BB17-029 — THE NATIONAL HEALTH
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YEAR: 1973
FILM STUDIO: Virgin Films / Columbia Pictures
TAGLINE: “If you think that there’s funny business going on in the wards after lights out… you’re right! BE WARNED… YOU MAY DIE LAUGHING”
DIRECTOR: Jack Gold
CAST: Lynn Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Eleanor Bron, Jim Dale, Donald Sinden
GENRE: Comedy / Black Comedy / Satire
POSTER PRINTER: M.A.P.S. Litho Pty. Ltd.
FORMAT: Australian Daybill

POSTER DESIGN FEATURES: A wonderfully quirky Australian Daybill dominated by pale hospital blue, with five hospital beds containing only the watchful eyes of their occupants. Below, photographic cut-outs of nurses and hospital staff reinforce the film’s bawdy medical-comedy theme, while the large black The National Health title and hand-drawn figures running along the bottom give the design a distinctly 1970s feel.

COLLECTOR'S NOTE: The National Health is a 1973 British black comedy adapted by Peter Nichols from his acclaimed 1969 stage play. The film satirises Britain’s National Health Service through the chaotic workings of a rundown London hospital, contrasting reality with a glossy fictional medical soap opera. It features a strong British ensemble cast including Lynn Redgrave, Colin Blakely, Eleanor Bron, Jim Dale and Donald Sinden, with an early appearance by Bob Hoskins.