Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (film)

2024-05-31T08:44:43Z

2603:8000:D300:3650:7543:8720:9759:D33D: sp

{{short description|1967 British film directed by Clive Donner}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush
| image = "Here_We_Go_Round_the_Mulberry_Bush"_(1967).jpg
| caption = British quad poster
| director = [[Clive Donner]]
| producer = Clive Donner
| screenplay = [[Hunter Davies]] [[Larry Kramer]] (additional dialogue) 
| based_on = {{based on|''Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush''|Hunter Davies}}
| starring = [[Barry Evans (actor)|Barry Evans]] [[Judy Geeson]] [[Angela Scoular]] [[Sheila White (actress)|Sheila White]] [[Adrienne Posta]] [[Vanessa Howard]] [[Diane Keen]]
| music = [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]] [[Spencer Davis Group]] [[Andy Ellison]]
| cinematography = [[Alex Thomson (cinematographer)|Alex Thomson]]
| editing = [[Fergus McDonell]]
| studio = Giant Production Films
| distributor = [[United Artists]]
| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1968|1|4|London}}
| runtime = 96 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
}}
'''''Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush''''' is a 1968 British [[comedy film]] produced and directed by [[Clive Donner]] and starring [[Barry Evans (actor)|Barry Evans]], [[Judy Geeson]] and [[Angela Scoular]].<ref>{{cite web |title=BFI Screenonline: Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush (1967) |url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/461066/index.html |publisher=}}</ref> The screenplay is by [[Hunter Davies]] based on his 1965 [[Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (novel)|novel of the same name]].

==Plot==
Jamie McGregor is a [[virginity|virginal]] sixth-former in a [[Swinging Sixties]] new town, delivering groceries for the local supermarket. However he is more interested in matters sexual and sets out to lose his virginity by attempting to seduce the local girls – Linda, Paula, Caroline, and his dream girl, Mary. He ultimately succeeds in bedding the sexually aggressive Audrey, only to learn too late that sex is not as important as he initially believed.

==Cast==
* [[Barry Evans (actor)|Barry Evans]] as Jamie McGregor
* [[Judy Geeson]] as Mary Gloucester
* [[Angela Scoular]] as Caroline Beauchamp
* [[Sheila White (actress)|Sheila White]] as Paula
* [[Adrienne Posta]] as Linda
* [[Vanessa Howard]] as Audrey
* [[Maxine Audley]] as Mrs. Beauchamp
* [[Denholm Elliott]] as Mr. Beauchamp
* [[Moyra Fraser]] as Mrs. McGregor
* [[Michael Bates (actor)|Michael Bates]] as Mr. McGregor
* [[Diane Keen]] as Claire
* [[Christopher Timothy]] as Spike
* [[Nicky Henson]] as Craig Foster
* [[Allan Warren]] as Joe McGregor
* [[Roy Holder]] as Arthur
* [[George Layton]] as Gordon
* [[Christopher Mitchell (actor)|Christopher Mitchell]] as Tony
* [[Angela Pleasence]] as scruffy girl
* [[Marianne Stone]] as Mrs. Kelly
* Anthony Finch as boy at Bowes Lyon House

==Production==
===Filming===
The location for the film was [[Stevenage]] [[new town|New Town]], [[Hertfordshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Reel Streets |url=http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php/component/films/?task=view&id=1503&film_ref=here_we_go_round_the_mulberry_bush |publisher=}}</ref> Buildings featured include [[Stevenage Clock Tower]] in the town centre, which was the first purpose-built traffic-free shopping zone in [[UK|Britain]].<ref name="wm">{{Cite web |title=Clock Tower, New Stevenage |url=https://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM7GZD_Clock_Tower_New_Stevenage |website=waymarking.com}}</ref> The sailing scenes at the "Botel" were filmed on [[Grafham Water]], [[Huntingdonshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Reel Streets |url=http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php/component/films/?task=view&id=1503&film_ref=here_we_go_round_the_mulberry_bush&start=20 |publisher=}}</ref>

===Music===
The music was released by [[United Artists Records]] on a soundtrack album in 1968.<ref name="allmusic">{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/here-we-go-round-the-mulberry-bush-rpm-mw0001116598|title=Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry Bush [RPM]|work=AllMusic}}</ref> It has been re-issued on CD by [[Rykodisc]]. [[The Spencer Davis Group]] provided most of the music and made a cameo appearance in the film at a church fete.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.british60scinema.net/unsung-films/here-we-go-round-the-mulberry-bush/|title=British 60s cinema – Here we go round the mulberry bush|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424042355/http://www.british60scinema.net/unsung-films/here-we-go-round-the-mulberry-bush/|archivedate=24 April 2016|df=dmy-all}}</ref> The title track "[[Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (song)|Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush]]" was written and performed by [[Traffic (band)|Traffic]].<ref name="allmusic" /> Traffic also have two other songs on the soundtrack album "Am I What I Was or Was I What I Am" and a version of "Utterly Simple" that is different from the recording used on the album ''[[Mr Fantasy]]''. [[Andy Ellison]] of the group [[John's Children]] also appears on the soundtrack album with the song "It's Been a Long Time".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/The-Spencer-Davis-Group-Traffic-Here-We-Go-Round-The-Mulberry-Bush/master/176701|title=The Spencer Davis Group / Traffic – Here We Go 'Round The Mulberry Bush|work=Discogs}}</ref>

==Release==
It was listed to compete at the [[1968 Cannes Film Festival]],<ref name="festival-cannes.com">{{cite web |title=Festival de Cannes: Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush |url=http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2683/year/1968.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308234006/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2683/year/1968.html |archive-date=8 March 2012 |access-date=4 April 2009 |work=festival-cannes.com |df=dmy-all}}</ref> but the festival was cancelled due to the events of [[May 1968 in France]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=20 April 2018 |title=In May 1968, the Cannes Film Festival ground to a halt. Fifty years later, it's still sparking controversy |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-1968-cannes-film-festival-shutdown-20180420-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref>

===Home media===
The film was released on [[DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]] officially for the first time by the [[British Film Institute]] (BFI) in September 2010 as part of its "[[BFI Flipside|Flipside]]" strand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush Blu-ray |url=http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Here-We-Go-Round-the-Mulberry-Bush-Blu-ray/14003/ |work=Blu-ray.com}}</ref>

== Reception ==

===Box office===
The film was the 14th-most popular movie at the Australian box office in 1969.<ref>"The World's Top Twenty Films." Sunday Times [London, England] 27 Sept. 1970: 27. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. accessed 5 April 2014</ref> It was the 10th-most popular film in general release at the British box office in 1968.<ref>John Wayne-money-spinner
The Guardian (1959–2003) [London (UK)] 31 December 1968: 3.</ref>

=== Critical reception ===
''[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]]'' wrote: "For teenagers and about teenagers, uncritically embracing the worst aspects of the adolescent's mentality ... the only incongruity about ''Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush'' is that it should have been made by adults, so totally does it enter into the teenager's view of himself. ... In Donner's vision of Stevenage, it is not Jamie's sexual daydreams but his anxiety about his virginity which takes on the aspect of fantasy: the problem is no longer how to lose it so much as with whom. Girls from every walk of life offer themselves to him with alarming facility. And were the characters not such empty caricatures ... there would be a lot to say about the unpleasant, purely exploitative nature of all the relationships in this film; ... Inevitably, in this adolescent view of the world, the adult characters are also distorted caricatures ... But at least the sheer professional competence of Moyra Fraser and Denholm Elliott does occasionally provoke a reluctant smile."<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1968 |title=Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305825987 |journal=[[The Monthly Film Bulletin]] |volume=35 |issue=408 |pages=35 |id={{ProQuest|1305825987}} |via=ProQuest}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title}}
* {{AllMovie title}}
* {{Rotten Tomatoes}}
* {{Screenonline title|461066}}
* [https://www.reelstreets.com/films/here-we-go-round-the-mulberry-bush/ ''Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush''] then-and-now location photographs at [https://www.reelstreets.com/ ReelStreets]

{{Clive Donner}}

[[Category:1960s coming-of-age comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s sex comedy films]]
[[Category:1967 films]]
[[Category:British coming-of-age comedy films]]
[[Category:British sex comedy films]]
[[Category:British teen comedy films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films about virginity]]
[[Category:Films based on British novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Clive Donner]]
[[Category:Films shot in Bedfordshire]]
[[Category:Films shot in Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:Stevenage]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]

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Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (film)