The Singer Not the Song

The Singer Not the Song is a 1961 British Western film directed by Roy Ward Baker and starring Dirk Bogarde, John Mills, and Mylène Demongeot. It was written by Nigel Balchin based on the 1953 novel of the same title by Audrey Erskine Lindop.

The film became a notorious flop for the Rank Organisation. Bogarde called the film "a travesty of what it should have been" while Roy Baker said "I hated it, it broke my heart. It put me completely out of kilter for years afterwards, it was a disaster. I’m told it’s a cult picture and quite probably in countries with large Catholic communities it has some special reference. I should never have made it." "That was one that went wrong," said John Mills.

The film failed at the box office, but has since developed a cult following due to its camp homosexual context and over-the-top performance by Bogarde in black leather trousers.