Search - The Knack... And How to Get It on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1965 DVD Release: 09/17/2002 Format: DVD - Black and White,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Subtitles: English, French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 25 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 1 Genres: Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Farce, Absurd Comedy, Sex Comedy

Colin (Michael Crawford, who much later won a Tony Award for his role in Broadway's Phantom of the Opera) is an uptight schoolteacher whose housemate, Tolen (Ray Brooks) is a consummate womanizer. Colin imagines a long line of young women in tight white sweaters on his stairwell, waiting to get into Tolen's room. Jealous of Tolen's incredible success with the ladies, Colin asks Tolen for advice on how to get a girl. When Tolen's advice doesn't seem very practical, Colin decides that his first order of business is to get a bigger bed. Colin is also trying to find a third roommate to take a spare room. Tom (Donal Donnelly), who seems compelled to paint everything in sight, happens by the house, and inserts himself in the spare room without so much as saying "hello." Nancy (Rita Tushingham of A Taste of Honey) is new in town, and wanders the streets of London in a fruitless search for the YWCA. She runs into Colin and Tom at the dump, where they are procuring a gigantic bed. They offer her a ride, and proceed to race through London on the bed. Colin seems too shy to speak much to Nancy, despite Tom's encouragement. Eventually, the trio reach Colin's house, where Tolen works his gruff magic on Nancy, and havoc ensues. Capturing late 1960s London in black-and-white, Richard Lester's The Knack. . .and How to Get It was released between the director's two successes with the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Help. The script, by Charles Wood (An Awfully Big Adventure) is based on a play by Ann Jellicoe. Future stars Jacqueline Bisset, Charlotte Rampling, and Jane Birkin appear briefly amid all the attractive young women in the film. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Rita Tushingham - Nancy Jones
Ray Brooks - Tolen
Michael Crawford - Colin
Donal Donnelly - Tom
John Bluthal - Father

Richard Lester's stylized mod movie The Knack and How to Get It comes to DVD with a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. English, Spanish, and French subtitles are accessible. Supplemental materials include the original theatrical trailer. This is a fine disc for fans of the film, but MGM/UA could have done more with this DVD in order to interest those unfamiliar with Lester's work that did not involve The Beatles. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide