“THE RULER OF AMBROSIA”

By Raymond Benson

Director John Schlesinger emerged from the so-called British New Wave, or “Free Cinema Movement,” of the late 1950s/early 60s, that was typified by pictures made by maverick filmmakers working with low budgets and concentrating on working-class heroes in often bleak settings of smaller towns around Britain.

Billy Liar, based on the novel by Keith Waterhouse and the stage play by Waterhouse and Willis Hall (with a screenplay by Waterhouse and Hall), was Schlesinger’s second film, and it is an exhilarating demonstration of the director’s confidence and talent. Schlesinger would go on to direct such classics as Darling (1965) and Midnight Cowboy (1969).

Filmed in widescreen black and white, the tale focuses on Billy Fisher (played by the brilliant Tom Courtenay, who is in every scene of the movie) a young man who still lives with his stodgy parents and a grandmother in a Yorkshire town. He juggles three girlfriends and a job at a mortuary that he hates, but he also has fantasies that unfortunately consume his life. He constantly daydreams scenarios in which he is the ruler of an imaginary country called Ambrosia, and the film abruptly moves in and out of these often-comic illusions in which Billy is the star. In reality, though, Billy simply lies—all the time—to everyone: his parents (Mona Washbourne and Wilfred Pickles), his grandmother (Ethel Griffies), his boss (Leonard Rossiter), his friends, and his girlfriends. In fact, he has become engaged to two of his girlfriends (Helen Fraser and Gwendolyn Watts) without the other knowing, somehow managing to use the same single ring. Both are seriously working-class girls for whom Billy honestly has no affection.

The third girlfriend, though, Liz (played by the luminescent Julie Christie in her breakthrough role in cinema), is a free spirit, someone who has traveled out of their little hometown, has become more worldly, and resignedly accepts Billy’s penchant for lying with a sigh and a smile.

Will Billy Liar, as he is nicknamed by all who sees through his deceptions, “grow up” and face reality? Will he finally turn his back on his family and community and flee to the big city of London to follow his dreams as a “scriptwriter”? Or is he doomed to spend the rest of his life in the dull, dreary existence that he sees as the lot of the generation above him?

With Courtenay’s performance, Christie in a small but winning supporting role, and Schlesinger’s direction, Billy Liar is indeed a winner.

Kino Lorber’s new high definition restoration looks and sounds terrific, and it comes with an audio commentary by film historian Kat Ellinger. The only supplements are theatrical trailers for this and other Kino Lorber releases.

Full of humor as well as pathos, Billy Liar is grand entertainment and today still holds a high place in the list of most admired titles in British cinema.

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