PRUDENCE AND THE PILL, starring stalwarts Deborah Kerr and David Niven, cost $3,570,000 and grossed $12,900,000, placing a viable 30th place in 1968. Its relative box office success can only be attributed to audience loyalty to the stars and that people were so bummed by the year’s events that they went for anything that might offer a smile. Niven had an even bigger comedy that year—The Impossible Years placed 17th. It got terrible reviews, and obituaries for this turkey weren’t giddy either. Both were not just samples of the year’s un-treasure trove of lousy comedies, but were part of a skein of desperate laugh seekers shoveled out by establishment Hollywood (okay, this one was from England) putting reliable stars from previous decades into witless ‘with it’ larks hoping to ride the fresh surge of the youth culture and ‘liberation’. The latter in this one is the birth control pill of the title, a sin-blessing that allowed people to get frisky without a surprise penalty. Hugh Mills wrote the script, adapting his novel, and Fielder Cook directed—until he walked/was relieved part way thru and was replaced by Ronald Neame. Cook had directed the excellent drama Patterns and the wry, underrated western comedy A Big Hand For The Little Lady. Neame had notable triumphs (Tunes Of Glory) and disasters (Meteor), but it’s hard to see what either of them could do with such wan material. The sophisticated stars and a good supporting cast are cast adrift.

London banker ‘Gerald Hardcastle’ (Niven) and his wife ‘Prudence’ (Kerr) are resolutely unhappy. They each have something going on the side, secret flings eased by the availability of the pill. Their maid and chauffeur likewise play hide the consequences, as do Gerald’s brother and his wife, and their daughter and her boyfriend. Mixups, switcheroos and pranked hanky result is multiple pregnancies.The End.

A few chuckles (the actors fence valiantly) don’t suffice for a jumble of subplots raised and abandoned, an archaic tone that’s too reserved to be silly enough for the intended farcing, jerky editing, and characters who raise zip loyalty or affection. Kerr, 46, had topped out four years earlier with The Chalk Garden and The Night Of The Iguana; after this she was thrown away in demeaning parts in The Arrangement and The Gypsy Moths. She and Niven had worked together four times: Bonjour Tristesse (nice scenery), Separate Tables (very good), Casino Royale (moneymaking misfire) and Eye Of The Devil (offbeat). Prudence was the bottom of the batch. Niven, 58, continued to serve prestige duty in projects of mixed quality.

Stuck with them in a poorly conceived and executed wiffle are Robert Coote, Irina Demick, Judy Geeson, Joyce Redman, Edith Evans, Keith Mitchell, David Dundas, Vickery Turner, Hugh Armstrong and Michael Hordern.  A pill that takes 92 minutes to swallow and brings no relief.