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James Clark / 1970 / UK / 94mins

Available on Blu-Ray and DVD

Fans of TVs Mad Men may wonder what if the action had moved to the world of Saatchi & Saatchi’s 1970s London? Well, no, that’s not quite what this satire is all about. Every Home Should Have One is a vehicle for Marty Feldman – a big star in new comedy in the late 60s with a string of writing credentials who had his own TV show and Hollywood calling. He starred as Igor in Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein (1974).

Feldman was a hugely physical comedian way ahead of his time (and died tragically early in 1982). He even looks weirdly radical with his curly hair and bulging eyes (the latter a result of a thyroid condition). Here he plays Teddy Brown, an advertising executive whose wife (Judy Cornwell) is appalled by their son’s bad attitudes and language doubtless influenced by sex and violence on TV. But Teddy has just landed the McLaughlin’s Frozen Porridge account and decides to ditch the animated singing Scotsman logo for a sexy sell. Into this less than harmonious household walks Inge, the new, bootylicious Scandinavian au pair (Julie Ege).

EHSHO won’t be to everyone’s taste – Feldman can’t walk past an open door without face-planting into the jamb. It gets tiresome. The movie is a product of its times and while far superior to the truly appalling Confessions franchise. the action is frenetic and the characterization sketchy. Denis Norden and Barry Took wrote the script, Richard Williams did the animation (there’s a Python-esque dream sequence involving a cowboy shootout), and Feldman’s funky wardrobe is by tailor-to-the-stars Mr Fish. Millicent Martin sings the theme and there are cameos from the cream of British comedy (from a very young Frances de la Tour to Alan Bennett in an uncredited bit part, Penelope Keith as a lesbian Valkyrie, and a morally dubious MP played by Patrick Cargill with a closet full of kinky fascist gear – some things never change).

Despite the Browns’ bohemian existence – their groovy home is decorated by Habitat and Peter Blake – Liz comes under the influence of the trendy vicar’s England Clean England Strong pressure group; inspired by Mary Whitehouse’s Clean Up National TV campaign (later changed to the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association to avoid an unfortunate acronym). The group watches Play for Today counting the swearwords and anything else ‘degrading and un-English’. When the wife’s away Teddy has a wild party with the gorgeous and pouting Inge. When she becomes the new face of the frozen porridge campaign the herring very much hits the smorgasbord.

All this must have sounded a real wheeze on paper and it looks all very striking. But it’s horribly dated and just not funny enough. ‘I’ve entered Inge,’ says the prepubescent son (referring to a talent competition). It’s the funniest line in the film. Everyone is trying too hard. Jews, gays women, Scots, Swedes are routinely the butt of cruel jokes. The humour is adolescent throughout. A movie that ought to have given the increasingly tired-looking Carry On series a run for its money is a curious period piece that captures the ad game well it has it has its brighter moments like the take-offs of Ken Russell , Benny Hill, a Swedish nudist picture and a hell-for-leather Buster Keaton-like fight sequence in the BBC props room. It was ad guru David Ogilvy who said that advertising was ‘the best fun you can have with your clothes on’. Every Home Should Have One proves him wrong.