Say Hello to Yesterday
| Say Hello to Yesterday | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Alvin Rakoff |
| Produced by | Josef Shaftel |
| Screenplay by | Alvin Rakoff and Peter King (from an original story by Alvin Rakoff and Ray Mathew) |
| Starring |
Jean Simmons Leonard Whiting Evelyn Laye Derek Francis Geoffrey Bayldon James Cossins Frank Middlemass Jack Woolgar Susan Penhaligon |
| Music by | Riz Ortolani |
Release dates | 1970 |
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | Great Britain |
| Language | English |
Say Hello to Yesterday is a 1970 British drama film directed by the Canadian born Alvin Rakoff, on whose original story the film is based. Starring Jean Simmons and Leonard Whiting, it is ' a fast moving account of ten hours in the life of a suburban housewife' and was made at Twickenham Studios and on location in London and Hampshire.
Plot
From one of the upper middle class suburbs of London, the Woman, having just quarrelled with her husband is going to London, shopping. Unhappily she drives to the station. Among the crowd as she boards the train is the Boy. He is 22 today. He is bored. He is determined to make the day a different one.
The Boy moves up and down the crowded corridors. The Woman in her non-smoking compartment badly wants a cigarette and starts to scrape away a ' No Smoking' sign. The Boy is attracted by this middle class rebellion, pulls the sign off and presents it to her says ' Hello' and tries to engage her in conversation.
Later, battling her way into a department store she finds he has followed her. Leaving the store, she thinks she has lost him. But he catches up with her on a crowded pavement. She tries to throw him off, he finds her again. She flees to her mother's apartment – followed by the Boy. The Woman is desperately embarrassed and tries to explain, but her mother treats the whole thing lightly and the Woman learns with surprise that her mother had a past. Mother says ' He's good for you. If you have an affair with him you'll regret it. On the other hand if you don't have an affair with him you'll also regret it...' Inevitably, they do have an affair.
Notes
According to the director Alvin Rakoff, Say Hello to Yesterday was 'a 1970 Brief Encounter, a picture designed purely for entertainment, with no morals or messages unless the public like to find them.'[1]
Jean Simmons returned to London after a five-year absence to star in the film and shared the star billing with Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo, Leonard Whiting.
The original title was to have been Whatever Happened to Happy Endings? but Cinerama didn't want to use this title, partly because Jean Simmons had just starred in, and been Academy award nominated for, the similarly titled The Happy Ending, and partly because Cinerama feared that because Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was a film of the era and there was a series of 'Whatever Happened...' films, they might be sued by other companies.[2]
Music was by Riz Ortolani most famous for his work on Mondo cane. He was not the choice of the director who cut the film to the music of Joni Mitchell and Donovan's "Colours".[3]
References
External links
Say Hello to Yesterday at the Internet Movie Database
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