What is this film with the uneaten breakfast kipper?

December 26, 2011 3:42 AM

Another "What is this movie?" question. A girl or young woman can't eat her kipper at the family breakfast table, so it is brought out for her lunch, dinner and so on until eventually the cat eats it. It later turns out that the reason she couldn't stomach it was that she was pregnant. 1970s or pre-1970s film; John Mills may have been in it.

At our Christmas party yesterday, my aunt and grandmother mentioned that they were trying to find a film they remembered watching together one Christmas in the 1970s. The scene described above is the only one they remember clearly. My aunt and dad have been searching online for clues for a while, without success. Yesterday my dad suggested that the girl's father might have been played by John Mills.

I would love to identify this film and get a copy of it for them. Does it ring a bell for anyone here? I've had a quick look at John Mill's filmography on IMDB but there's a lot there and none of them are familiar to me! The Family Way looks like the best fit but not very close at all.

Thanks for any help.

posted by daisyk to media & arts (4 answers total)

Hobson's Choice.
posted by the cuban at 4:36 AM on December 26, 2011

I think I've seen this, probably sometime in the 80's.

I could have sworn the movie was called "Tripe", but I've been googling and I can't find anything of that name. I watched it with my grandmother & had to ask her what tripe was.
posted by goshling at 4:40 AM on December 26, 2011

Could it be Spring and Port Wine ? The Wikipedia article doesn't mention a battle over eating fish, but William Goldman's book "The Season" does, as do some Google results.

If so, you were darn close with The Family Way, as it was also written by Bill Naughton.
posted by soundguy99 at 7:27 AM on December 26, 2011

No, I think I've seen this and it is crazily named 'snapper'?!
posted by bquarters at 4:40 PM on December 26, 2011