that I worked with in films.
24:10Three actors who I regard...
24:12Who I think were actors of...
24:15Genuine genius, and certainly Leslie Howard as well.
24:18Yes.
24:19You worked with him in the early days as well.
24:20That's right.
24:21Well, he's a marvellous, marvellously clever man, isn't he?
24:26A wonderful raconteur.
24:31Very good actor.
24:33And I mean, he goes from strength to strength, isn't he?
24:40Very clever.
24:41You worked with him on School for Secrets.
24:43That's right.
24:44That's right.
24:45And also...
24:46Hotel Sahara.
24:47Hotel Sahara.
24:48He acted in that.
24:49He directed School for Secrets.
24:52And he acted in Hotel Sahara.
24:54And of course, there was the veteran Tom Walls.
24:58Yes.
24:59I acted with him once in a thing called Bank Dam, Master of Bank Dam.
25:05That's right.
25:06He was then, you know, by the end of his life, almost.
25:10That was interesting.
25:12I liked him and had several talks with him.
25:15I never, unfortunately, saw the Aldrich boys.
25:18I don't know why, but I never...
25:21I never saw them at their height, Ray Flynn.
25:25I saw Ray Flynn at the end of his career, you know.
25:29He was a wonderful comedian, of course.
25:32But I enjoyed working with Tom Walls.
25:36We'll talk about some of your films later in detail, David.
25:40But, of course, you went to Hollywood,
25:42and I believe you had the great accolade laid upon you
25:45by Walt Disney himself, who said, and I quote,
25:49he's the biggest thing since Mickey Mouse.
25:52Quite true.
25:53Inclined never to let on.
25:56He knew more than he really knew.
25:57Bill had thought he'd cast me in the picture,
25:59but, of course, Walt had cast me.
26:02Actually, at that particular time, when he saw me,
26:05he was thinking of me for something else.
26:07And I think he decided...
26:09I think it was a film that was eventually
26:12about a family in France with Fred McMurray.
26:16And I think he thought that it might be a good idea to have me,
26:18and then he decided, rightly, I think, although you disagree, of course,
26:24to have Fred McMurray.
26:26You mentioned...
26:27Is that rather too long, that story?
26:28It's quite amusing, though, isn't it?
26:30Yes.
26:31I mean, if you can stand it.
26:32There was...
26:34You mentioned up the creek.
26:35Yeah.
26:36And I'm told that they played a rotten trick on you during that picture,
26:41involving another gentleman called Stanley Unwin.
26:44Yes.
26:46He played the porter.
26:48That was further up the creek, actually.
26:49Further?
26:50Yes.
26:51He played the porter.
26:52Isn't he funny, Stanley Unwin?
26:53The man who never says anything, and it's all...
26:57But they didn't tell you anything about him, did they,
26:59and you hadn't met him?
27:03Not quite true.
27:05I knew all about Stanley Unwin.
27:06Who told you that?
27:07You've been reading the wrong handouts.
27:09I see.
27:10All right.
27:11But talking about up the creek, it's a little bit interesting.
27:14Made for very little.
27:16Made with great success.
27:18Very well directed by a director who I always think is a very good
27:21comedy director called Val Guest.
27:25Then, of course, you went...
27:26Sorry.
27:27Sorry, yeah.
27:28You went on to work with Sellers much later in Fu Manchu.
27:31Yes.
27:32The last film that we have seen with him.
27:34Yes.
27:35How did you sum him up?
27:38Well, he was a wonderful actor, of course.
27:41But he was very simply one of the only three actors who I would
27:49regard as actors of genius who I worked with in movies.
27:53And I would put him at the top of the list.
27:55Leslie Hyatt, Robert Donat, and Peter Sellers.
27:59I was very devoted to him.
28:04He never bored me for a second.
28:06He was fun and fascinating.
28:09He was, by this time, not, of course, well.
28:15I was rather shocked by his appearance when I saw him the first day of the film.
28:19I hadn't seen him for some time.
28:21We talked on the phone.
28:22He used to ring me up and have long, long conversations on the telephone from all parts of the world,
28:28from a yacht in the Mediterranean.
28:31Is it lovely weather?
28:32I'd say to Peter.
28:33No, my darling.
28:34It's pissing down, he'd say.
28:37In the Mediterranean.
28:39Continue.
28:40Sorry.
28:4139, take one.
28:45Continuation of interview with Mr. David Tomlinson.
28:47David, you were telling us about Peter ringing you and having long telephone conversations.
28:52Yes, well, he was a great phoner, you know.
28:55He liked phoning.
28:56And curiously enough, he phoned me 48 hours before he died and talked to me for an hour and a half.
29:04And over the last month or so of his life, he phoned me quite often.
29:12But he phoned me first about Foo, which I was delighted about, of course, from a yacht in the Mediterranean.
29:25And I said, where are you?
29:26I said, are you really on the yacht?
29:28He said, yes.
29:29He said, they're an awful nuisance yachts.
29:32He said, they're a great mistake, I promise you.
29:34And I said, well, you're sitting in the sun.
29:36It must be absolutely lovely.
29:37Nonsense.
29:38He said, it's pissing with rain.
29:40And I don't like the way the captain's looking at me.
29:43You know.
29:45What was the essence of his genius, David?
29:49Well, he was a marvellous actor.
29:52He had a way, although he was well when he was in front of the camera,
29:58he did have a little heart attack, you see, when we were actually making the picture.
30:05And funnily enough, I was dining with him the night before.
30:07My wife and I were dining with him the night before.
30:10And I said, what are you going to do tomorrow, Peter?
30:13And he said, I'm going off.
30:15He lived in Gestart, you know.
30:16And he said, would you like to come?
30:19And I said, well, Peter, it's a very, you know, my wife was there for the few days.
30:24And so I did, I rather regret I didn't go in the end.
30:27Because he was on his own.
30:28He wasn't taking his assistant.
30:30Nice chap called.
30:31Michael Jeffrey used to look after him very well.
30:35He was going on his own because Michael Jeffrey had to fix his clothes.
30:38He wore a lot of Chinese drag, you know, all that little stuff.
30:41Michael was getting it fixed up for Monday.
30:45Anyway, I said, what do you do?
30:47What are you going to do with yourself?
30:49And he said, oh, well, do a bit of cooking, you know.
30:53I don't think he'd ever cooked in his life, of course.
30:56And I said, well, now, don't you have social?
30:59Did you see anybody?
31:00Well, if I want to, I can, you know, I've got some friends.
31:03And my guess is he probably spent the weekend alone.
31:06And he had a heart attack.
31:08A very sad man.
31:11Well, you see, never with me.
31:16He, funnily enough, he, the only time he mentioned his depressions was the night we had,
31:27that night we were talking about with my wife and I.
31:29He was very fond of my wife.
31:31And he told me he was a manic depressive.
31:33And I said, oh, come off, you're not a manic depressive.
31:36Oh, yes, I am, he said.
31:38I think possibly he was.
31:39I don't know.
31:40But all I can say is he was always as gay as a being when I was with him.
31:47And he was always kindness itself.
31:51I mean, a little story of his kindness and his generosity.
31:56He was enormously generous.
31:58In a way that very, very wealthy people are not always, as you know.
32:02Very wealthy are often the opposite.
32:05But when we were making up the creek, this naval picture, which I enjoyed, incidentally, enormously.
32:15I enjoyed it because it was so professionally made and made in the way one should make films.
32:21And, well, you know, the schedule was what it was.
32:26Schedule, would you prefer?
32:28Schedule was as it was meant to be.
32:31Shot in ten weeks or eight weeks, whatever it was.
32:33Ten weeks, I think.
32:35And everything came off.
32:36Everything they promised was right.
32:39But anyway, we were making the picture.
32:40At that time, tape recorders had sort of appeared on the market.
32:45And he was very keen on cameras and tape recorders and cars.
32:49And he was showing me his tape recorders.
32:51I had never seen a tape recorder, of course.
32:54And he...
32:57I was doing a play at the same time as Greedy for Money, of course, doing a play as well as the film.
33:05And one night I came into the theatre and there on the sofa was a tape recorder.
33:10A big, big, great big one.
33:13Because in those days they weren't nice little small ones, you know.
33:16I've still got it instantly.
33:18And written in scrawled, moronic handwriting was a note from a friend.
33:25Now, it took me twelve months to discover, through his wife, that Pete had given me the tape recorder.
33:34He never let on.
33:35I mean, I even said to him, I got a tape recorder.
33:40And he said, did you?
33:42And he never told me.
33:44Can we talk about some of your other films, David?
33:47If you insist.
33:49Would you preface your answers with the title of the film?
33:52Yeah.
33:53The Way to the Stars.
33:55Anthony Asquith.
33:57Director.
33:59Great success, wasn't it?
34:00Wears rather well.
34:01A lovely performance from an actress called Rosamund John.
34:07Saw it on the box the other day.
34:10Rather good, I thought.
34:12Still wears quite well.
34:14Can I ask you to do that again?
34:17Can I ask you to do that?
34:18Because you don't like the coffee cup.
34:19Coffee cup.
34:20There were two things earlier.
34:21Coffee cup was slightly masculine.
34:2540, take one.
34:28Just to get it on record, David, why do you always knock yourself?
34:32Do I knock myself?
34:34I don't think I knock myself, do I?
34:37Do I?
34:39No, I don't think so.
34:41I don't think that's quite true.
34:43No, I don't think I knock myself.
34:46All right.
34:47You don't.
34:48I think you do.
34:49However, Journey Together.
34:51Journey Together.
34:52RAF Film Unit.
34:54Journey Together.
34:56School for Secrets.
35:00Directed by Peter Justino.
35:04I don't remember much about it except that Ralph Richardson played the leading part.
35:09It was the first time I met him.
35:13My dear fella, how are you?
35:18That's my imitation of Ralph Richardson.
35:21And you may not like it, but it's good.
35:24My Brother's Keeper.
35:26My Brother's Keeper.
35:28I can't remember that one.
35:30I think we'll pass on to the next one.
35:32Who was in My Brother's Keeper?
35:34Fame is the Spur.
35:36Yes, that was the voting, wasn't it?
35:43I can't forget who the writer.
35:44Who was the writer?
35:46Howard Spring.
35:47Howard Spring, yes.
35:49Yes.
35:50I ended up age 90 in that.
35:53The makeup took three and a half hours.
35:56Miranda, you talked about the Chiltern Hundred.
36:00Charming little bit of nonsense.
36:02Could you use the title please?
36:03Two, which he never let on.
36:06One foot on the bottom.
36:08That was funny.
36:09And we literally had to save him.
36:11He'll say it's not true, of course, but it is true.
36:15We had to pull him out once.
36:17Tom Jones.
36:19Again, enormous success, wasn't it?
36:21I didn't have much to do in it, but I rather enjoyed that.
36:31I think they were worried about that one.
36:33They thought it was taking too long and costing too much money, you know.
36:36It was a very good film, wasn't it?
36:37Mm-hmm.
36:38All I can remember about it now is Ed Welchchachter.
36:41What's his name?
36:42Hugh Grew, Hugh Grew, with all those dogs.
36:46Dear boy.
36:47Arriving about 17 dogs at 6 o'clock in the morning in a rolls, or a special roll, white rolls.
36:51You know.
36:52And I remember Edith Evans, of course.
36:53He was marvelous, eh?
36:54And, of course, Albert Finney.
36:55He was wonderful, isn't it?
36:57Bedknobs and broomsticks.
36:59Bedknobs and broomsticks.
37:01Well, you know, another of my American.
37:04I did three for Disney.
37:05And I loved, loved all of them.
37:06And, uh, who else was in it?
37:07I'm trying to remember.
37:08Marvel scripted two wonderful kids.
37:09The boy was wonderful.
37:10The little boy was terribly good.
37:11Tommy.
37:12Tommy.
37:13Tommy.
37:14Tommy.
37:15Tommy.
37:16Tommy.
37:17Tommy.
37:18Tommy.
37:19Tommy.
37:20Tommy.
37:21Tommy.
37:22Tommy.
37:23Tommy.
37:24Tommy.
37:25Tommy.
37:26Tommy.
37:27Tommy.
37:28Tommy.
37:29Tommy.
37:30Tommy.
37:31Tommy.
37:32Tommy.
37:33Tommy.
37:34Tommy.
37:35Tommy.
37:36Tommy.
37:37Tommy.
37:38Tommy.
37:39Tommy.
37:40Tommy.
37:41Tommy.
37:42Tommy.
37:43Tommy.
37:44Tommy.
37:45Tommy.
37:46Tommy.
37:47Tommy.
37:48Tommy.
37:49Tommy.
37:50Tommy.
37:51Tommy.
37:52Tommy.
37:53Tommy.
37:54Tommy.
37:55Tommy.
37:56Tommy.
37:57Tommy.
37:58Tommy.
37:59Tommy.
38:00Tommy.
38:01Tommy.
38:02Tommy.
38:03is marvelous in it, you know? I love doing it. Fu Manchu, I love doing it. We shot it
38:13in Paris, in a place called Saint-Gervais in the French Alps, and a little bit of location
38:22in England. I loved the whole thing. I thought it was marvelous. I was, as I already told
38:33you, I was devoted to Peter, who I regarded as somebody very special. I think people expected
38:39him to be ordinary, and of course he wasn't ordinary, he was extraordinary.
38:42I read somewhere, David, the suggestion that, and I quote,
38:46were there a Novocaine Lip of the Year Award, David Tomlinson might win it.
38:52Well, I mean, at my age I need all the support I can get, as long as they say something. Even
38:56if it's rude, it doesn't really matter, does it? I'm sure they can think of lovely things
39:01to say about you. David Tomlinson, thank you.
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