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Three into Two Won't Go
Three into Two Won't Go
	American theatrical release poster
Directed by	Peter Hall
Written by	Andrea Newman; Edna O'Brien
Produced by	Julian Blaustein
Starring	Rod Steiger; Claire Bloom; Judy Geeson
Cinematography	Walter Lassally
Edited by	Alan Osbiston
Music by	Francis Lai
Production; company	Julian Blaustein Productions
Distributed by	The Rank Organisation ; Universal Pictures (US)
Release date	2 July 1969;
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	$1.5 million

Three into Two Won't Go (also known as 3 into 2 Won't Go) is a 1969 British drama film directed by Peter Hall and starring Rod Steiger, Claire Bloom and Judy Geeson.^[2] The film was entered into the 19th Berlin International Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

Steve and Frances Howard are a middle-aged married couple unable to have children. They have discussed adoption but made no decision: the subject is clearly difficult for them. They have purchased a large detached house on a newly built luxury estate in Middlesex, England, and are starting to furnish and decorate it. Also to attend to the extensive, but empty, garden. Frances teaches English to GCE A-level students, while Steve is a sales executive in an electrical appliance company, enjoying the regular driving his job entails.

One day, Steve picks up a free-spirited teenage hitchhiker, Ella, and they have a brief affair. To Steve's considerable shock and surprise Ella turns up at his home whilst he is away and introduces herself to Frances. After they become acquainted over several bottles of wine, she claims to be pregnant by another man, then begs to be allowed to stay for the weekend. Calculating and manipulative, when Steve returns and Frances is away Ella threatens to abort the baby, which she reveals is his. He begs her not to, but she refuses. Torn between his faltering love for his wife, his infatuation with Ella, and his unborn child, Steve finally agrees to leave his wife and set up home with Ella to have the baby together. Ella agrees, though without much enthusiasm, but specifies he should tell his wife when she (Ella) is not present.

Frances clearly suspects a secret relationship; her situation is further complicated by visits to her elderly mother Belle, an emotionally repressed women who reveals the philandering nature of Frances' father. And how she endured their lifetime of marriage, and his habit of bringing lady 'friends' to their home, by shutting her mind to it. Frances discloses somebody her husband met, a young girl, is now staying with them. Resignedly, her mother tells her 'You'll learn to live with it'.

Steve meets Frances to tell her of his decision, but before he can she - knowing what he is about to say, and telling him not to - says she wants to adopt Ella's unborn baby. This is a surprise opportunity - for Steve to save his marriage and have a child; likewise for Frances. But he rejects the offer and says he is leaving to live with Ella. "You bloody fool" she says, softly, as she leaves him. Frances fetches her mother to come and live in the house with her. Steve has arranged to meet Ella that evening, but she doesn't turn up. Returning to the house with her mother Frances finds Ella there. After shepherding the mother away, Ella tells Frances she is not now pregnant. Steve arrives, unaware of this latest development, and Ella tells him she has changed her mind. After tense exchanges Steve agrees to seek a divorce. Frances leaves with her mother to find a hotel. Steve packs a suitcase and leaves too. Ella is now seemingly in possession of the house, having in the meantime destroyed a marriage. She picks up her rucksack and coat, and leaves the house herself.

Cast

Rod Steiger as Steve Howard
Claire Bloom as Frances Howard
Judy Geeson as Ella Patterson
Peggy Ashcroft as Belle
Paul Rogers as Jack Roberts
Lynn Farleigh as Janet
Elizabeth Spriggs as Marcia
Sheila Allen as Beth

Production

The film was shot entirely on location in and around Camberley, England.^[4]

Reception

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Three into Two Won't Go is a slight improvement on Work is a Four Letter Word (it could hardly be otherwise), but Peter Hall still has a long way to go if he is to be reckoned as a director who can give some overall consistency of style to his material instead of playing it by ear as he goes along. Here he has several things working in his favour: some sharp dialogue from Edna O'Brien (in between a number of those irritatingly ostentatious blows for the cause of the vulnerable woman which pepper her novels); a marvellously tetchy performance from Peggy Ashcroft as the slightly unhinged mother-in-law confined to an old people's home in which both her fellow inmates and the food ("It's the gravy they give us") are clearly not what she is accustomed to; and Claire Bloom almost managing to suggest that the character she plays is actually a real person as she responds to the camera's probing exploration of her face with commendable restraint. This, unfortunately, is about all that can be said for the film, which is almost entirely composed of scenes clumsily set up to get the right audience reaction ... It's a pretty silly story to begin with, but the fact that everyone seems to be taking it so seriously only makes it seem sillier. When Peggy Ashcroft diffidently inquires of the final drawingroom mélée 'Isn't this a little boisterous?', one knows exactly what she means."^[5]

Box office

The film was the 19th most popular film at the UK box office in 1969.^[6]

U.S. television version

In 1970, when a version of the film was screened on NBC television in the United States, Hall, O'Brien and Newman demanded their names be taken off the film, alleging that 20 minutes of new footage had been shot and added.^[7]

Home Media

KINO-LORBER released "Three Into Two Won't Go" on Blu-ray for its first-ever homevideo release in mid-2023 via Kino's deal with Universal. As stated on the sleeve art: "Brand New 2k Master".

References

^ Alexander Walker, Hollywood, England, Stein and Day, 1974 p345
^ "Three into Two Won't Go". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
^ "IMDB.com: Awards for Three into Two Won't Go". imdb.com. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
^ "Peter Hall Demands Name Off TVersion Of Univ.'s '3 Into 2'". Daily Variety. 19 October 1970. p. 1.
^ "Three into Two Won't Go". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 36 (420): 190. 1 January 1969 – via ProQuest.
^ "The World's Top Twenty Films". Sunday Times. [London, England]. 27 September 1970. p. 27 – via The Sunday Times Digital Archive.
^ British Film Bowdlerized: Creators Demand Credits Removed By Alfred Frierdly. The Washington Post and Times-Herald (1959-1973) [Washington, D.C] 28 October 1970: B1.