MovieChat Forums > Separate Tables (1959) Discussion > Fawlty Towers connection?

Fawlty Towers connection?


Perhaps this is a bit of a stretch, but I wondered while watching this movie if it had any influence on John Cleese's "Fawlty Towers". The only connections I noticed are these: It's set in a hotel. One of the permanent residents is referred to as the Major. One of the lead characters is called Sybil. And early on in the film, the first time Mrs. Railton-Bell and Lady Matheson are in conversation, I was reminded of the two old ladies who live in Fawlty Towers. That exhausts the tiny list of similarities I noticed. Did anyone catch any others, or does this seem like a silly theory?

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IIRC, Fawlty Towers was inspired by Cleese's encounter with a real-life hotelkeeper, (a Mr. Sinclair) whom Cleese later described as "the most wonderfully rude man I've ever met." It seems that Mr. Sinclair was the owner of the hotel that Cleese and the rest of the Monty Python cast were staying at while filming on location.

I see what you mean about the two old ladies (Gatsby and Tibbs) in FT being similar to Mrs. R-B and Lady Matheson. The only thing I can think of is that older women (and men like Major Gowan of FT) are frequent fixtures of such hotels. Not to mention that Miss Gatsby and Miss Tibbs could be written into the script to show up whenever needed (like when Mr. Fawlty shows them Basil the Rat and they immediately start screaming "A rat! A rat!" and running away).

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[deleted]

Yes, Hotel, Sybil, two old gossips, Major, Coastal town....Could have played a small part. Anyhow, a great movie which I'm sure has inspired alot of dramas over the years.

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I saw the connection immediately. In fact, that's why I'm here--to see if anyone else made the Fawlty Towers connection.

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I saw the connection, straight away... I don't think for one minute that any of it was intentional, on Cleese's part - but it's definitely there, and not even flimsy!






"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"

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These seaside hotels with regulars were common in the UK and while Fawlty Towers may stand as one of the best or most notorious examples of what it was like, it's no problem to find other programs before Fawlty Towers that likewise deal with similar subject matter.

Likewise, the major character seems to be best represented by C. Aubrey Smith, who was lampooned in the Bullwinkle and Rocky bit with Commander McBragg.

I think I read once Niven based the character on Smith, but I'm sure there were more of these old warhorses around back then as well.

Fawlty Towers was the creative inspiration of Cleese's, but as Fawlty was inspired by an actual hotel manager, it doesn't seem Cleese then had to refer back to a single movie or play.

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