Raising a Riot is a 1955 British comedy film directed by Wendy Toye and starring Kenneth More, Shelagh Fraser and Mandy Miller about a naval officer who attempts to look after his three children in his wife's absence.[2][3] It was shot at Shepperton Studios near London with sets designed by the art director Joseph Bato.
Raising a Riot | |
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Directed by | Wendy Toye |
Written by | Ian Dalrymple Hugh Perceval |
Based on | Raising a Riot by Alfred Toombs |
Produced by | Ian Dalrymple Hugh Perceval |
Starring | Kenneth More Shelagh Fraser Mandy Miller |
Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
Edited by | Bert Rule |
Music by | Bruce Montgomery |
Production companies | London Films Wessex Films |
Distributed by | British Lion Films |
Release date | 21 February 1955 |
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Box office | £231,148 (UK)[1] |
Commander Peter Kent of the Royal Navy and his wife May have three children, ranging from five to eleven years: Peter, Anne and Fusty. Kent comes home after three years abroad with no idea how to handle the children. When Mary has to fly to Canada, Peter takes his children to his father's new country home, which turns out to be a windmill. They end up clashing with an American family in the neighbourhood.
The film was based on a book by American writer Alfred Toombs. The book was based on Toombs' real life experience of having to look after his children after having been away from them at war for three years.[4]
One of the children is an uncredited Caroline John, who would later play Liz Shaw in Doctor Who.
The film was the eighth most popular movie at the British box office in 1955.[5][6]
According to the National Film Finance Corporation, the film made a comfortable profit.[7]
The New York Times wrote, "Withal, it makes agreeable entertainment. Mr. More is a comical chap, particularly when he has a dog to cope with, as he had in the memorable Genevieve...Raising a Riot is an amiable little film";[8] while more recently, the Radio Times called it "an inconsequential, one-joke comedy, kept moving by the polished More, but old-fashioned and rather flat";[9] and AllMovie described how the film "goes off on several directions, many of them hilarious: some of the best scenes involve the kids' ongoing feud with a bunch of American children."[10]
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