Stop the World: I Want to Get Off

Stop the World: I Want to Get Off

100 mins | Music | April 25, 1966

The Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse London and Broadway musical hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is given literal treatment in this filmization. Newley stars as Littlechap, whose allegorical rise to success is countered by the instability of his private life. Like the play, the film is staged impressionistically, with Newley decked out in mime makeup and periodically stopping the action to address the audience, and with all the women in his life -- German, American and "Typically English" -- played by a single actress (Millicent Martin, taking over from the stage version's Anna Quayle). In Wizard of Oz fashion, the play itself is lensed in color, while the brief prologue, showing the actors preparing for their performance, is in black-and-white. The production includes such standards (and perennial audition pieces) as What Kind of Fool Am I? and Gonna Build a Mountain.

Stop the World: I Want to Get Off

100 mins | Music | April 25, 1966

Stop the World: I Want to Get Off
The Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse London and Broadway musical hit Stop the World, I Want to Get Off is given literal treatment in this filmization. Newley stars as Littlechap, whose allegorical rise to success is countered by the instability of his private life. Like the play, the film is staged impressionistically, with Newley decked out in mime makeup and periodically stopping the action to address the audience, and with all the women in his life -- German, American and "Typically English" -- played by a single actress (Millicent Martin, taking over from the stage version's Anna Quayle). In Wizard of Oz fashion, the play itself is lensed in color, while the brief prologue, showing the actors preparing for their performance, is in black-and-white. The production includes such standards (and perennial audition pieces) as What Kind of Fool Am I? and Gonna Build a Mountain.
IMDb rating 5.2
Producers Warner Bros. Pictures
Original title Stop the World: I Want to Get Off
Directors Philip Saville
Writers Anthony Newley, Leslie Bricusse

Cast

Tony Tanner

as Little Chap

Millicent Martin

as Evie / Anya / Ara / Ginnie

Leila Croft

as Susan

Valerie Croft

as Jane

Neil Hawley

as Little Little Chap