Confessions of a Window Cleaner

Confessions of a Window Cleaner
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Val Guest
Produced by	Norman Cohen Michael Klinger Greg Smith
Written by	Val Guest Christopher Wood
Starring	Robin Askwith Antony Booth Linda Hayden Sheila White Dandy Nichols Bill Maynard
Music by	Sam Sklair
Cinematography	Norman Warwick
Editing by	Bill Lenny
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	8 November 1974
Running time	90 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Confessions of a Window Cleaner is a 1974 British sex comedy film, directed by Val Guest.^[1]

Like the other films in the Confessions series; Confessions of a Pop Performer, Confessions of a Driving Instructor and Confessions from a Holiday Camp, it concerns the erotic adventures of Timothy Lea, based on the novels written under that name by Christopher Wood. Each film features Robin Askwith and Antony Booth.

Plot

Like many British sex comedies of the 1970s the narrative involves a male protagonist who gets into compromising situations with a succession of women.^[2] The optimistic and inept Timothy Lea is freshly employed by his brother-in-law Sid as a window cleaner. With Sid an impending father to be, he looks to Timmy to fully 'satisfy' his customers, little realising that Timmy's accident prone ways often stretch to his sex life with his clients. Timmy bed hops from unsatisfied housewives to even a lesbian love tryst, all the while with his main eye on successful police woman, Elizabeth Radlett, who will have none of Timmy's sexual advances. He proposes as a result, much to his family's upset, unaware that Timmy's usual run of luck will effect the outcome!

Critical reception & impact

It has been called, "perhaps the best known and most successful British sex film" of the era, and was the top-grossing British film of 1974.^[2] As well as its sequels in the Confessions series it spawned another unrelated series of films which began with Adventures of a Taxi Driver (1975).^[2] The film made Robin Askwith a star in the UK.^[2] When the films were originally released they were regarded as very risqué and essentially soft core pornography, owing to the amount of nudity involved - generally female, with Robin Askwith being the only male shown naked. However the sex scenes themselves are more suggestive than explicit, being essentially played for laughs. Nonetheless, it was not until 1997 that Channel 5 became the first British terrestrial channel to show the entire series of Confessions films. At this time the Daily Mail newspaper was very critical of the sexual content of Channel 5's late night schedule, referring to Channel 5 as Channel Filth and the Confessions series as "Films from the darkest days of British cinema".

Cast

• Robin Askwith .... Timothy Lea
• Antony Booth .... Sidney Noggett
• Linda Hayden .... Elizabeth Radlett
• Sheila White .... Rosie Noggett
• Dandy Nichols .... Mrs. Lea
• Bill Maynard .... Mr. Lea
• John Le Mesurier .... Inspector Radlett
• Joan Hickson .... Mrs. Radlett
• Sue Longhurst .... Jacqui Brown
• Katya Wyeth .... Carole
• Richard Wattis .... Carole's Father
• Melissa Stribling .... Mrs. Villiers
• Anita Graham .... Ingrid
• Sam Kydd .... 1st Removal Man
• Brian Hall .... 2nd Removal Man

References

1. ^ Leach, p.132
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Leach, p.134

Bibliography

• Leach, Jim (2004). British film. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052165419X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=008C_t8NhycC&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
• Simon Sheridan (2007). Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema. Reynolds & Hearn Books. ISBN 1905287542. 

External links

• Confessions of a Window Cleaner at the Internet Movie Database