Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down

Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down is a 1966 British short comedy film directed by Francis Searle and starring Barbara Mullen.^[1]

Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down
Still from film
Directed by	Francis Searle
Screenplay by	Elwyn Ambrose
Produced by	Francis Searle
Starring	Barbara Mullen
Cinematography	Terry Maher
Music by	Peter Jeffries
Production company	Chairene Productions
Running time	28 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

Miss MacTaggart returns to her home village of Drumlochie after taking a trip to Glasgow. The locals are very surprised to see her, because they recently buried her. Miss MacTaggart explains that it must have been her twin sister. But Miss MacTaggart is now "deceased" and in Scottish law a death certifcate cannot be revoked. She goes on a one-person crimewave in the hope that her arrest and prosecution might require the authorities to declare her alive again.

Cast

• Barbara Mullen as Miss MacTaggart
• Eric Woodburn as Morrison
• Andrew Downie as Sgt. Macleod
• Jack Lambert as Lord Longbrae
• Tim Barrett as manservant
• Patrick Jordan as reporter
• Frank Sieman as policeman
• Katharine Page as postmistress
• Laurie Leigh as mother
• Pat Mason as Mrs Murray
• Joe Ritchie as news vendor

Production

The film was part of a series of 30-minute films Searle termed "screen miniatures" which he made 1966–74.^[2]

Critical reception

Monthly Film Bulletin said "This 'Screen Miniature' seems designed solely as a vehicle for Barbara Mullen, but even admirers of her blend of practical wisdom and sly, folksy, humour may find it all laid on a little thickly. Not content with stealing a royal tiara, playing the bagpipes under a local dignitary's window in the middle of the night, and leaving a haggis disguised as a bomb in the House of Commons, Miss MacTaggart even troubles the Prime Minister ('How's the family?') with her problem. In the end she leaves happy, mouthing the word 'ombudsman', which, she is informed, is a Norwegian word meaning a panacea for all bureaucratic ills. There must be better ways of making the point."^[3]

References

1. "Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
2. Mayne, Laura (March 2018). "An Uncompetitive Cinema: The British Fiction Short Film in the 1960s". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 38 (1): 116–131. doi:10.1080/01439685.2017.1300000.
3. "Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down". Monthly Film Bulletin. 34 (396): 111. 1 January 1967. ProQuest 1305826459 – via ProQuest.

External links

• Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down at IMDb
• Miss MacTaggart Won't Lie Down at BFIPlayer