Life with the Lyons (film)

Life with the Lyons is a 1954 British comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Bebe Daniels, Ben Lyon and Barbara Lyon. It was a spin-off from the radio series Life with the Lyons, and the screenplay was based on previous episodes from the show. It was shot at Southall Studios in London with sets designed by the art director Wilfred Arnold.

It was followed in 1955 by The Lyons in Paris.

Premise
The Lyon family attempt to acquire a new house in Marble Arch.

Cast

 * Bebe Daniels as Bebe Lyon
 * Ben Lyon as Ben Lyon
 * Richard Lyon as Richard Lyon
 * Barbara Lyon as Barbara Lyon
 * Hugh Morton as Mr. Hemingway
 * Horace Percival as Mr. Wimple
 * Molly Weir as Aggie
 * Doris Rogers as Florrie Wainwright
 * Gwen Lewis as Mrs. Wimple
 * Arthur Hill as Slim Cassidy
 * Belinda Lee as Violet Hemingway

Production
The Lyons' contract called for them to receive a percentage of the film's profits.

Val Guest had worked with the Lyons writing stage revues and says he got the job directing by walking past Ben Lyons in the street. Lyons told Guest that Hammer wanted to make a film of Life with the Lyon and asked Guest to direct. Guest went into meet James Carreras who "Said to me 'I don’t know anything about comedy. I’m no good with comedy so I’ll leave it to you.' I said 'Well you don’t have to leave it to me, the three people you’ve got, Bebe [Daniels], Ben [Lyons] and Vic Oliver know more about comedy than I’ll ever know.' So that’s why they lurched into comedy. They’d never done anything that wasn’t – that was – comedy."

It was the second time Belinda Lee had worked for Val Guest, the first being her debut in The Runaway Bus.

"Bebe was the driving force of that team," recalled Guest. "She was a very clever business woman, she drove that whole family, she drove the machine, she wrote the scripts – I’m talking about the radio thing, the TV things. She had files and files she’d brought from Hollywood, of old programmes she’d bought the scripts from – I’d never seen such a file of gags and routines... She was the driving force, very stimulating lady. Eventually I think she drove so much it eventually gave her the heart attack – she had a stroke. Because she was always very tense. Great sense of fun, very professional... Ben had a terrifying temper. He had the shortest fuse of anybody I knew."

"We had a lot of fun," said Guest. "There were no problems except if Ben lost his temper about something."

Box Office
After the film's successful release, the Lyons began a long-running, BBC television series, also titled Life with the Lyons. The film was made at Southall Studios.

Guest said the film and its sequel were popular but "I shouldn’t have thought they did much [business] abroad. They were curiosity pieces, very cheap to make and quick to make and we had a lot of fun making them."

Critical reception
Britmovie called it "a cheap but cheerful romp."