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Anthony Newley stars as an actor who walks off the set of a banal sit-com and into a fantasy world of his own imagination in this surreal odyssey through one man's personal alternative reality.
“I am a walking television show.”
1960
Gurney Slade breaks the fourth wall and leaves the set during a live broadcast - much to the consternation of the cast and floor manager. He sets off on a wistful odyssey into leafy West London.
Gurney gets tongue tied on an airfield, conducts a lineup of prospective amoureuses, breaks up a family, tells a baby there is no such thing as Santa Claus, is granted a wish by a fairy and builds a woman from mannequin parts.
In the countryside, Gurney commentates an ant boxing match, spots an interesting signpost, tries to hoodwink a well, has a bone to pick with Bonaparte, sings Greensleeves with a scarecrow, chats to an alluring cow and (almost) witnesses a crime de coeur.
Gurney finds himself on trial for having no sense of humour. After releasing his ex-music-hall performer brief, the jury is shown a filmed sequence of Gurney Slade's alleged comedy by the prosecution. Various witnesses are cross-examined before the jury reaches its verdict. Will our hero prevail or lose his head?
A group of children are told about a land where people can be their best, a wedding guest is left puzzled when a lady friend has a change of heart, and rubbing a tinker's pot forces Gurney to take a trip into his own mind.
Gurney finds that he's seen as nothing more than a performing machine, the characters he's created wonder what's going to become of them, and the cast decide to have a bit of a rave in their last ten minutes together.
Anthony Newley
Gurney Slade
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