... What is one to do if a sleazy journalist is threatening to reveal your well hidden past unless you can get your hands on £10,000 pronto?
This is the basic scenario of "The Naked Truth", a classic British comedy film made in 1957 and directed by Mario Zampi.
Plot
Nigel Dennis has a dummy ... Read review
In 1957'sThe Naked TruthTerry Thomas plays a dodgy peer of the realm being blackmailed in ... more
the company of Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount and Shirley Eaton by a gutter press journalist, Dennis Price ("Don't try to appeal to my better nature, because I haven'...
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Terry-Thomas is a shifty peer of the realm. Peter Sellers is a TV celebrity. Peggy Mount ... more
is a best-selling novelist Shirley Eaton is a gorgeous model.They are all being blackmailed by the sleazy editor of a scandal rag (Dennis Price), who'd rather take...
In 1957'sThe Naked TruthTerry Thomas plays a dodgy peer of the realm being blackmailed in ... more
the company of Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount and Shirley Eaton by a gutter press journalist, Dennis Price ("Don't try to appeal to my better nature, because I haven'...
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Introduction Spell Check Lighters Up Shut Up Bitch (Intro) Shut Up Bitch Whoa Slippin' ... more
Answering Machine All Good I Know You See Me W.P.I.M.P. Quiet (feat. The Game) Durty Answering Machine We Don't Give A F**k (feat. Bun B/ Twista) Gimme That (feat. Maino) Kitty Box Kronik (feat. Snoop Dogg) Winners And Losers Get Yours! (feat. T.I. & Shame) Last Day
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Comedy - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Tessa Peake-Jones, Buster Merryfield, David Jason, Nicholas Lyndhurst
Production Year: 1956 - Comedy - Director: Joshua Logan - Original Language: English - Classification: Universal - Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Betty Field, Hope Lange, Eileen Heckart, Arthur O'Connell, Casey Adams, Hans Conried, Robert Bray
Comedy - Director: Richard Boden, Mandie Fletcher, Martin Shardlow - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Hugh Laurie, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Brian Blessed, Tim McInnerny, Tony Robinson, Rowan Atkinson
Advantages: Strong cast, great characters, very funny Disadvantages: The fact it's in black and white may put some people off
...- particularly if you are the victim of it. What is one to do if a sleazy journalist is threatening to reveal your well hidden past unless you can get your hands on £10,000 pronto?
This is the basic scenario of "The Naked Truth", a classic British comedy film made in 1957 and directed by Mario Zampi.
==Plot==
Nigel Dennis has a dummy magazine called "The Naked Truth", which is inspired by ... ...rather than publish the "guess who" style stories he has dug up on several public figures, he realises blackmailing these people is going to be far more lucrative.
He has many victims but the film focuses on just four - model Melissa Right, TV personality "Wee" Sonny MacGregor, peer of the realm and insurance executive Lord Henry Mayley and best-selling author Flora Ransom.
Blackmail is a nasty business - particularly if you are the victim of it. What is one to do if a sleazy journalist is threatening to reveal your well hidden past unless you can get your hands on £10,000 pronto?
This is the basic scenario of "The Naked Truth", a classic British comedy film made in 1957 and directed by Mario Zampi.
Plot
Nigel Dennis has a dummy magazine called "The Naked Truth", which is inspired by American scandal rags of the period such as "Confidential". However rather than publish the "guess who" style stories he has dug up on several public figures, he realises blackmailing these people is going to be far more lucrative.
He has many victims but the film focuses on just four - model Melissa Right, TV personality "Wee" Sonny MacGregor, peer of the realm and insurance executive Lord Henry Mayley and best-selling author Flora Ransom.
Only MacGregor's secret is clearly shown - on TV his faux Scotsman act appeals mainly to the older generation, however in reality he is a slum landlord to many of them. The other secrets are merely hinted at and it is left to the audience to work out what they may be.
Through the course of the film we see these characters attempt to sort out their mutual problem, which is Dennis, and this results in some hilarious scenes along the way.
My Thoughts
The cast is superb, and is led by Peter Sellers playing the slimy MacGregor, replete with a passable fake Scottish accent. MacGregor portrays several different characters on his TV show and he uses this "ability" to spy on Dennis and procure items to make a bomb.
Ignoring the advice of his dresser Porter not to overact as he has a habit of doing on TV, he proceeds to overdo things in every guise, resulting in a hilarious scene in a Dublin pub where he insists on wearing shamrock in his collar and pronouncing, in a dodgy Irish accent, "God bless all here". That this is going to end in tears is never in any doubt.
Terry-Thomas is superb as Lord Henry Manley, who one suspects is something of a womaniser. His facial expressions as he finds himself in ever more bizarre situations are a joy to behold and the scenes where he tries to dodge his wife are wonderful. Lady Manley is played by Georgina Cookson and both she and Terry-Thomas bounce off one another brilliantly. Cookson has a wonderfully knowing aura about her as she deals with her errant husband and looks stunning in every scene.
Author Ransom is played by professional battleaxe Peggy Mount. Mount manages to give Ransom a vulnerable edge and it is hinted that in her youth she dabbled in prostitution. Her daughter Ethel is loyal but timid, and she is played by a young Joan Sims who refers to her repeatedly as "Mumsie". Mount is particularly funny when she is trying to get some drugs in an attempt to murder Dennis, especially during a scene in a pharmacy where she loudly requests some "knock out drops".
Sims is wonderful as Ethel and proves her mettle as a comedy actress here. It's also lovely to see her play a character so very different from the type she ended up playing regularly in the "Carry On" films and on TV later on in her career.
Shirley Eaton plays Melissa Right, a model who clearly has a secret she is trying to keep from her jealous billionaire Texan boyfriend. Eaton doesn't really have much to do in the film apart from look lovely, but she manages this with ease.
Dennis Price is malevolent but always very cool as blackmailer Nigel Dennis, and he manages to keep the audience from disliking him intensely, possibly because some of the people he is blackmailing aren't too likeable either. His character is similar to that he played in "Kind Hearts & Coronets" and just as good. One suspects Price had a ball making this film.
What I love about "The Naked Truth" is the characterisations - something that was always very strong in British comedies of the fifties - aided and abetted no end by some of the incredibly gifted comedic actors working in the UK at the time.
It's also fun to spot the actors you recognise in these films, even if they are in "blink and you will miss them" roles. Kenneth Griffith is wonderfully camp as MacGregor's loyal dresser Porter, but in smaller roles are David Lodge as a police constable and Michael Ripper as a greengrocer.
"The Naked Truth" is a film that will make you laugh - certainly it never fails to have me howling with mirth - whether that is due to the ridiculous situations the cast find themselves in, the dialogue or the general stupidity and vanity of many of the characters who are so very well portrayed by the cast. Try to see past the fact it is in black and white if this bothers you - it's definitely worth a look.
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This review has previously been published by me on dooyoo under the same user name
Advantages: A good ensemble piece with many well known character actors Disadvantages: Loses the plot slightly towards the end
The late 1940's until the early 60's was a golden era for British comedy. You know the sort I'm talking about,. the ones that now often get shown on Sunday afternoons on (usually) the commercial channels and seem to feature a cast of well known British character actors of that period. I'm primarily thinking here not just of the superior Ealing comedies and the ones by the Bouting brothers but also the ones that are more obscure. The Naked Truth falls ... ...magazine (the 'Naked Truth' of the title) editor, earning loadsamoney by blackmailing hundreds of prominent and/or well placed people, of which Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers, Shirley Eaton and Peggy Mount are but four. He has damaging information on all four that for Sellers, Mounts and Thomas's characters could end their careers, them being well-known public figures. In Eaton's character's case, it could kill her upcoming marriage to a Texan oil millionaire.
...
blankfrank 07.09.2008
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Advantages: Some good Jokes Disadvantages: A Lot of old tired jokes
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There is a lot of interaction between Paddy and the audience and he likes to take the pee out of some audience members and insult the ones who get up and move from their seats. The jokes and insults which he uses do all seem to have been used time and time again.
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The NakedTruth
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Advantages: Splendid story to tell and lovely acting. Disadvantages: DVD extras aren't brilliant.
relationships. Into people’s characters. After watching the film you’ll feel as if you know the people in it so well, and as if they’re a real friends. Calendar Girls is so similar to real life – in so many ways – that you’ll easily grow to love the characters. Along with the film itself.
■■ DVD extras ■■
■ The NakedTruth ■
The NakedTruth is a fifteen-minute documentary interviewing the real Calendar Girls. They take us along the journey they actually went through and their story is backed up by clips from the film. It’s very insightful; because what I got from the documentary was that there wasn’t much likeness between reality and film. There were certainly things that were similar, but it was merely based on real events rather than the exact imitation ...
the film, and a lot of this is based on having a laugh at the expense of the WI. There are a series of very dreary speakers, experts on topics that range from the life cycle of broccoli to all sorts of floor coverings! There is also a little dig at a certain snobbishness by some WI members and also the rivalry between different local branches.
So overall this film is well worth watching, and as I have it on DVD I have watched it more than once. I love the story, more so because it is based on the truth, and I love the fact that it is possible for ordinary people to achieve some quite extraordinary things! Maybe there's hope for us all!
The DVD does have some extras as well. These include some deleted scenes, the nakedtruth which looks at the real story, and creating the calendar which is quite interesting as it looks at how the real ...
British comedy about the gutter press and their incessant search for scandal.
Release details
DVD Region
DVD
Studio(s)
ITV DVD; CINRAM LOGISTICS
Release date
27/05/2002
No of Discs
1
Catalogue No
37115 03123
Barcode
5037115031235
Featured
Peggy Mount
Languages
Main Language
English
Hearing Impaired Language
English
Technical information
Aspect Ratio
4:3
Sound
Dolby Digital Mono
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital Mono English
DVD Description
The greedy editor of a trashy scandal magazine is confronted by several of the individuals whose lives are erroneously and luridly described in the tabloid. Their attempts to stop the publication of articles concerning themselves lead to a series of amusing events.
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