![Spanish Fly (1976) – British Film Classic Re-Release [Review]](https://blazingminds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Spanish-Fly-1975-Header.jpg "Spanish Fly (1976) – British Film Classic Re-Release [Review]")
Now I do have to admit that I love the classic movies from the 70s and with a lot of them and Spanish Fly included they all seemed to move towards taking a Carry On film style, but with a more adult orientated view.
Spanish Fly from 1976 is no exception as the opening sequence finds Mike Scott (Leslie Phillips) talking about his lack of sex-drive, so off he pops to Spain with four models to work for his wife (Sue Lloyd) promoting her line woman’s underwear.
Now while this is happening cunning British aristocrat and old school chum, Sir Percy de Courcy (Terry Thomas) is planning a scheme to make money from buying cheap local wine and passing it off as expensive French wine to the local bars, but the wine is disgusting, so Sir Percy has his driver, Perkins (Graham Armitage) add herbs to the wine to make it taste better.
While adding the herbs he accidentally adds some Spanish Fly’s which turn out to be aphrodisiacs, as you can imagine a mixture of the wine with the Spanish Fly ingredient in it and the models, leads to some rather wild nights of passion and 70’s sexual innuendoes.
Spanish Fly – A 70s Film!
Now the key thing for me with Spanish Fly is that it has Terry Thomas and Leslie Phillips in it, two of my favourite actors from the time, or there about’s, but sadly Spanish Fly, really doesn’t show them off in their prime from their acting careers.
Forget those moments we had with Terry Thomas in the likes of Monte Carlo or Bust and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, he seems to be overplaying a character which we loved him for and sadly the actual script doesn’t really give him a chance to shine, which is such a shame.
The same really goes for Leslie Phillips, his character is similar to those that we know as the wonderful ladies man, but this character doesn’t give him the chance to shine through and it really only pokes fun at a character from a bygone year.
Spanish Fly – Based On A Play!
Now by all accounts Spanish Fly is a British/Spanish production of a German play, not overly sure why this play was brought to the British audience in the 70s, but I do suspect that as it was a “sex comedy” and films such as “Confessions Of A Window Cleaner” were big in the day, someone thought that this would be the perfect film.
It’s not the perfect film, but don’t think that’s a bad thing, it is funny and it’s great to see that a film that may have been missed for the DVD generation has been remastered and re-released with a better picture quality for generations to come.
Spanish Fly is one of those rare films that the 70s filmmakers thought would be an amazing film, but no it’s one of those films that have become a classic, not so much in the cinematography or the amazing script etc, but more so that it’s from an era that has been forgotten, a time when films could be made with sex in mind but by not having it being gratuitous or being too much like porn.
Spanish Fly is a film to watch to look back on how films used to be made and for that reason, it is one that will be around for a long time for that very reason. British Film has just released Spanish Fly and several other with new transfers and for any film fan looking for those classics, it’s worth checking out for those days of silly innocence.
For more information on new transfers of classic British films check out Network on Air.
Movie title: Spanish Fly
Movie description: The screen vibrates with bounderism and caddishness when comedy icons Terry-Thomas and Leslie Phillips star as rivals in this sunny, mid-'70s sex comedy set on the Mediterranean island of Minorca. Spanish Fly is featured here in a brand-new transfer from original film elements in its as-exhibited theatrical aspect ratio.
Date published: April 26, 2013
Country: UK
Duration: 90 mins
Director(s): Bob Kellett
Actor(s): Leslie Phillips, Terry-Thomas, Sue Lloyd, Frank Thornton, Sally Farmiloe
Genre: Comedy
Summary
Spanish Fly is one of those rare films that the 70s filmmakers thought would be an amazing film, but no it’s one of those films that has become a classic.
Karen Woodham is the founder and owner of the Blazing Minds. She is also a Cinema reviewer and works with RealD 3D reviewing the latest 3D releases and IMAX, she has also had several articles published in various publications including the first edition of SFW Magazine. In 2015 she became an Award Winning Blogger and also has her website listed as one of the UK’s Top 10 Film Blogs.
