The Knack ...and How to Get It: Difference between revisions

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Colin is a nervous schoolteacher working in [[London]], observing rather than participating in the [[sexual revolution]] of the 1960s. He has little personal sexual experience and wishes to gain "the knack" of how to seduce women. He turns to his friend and tenant, a confident womaniser known only by his surname, Tolen. Tolen gives him unhelpful advice to consume more protein and use intuition, acknowledging that intuition is not something that can be completely learned. He advocates the importance of [[sexual domination|dominating]] women and suggests that Colin should let another friend move into Colin's spare room, and they could "share" women.

Colin boards the front door shut. Tom, who is passing, takes up occupation of the vacant room. He is obsessed with painting everything white, including the windowpanes. Due to the blocked door, Tolen now brings his women in through the window. Colin swaps his single bed for a fancy old double-wrought -iron double bed that he finds in a scrapyard with Tom. Nancy meets Colin at the scrapyard. Nancy is an inexperienced and shy young woman who has arrived in London from out of town and is searching for the [[YWCA]]. She stops by a clothing store and is won over by the flattery of the clerk until she overhears him repeating the same words to every female customer.

From the scrapyard, the three take the bed on a complex and zany journey back to the house. This includes parking it at a [[parking meter]], moving it on a [[Car carrier trailer|car transporter]], floating it along the [[River Thames]], and carrying it down the steps of the [[Royal Albert Hall]].

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==Production==

After seeing [[Ann Jellicoe]]'s play ''The Knack'', the producers envisioned a film adaptation. They offered the position of director to [[Lindsay Anderson]], who refused.<ref name="Steiner">{{Cite web|url=https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/84070 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108052621/http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/84070%7C0/The-Knack-And-How-To-Get-It.html |url-status=live |archive-date=8 November 2012 |title=The Knack ...and How to Get It |last=Steiner |first=Richard |access-date=7 June 2017 |work=[[Turner Classic Movies]]}}{{dead link |date=May 2024}}</ref>

Having worked with [[The Beatles]] on ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night]]'', Lester was another candidate for director, and agreed to take the position.<ref name="Steiner"/> Lester made major changes to the play, adding his own touch through direct address, unexpected oddly-edited sequences, humorous subtitles, and a [[Greek chorus]] of disapproving members of "the older generation."{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Filming took place inover a few weeks in November and early December 1964, and Lester employed television advertising techniques.<ref name="Steiner"/> Talking about the film in the 1980s, actor [[Ray Brooks (actor)|Ray Brooks]] said: {{cquote|He’s a very visual man. They reckon that you could take any frame from ''[[Help! (film)|Help]]'', ''The Knack'', and ''[[A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day’s Night]]'' and you could put it on the cover of Time/Life. Everything was so beautifully shot."<ref>[http://www.chrishunt.biz/feature24.html ''Ray Brooks interview''] by [[Chris Hunt]]</ref>}}

Lester himself makes a brief cameo as an annoyed bystander. [[John Barry (composer)|John Barry]] contributed the jazzy score, which features a memorable organ solo by [[Alan Haven]]. [[Jane Birkin]], [[Charlotte Rampling]], and [[Jacqueline Bisset]] all made their first cinematic appearances in the film as extras, together with ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' disc girl [[Samantha Juste]].

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The film has fared less well on reappraisal. In 2001, the ''Wallflower Critical Guide'' noted the creativity in cinematography and editing, but said it disrupted the storytelling.<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Yoram Allon |editor2=Del Cullen |editor3=Hannah Patterson |title=Contemporary British and Irish Film Directors: A Wallflower Critical Guide |publisher=Wallflower Press |date=2001 |isbn=1903364213 |page=199}}</ref>

In 2016, ''[[The Hollywood Reporter]]'' ranked it the 49th best film to win the Palme d'Or (out of the 69 films to win up to that point), stating it "hasn't aged well" but the setting was a great asset.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/cannes-palme-dor-winners-ranked-891143/item/best-intentions-palme-dor-winners-891108 |title=Cannes: All the Palme d'Or Winners, Ranked |last=Staff |date=10 May 2016 |access-date=7 June 2017 |work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]}}</ref>

In 2020, as part of a profile of Tushingham, Stuart Jeffries in ''[[The Guardian]]'' called the film "painful to watch", citing "the levity with which the film treats rape, not to mention Nancy's weird hysteria, is bound to make modern audiences a little queasy."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jan/28/rita-tushingham-interview-taste-of-honey-shock-60s |title=Rita Tushingham on life after A Taste of Honey |last=Jeffries |first=Stuart |date=28 January 2020 |access-date=4 January 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

===Accolades===

The film was entered into competition at the [[1965 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2888/year/1965.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119093130/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2888/year/1965.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=19 January 2012 |title=Festival de Cannes: The Knack ...and How to Get It |access-date=7 June 2017 |work=festival-cannes.com}}{{dead link |date=May 2024}}</ref> where it won the [[Palme d'Or]].<ref name="Guardian">{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2011/may/11/cannes-film-2011-award-winners-palme-dor |title=Cannes 2011: all the Palme d'Or winners |date=May 2011 |access-date=7 June 2017 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

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==External links==

*{{IMDb title|id=0059362|title=The Knack …and How to Get It}}

* {{Amg movie|97908|The Knack …and How to Get It}}

*{{rotten-tomatoes|knackand_how_to_get_it}}

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[[Category:1960s English-language films]]

[[Category:1960s British films]]

[[Category:English-language sex comedy films]]

[[Category:English-language romantic comedy films]]