Prudence and the Pill
Encyclopedia
Prudence and the Pill is a 1968
1968 in film
The year 1968 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* October 30 - The film The Lion in Winter, starring Katharine Hepburn, debuts.* November 1 - The MPAA's film rating system is introduced.-Top grossing films :- Awards :...

 British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...

 comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 made by Twentieth Century-Fox. It was directed by Fielder Cook and Ronald Neame
Ronald Neame
Ronald Elwin Neame CBE, BSC was an English film cinematographer, producer, screenwriter and director.-Early career:...

 and produced by Kenneth Harper and Ronald J. Kahn from a screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 by Hugh Mills, based on his own novel. The music score was by Bernard Ebbinghouse and the cinematography by Ted Moore
Ted Moore
Ted Moore, B.S.C. was a cinematographer and camera operator on nearly fifty films, and is probably most famous for his work on seven of the James Bond films in the 1960s and early 1970s.-Biography:...

.

The film stars Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

 and David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

 with Robert Coote
Robert Coote
Robert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...

, Irina Demick
Irina Demick
Irina Demick , sometimes credited as Irina Demich was a French actress with a brief career in American films....

, Joyce Redman
Joyce Redman
-Biography:She was born in County Mayo, Ireland, to an Anglo-Irish family. She was educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She was trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....

, Judy Geeson
Judy Geeson
Judith Amanda "Judy" Geeson is an English actor.-Early life:Geeson was born in Arundel, Sussex, England on 10 September 1948. She came from a middle class family; her father edited the National Coal Board magazine. Her sister, Sally Geeson, is also an actress and is known for her roles in British...

, Keith Michell
Keith Michell
Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...

, Michael Hordern
Michael Hordern
Sir Michael Murray Hordern was an English actor, knighted in 1983 for his services to the theatre, which stretched back to before the Second World War.-Personal life:...

 and Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...

.

Plot

The film portrays the conflicting and comical attempts by five couples to avoid pregnancy by using contraceptive pills. All of their efforts are ultimately unsuccessful, with the result that all five of the women give birth the following year.

The story revolves around a wealthy London banker named Gerald Hardcastle (Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

) and his wife Prudence (Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

), who live together unhappily, sleeping in separate bedrooms and speaking to each other only when necessary. The five couples in the film are (1) Gerald and his French mistress Elizabeth, or "Liz" (Demick
Irina Demick
Irina Demick , sometimes credited as Irina Demich was a French actress with a brief career in American films....

), (2) Prudence and her doctor, Dr. Alan Hewitt (Michell
Keith Michell
Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...

), (3) the Hardcastles's maid Rose (Turner
Vickery Turner
Vickery Turner was a British actress, playwright, author and stage director. She started out on stage and her first breakthrough role was in the first production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave...

) and their chauffeur Ted (Armstrong
Hugh Armstrong
Hugh Armstrong was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1892 to 1896 and from 1902 to 1915, and was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Rodmond P. Roblin...

), (4) Gerald's brother Henry (Coote
Robert Coote
Robert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...

) and his wife Grace (Redman
Joyce Redman
-Biography:She was born in County Mayo, Ireland, to an Anglo-Irish family. She was educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She was trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....

), and (5) Henry and Grace's daughter Geraldine (Geeson
Judy Geeson
Judith Amanda "Judy" Geeson is an English actor.-Early life:Geeson was born in Arundel, Sussex, England on 10 September 1948. She came from a middle class family; her father edited the National Coal Board magazine. Her sister, Sally Geeson, is also an actress and is known for her roles in British...

) and her boyfriend Tony Bates (Dundas
David Dundas
David Dundas is the name of:*Lord David Dundas, pop singer of the 1970s*Sir David Dundas, 1st Baronet, military officer of the 18th and 19th centuries in England...

).

All of the couples want to use a birth-control pill called "Thenol", but none of them wants to admit it. Prudence, Grace, and Ted manage to acquire supplies of pills, Grace through a prescription written by Hewitt, and Ted from the
local "chemist", or pharmacist, who happens to be a friend of his. However, Grace soon becomes pregnant, because Geraldine has been stealing her pills and replacing them with aspirin tablets. After Geraldine admits her pill-switching scheme to Grace and Grace tells Gerald about it, Gerald uses the scheme on Prudence in order to generate incriminating evidence of her affair.

Meanwhile, believing that Rose is too conservative to accept contraception, Ted puts his tablets in a vitamin bottle and tells her she needs them for her health. However, Rose is worried about becoming pregnant, so she switches the pills in her vitamin bottle with the pills in Prudence's Thenol bottle, just moments after Gerald replaces Prudence's Thenol with aspirin. The result, then, is that Rose unwittingly trades Ted's Thenol for Gerald's aspirin. She soon becomes pregnant, and Ted tells Gerald about the pills he gave her, but says nothing about telling her they were vitamins. When Gerald asks her why her Thenol pills failed to work, she asks him how he knew about them, thinking that he has already found out about her taking Prudence's pills, at which point they both realize that she has revealed her guilt.

Now knowing why Prudence is still not pregnant, Gerald buys more aspirin, determined to expose her relationship with Hewitt. This eventually works, as do whatever measures Grace took to keep her pills away from Geraldine. By the end of the film, Geraldine and Prudence are both expecting.

Eventually, Gerald gets into trouble with both Liz and Prudence. Liz grows dissatisfied in her covert relationship with Gerald, who has been hiding her from his family, and decides to leave him. Prudence finds the letter that Liz wrote to Gerald about her decision, and Gerald finds Hewitt's Thenol prescription for Prudence. At first, neither Gerald nor Prudence is willing to grant the other a divorce, but Prudence offers to take the blame after becoming pregnant, as long as Gerald will spare Hewitt's reputation. Gerald accepts this arrangement grudgingly, but before meeting with Hewitt, he happens to see Liz while driving through town, and she tells him she is going to have his baby. Now able to see her openly, and with a child on the way, Gerald quickly and enthusiastically agrees to an amicable divorce. A few months later, a total of six newborn babies arrive, Rose having had twins.

Cast

Actor Role
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr
Deborah Kerr, CBE was a Scottish film and television actress from Glasgow. She won the Sarah Siddons Award for her Chicago performance as Laura Reynolds in Tea and Sympathy, a role which she originated on Broadway, a Golden Globe Award for the motion picture The King and I, and was a three-time...

Prudence Hardcastle
David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...

Gerald Hardcastle
Robert Coote
Robert Coote
Robert Coote was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of My Fair Lady.-Biography:Coote was educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex...

Henry Hardcastle
Irina Demick
Irina Demick
Irina Demick , sometimes credited as Irina Demich was a French actress with a brief career in American films....

Elizabeth Brett
Joyce Redman
Joyce Redman
-Biography:She was born in County Mayo, Ireland, to an Anglo-Irish family. She was educated by a private governess in Ireland, along with her three sisters. She was trained in acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....

Grace Hardcastle
Judy Geeson
Judy Geeson
Judith Amanda "Judy" Geeson is an English actor.-Early life:Geeson was born in Arundel, Sussex, England on 10 September 1948. She came from a middle class family; her father edited the National Coal Board magazine. Her sister, Sally Geeson, is also an actress and is known for her roles in British...

Geraldine Hardcastle
Keith Michell
Keith Michell
Keith Michell is an Australian actor, particularly noted for his television and film performances as King Henry VIII of England.- Early life :He was born in Adelaide and brought up in Warnertown, near Port Pirie...

Dr. Alan Hewitt
Edith Evans
Edith Evans
Dame Edith Mary Evans, DBE was a British actress. She was known for her work on the British stage. She also appeared in a number of films, for which she received three Academy Award nominations, plus a BAFTA and a Golden Globe award.Evans was particularly effective at portraying haughty...

Lady Roberta Bates
David Dundas
David Dundas
David Dundas is the name of:*Lord David Dundas, pop singer of the 1970s*Sir David Dundas, 1st Baronet, military officer of the 18th and 19th centuries in England...

Tony Bates
Vickery Turner
Vickery Turner
Vickery Turner was a British actress, playwright, author and stage director. She started out on stage and her first breakthrough role was in the first production of The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie opposite Vanessa Redgrave...

Rose the maid
Hugh Armstrong
Hugh Armstrong
Hugh Armstrong was a politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba from 1892 to 1896 and from 1902 to 1915, and was a senior cabinet minister in the government of Rodmond P. Roblin...

Ted the chauffer
Peter Butterworth
Peter Butterworth
Peter William Shorrocks Butterworth was an English comedy actor and comedian, best known for his appearances in the Carry On series of films. He was also a regular on children's television and radio and appeared in seven early episodes of Doctor Who in 1965 as the 'The Meddling Monk'...

Chemist
Moyra Fraser
Moyra Fraser
Moyra Fraser was an Australian-born British actress and ballet dancer, who is best known for playing Penny in the long-running sitcom As Time Goes By. Her sister was the actress Shelagh Fraser...

 
Woman In Tea Shop
Annette Kerr
Annette Kerr
Annette Kerr is an English actress born in 1920. She has made numerous appearances in films and on television.Kerr is also frequently referred to in The Kenneth Williams Diaries edited by Russell Davies and it seems he was very fond of her and they were good friends who also worked with each other...

 
Gerald's Secretary
Harry Towb
Harry Towb
Harry Towb was a Northern Irish actor.-Early life and career:Towb's father was Russian and his mother was Irish. He attended the Finiston School and Technical College, Belfast...

Racetrack Official
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