LESLIE PHILLIPS 24th April 1924 – 7th November 2022
December 1962 saw the release of The Fast Lady, the third in a series of comedies starring Stanley Baxter, James Robertson Justice and Leslie Phillips, possibly the greatest British-born light comedy actor since Cary Grant. The first was Very Important Person, the second Crooks Anonymous and the third concerned one Murdoch Troon (Baxter), a local government accountant who lives in the same boarding house as Lothario car salesman Freddie Fox (Phillips, of course).
To impress Claire (Julie Christie), the daughter of resident motor magnate and general curmudgeon Commander Chingford (Justice - who else?), he buys a 1927 Bentley from Freddie for £500. However, the grump disapproves of our hero, believing him to be a 'nincompoop!' and so sets him a challenge; if Murdoch fails his driving test, Claire will never see him again.
The eponymous heroine is a "Red Label" model Bentley Speed Open Tourer, with bodywork by Vanden Plas. The colour of the enamel background to the grille badge denoted the car's status. Green was for the 'Super Sports' and blue for the standard model with the extended chassis. As for red, this meant the 'Speed', which boasted a 5.3:1 high compression version of the 2,996cc straight four. After the end of the Second World War, the Fast Lady acquired the engine, radiator, headlamps and transmission from a 1930-model 4 1/2 Litre.
The production company Independent Artists eventually acquired the Bentley. Leslie Phillips asking £500 for a then 35-year-old example was quite typical for 1962 – just look at the small ads in virtually any copy of The Motor or Autocar. Post-filming, she was sold to the famed driver Anthony Charnock in July 1963; his father, Harry, had owned the Bentley during the 1950s. In 2010 the Fast Lady was auctioned for a mere £550,000. The younger Mr. Charnock was not altogether overjoyed at the Tourer's treatment during the shoot. He noted, "producers painted the car green and the chassis red and fitted the unoriginal lamps and the inappropriate horn".
Of course, several aspects of the plot are not entirely plausible, for it is unlikely that a novice motorist would be able to cope with a 90 mph 80 bhp behemoth of a sports car with a synchromesh-free gearbox. Nevertheless, blazered car enthusiasts would rave about the twin SU ‘sloper' carburettors, and in 1924 Motor Sport found the steering to be "delightfully easy, comparable in its comfort to that experienced on a high-quality light car". However, given that Stanley Baxter's hero could not cope with an Austin A40 'Farina' L-Car, taking his test in a 1927 Bentley was less than convincing. Nor was he taking part in the final reel car chase, but this was expected of a British comedy film of 1962.
And to summarise the continuing appeal of this sixty-year-old film, here is an extract from my Octane article detailing the Bentley's story:
The Fast Lady is a picture that continues to resonate even more than 52 years after its original release, a snapshot of a fantasy England largely created in the back lot at Beaconsfield Studios. The street sets replicated almost exactly the same world as in the Ladybird books; when watching the film on afternoon television you half expect Peter and Jane to make a guest appearance in the high street where all of the male extras wear a tie and the female extras are resplendent in twinsets and pearls.
And, above all, it starred the late, great Leslie Phillips -