Rhubarb (1969 film)

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Rhubarb
Directed by	Eric Sykes
Produced by	Jon Penington
Written by	Eric Sykes
Starring	Harry Secombe Eric Sykes
Music by	Brian Fahey
Cinematography	Arthur Wooster
Release date(s)	1969
Running time	37 min.
Country	UK
Language	English
IMDb profile

Rhubarb was a 1969 British short film written and directed by Eric Sykes, starring Sykes and Harry Secombe. The dialogue consisted entirely of repetitions of the word "rhubarb", all the characters last names were "Rhubarb", and even the license plates on vehicles were "RHU BAR B". A baby "spoke" by holding a sign with the word "Rhubarb" written on it.

Rhubarb is a radio idiom for unintelligible background speech. Typically extras would mutter the word over and over to provide ambience for a crowd or party scene. In The Goon Show the cast was usually only the three principals, who would try to sound like a larger group by repeating "rhubarb" very quickly, with outbreaks of "Custard!" for good measure. Sykes was a close collaborator and friend of the Goons. He remade the piece in 1980 for Thames Television, as Rhubarb Rhubarb.

[edit] Plot

A Police Inspector and a vicar play a round of golf. The Police Inspector has a Constable help him to cheat by removing his golf ball from awkward situations, and the vicar ultimately requests Divine Intervention.