When the film was made it was shot multi camera as it appears Bill Sargent the producer had a thing about this. He had made a bit of a name shooting onto video tape and transferring to film via Technicolor tape to film process.
I fell in love with Stop the World when I saw it in the West End, starring Anthony Newley and Anna Quayle, back in 1962. It told the story, through songs, speech and mime, of a man's life in a way which has rarely been bettered.
This was the worst movie I ever went to. It had one scene like a stage, which never changed...
Well staged version of the play usually associated with Anthony Newley. Well performed.
You simply cannot put a couple of cameras in an orchestra pit and film "Stop the World", yet this is exactly what they have done. Starring Newley's stand-in and later replacement when he took the show to Broadway.
Without its co-creator and original leading man, Anthony Newley, this film is at a disadvantage right from the start. It's a record of a stage musical, largely filmed in the theatre, with black and white inserts taped at a studio.
My wife and I put on our old VHS copy the other night (having not seen it for many years) and once more became totally absorbed in the production and Tony Tanner's performance. Some have called it outdated but it's pure theater with a theater-type experience as best as could be reproduced on screen.
