Rosenthal’s only film as writer/director, Bye Bye Baby owes much to Rosenthal’s National Service in the Royal Navy in the mid-1950s where he trained as an eavesdropper on Russian naval radio transmissions, and in which he was conscious of being the object of not one but three different prejudices: as a Northerner, as a product of a working-class background, and as “about the only Jew in the navy”.
As such, the film explores the often hilarious world of a young Jewish lad conscript and how he survives the Russians, the Royal Navy and the relationship with his girl back home – all the while aided and abetted by the most famous sex symbol the world has ever known. Featuring early performances from stars-to-be Ben Chaplin, Jason Flemyng and James Purefoy.