Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher


Decline and Fall... of a Birdwatcher is a 1968 British comedy film directed by John Krish and starring Robin Phillips, Geneviève Page and Donald Wolfit. It is an adaptation of the 1928 novel Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh.
The film was made with a budget of $1,970,000.

Plot summary

Paul Pennyfeather is an Oxford divinity student who finds himself sent down after a group of drunken undergraduates remove his trousers and he is accused of exposing himself. Forced to look for work, he seeks the services of an employment agency who secure for him a position at a sleazy Welsh boys' boarding school, presided over by the colourful Dr. Fagan. The school's staff are an assortment of eccentric characters: Mr Prendergast, a withdrawn former clergyman; Captain Grimes, a one-legged philaderer with his eye on Fagan's daughter; and Solomon Philbrick, an undercover criminal posing as Fagan's butler.

Cast

According to Fox records the film required $3,100,000 in rentals to break even and by 11 December 1970 had made $1,475,000 so made a loss to the studio.