Not Now Darling

When it comes to stripping beautiful young women down to their underwear for the most gratuitous of reasons, no one can outdo the English. The plot, such as it is, revolves around Leslie Phillips conniving attempts to get Janie McMichael into bed. His plans inevitably go astray, leading to half-naked girls hiding in the closet, jealous husbands raging through the office, and at three of the female cast least losing their clothes in this unmistakably British comedy of errors. Probably the best of Leslie Phillips' seventies bedroom farces, which included "Spanish Fly," "Don't Just lie there, Say Something," "Doctor in Trouble", and the infamous "Not Now Comrade".

A bit too risqué to be a Carry On film, despite the presence of the great Joan Sims and Barbara Windsor, this is a farce starring Leslie Phillips as Bodley, who is buying a fur coat for his mistress Janie (the electric blue eyed Julie Ege). Janie is married and her husband comes to the furrier and there begins this true comic farce of double entendres, clothes thrown out the window and hiding in the store room. This film is fast paced, and everyone here has a flair for comedy, including Ray Cooney, who also co-wrote and co-directed this film. Its truly a film of its time, a sex comedy that never reaches porn. Its just fun to watch. Also included is the always welcome Moira Lister as Bodley's wife. A bit improbable as to the story itself, but who cares? If you like sex comedies, this is a good choice. If you want your Carry On film to take one more step forward, here it is. Its fun.

It has been a quarter-century since I saw this movie, which was making a far-east tour of military bases in the early 70's (1974?), and I thought then (and still think so now) that it was one of the funniest movies I had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Although it was probably not as well made as some movies, it made up for that in hilarious content. I can still remember how much I laughed and enjoyed myself. Don't know if you can (or will) use these comments, but I've been looking for this picture ever since I first saw it, and just wish I could find it again. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being the best), I would rate this film a 9 or 9.5.

It takes something special to make a miserable old git like me laugh out loud but this managed it. Farces like this (in many ways identical to this!) have been filmed since Ben Travers' Aldwych Farces back in the thirties so it was a tried and tested formula. This might actually be the apex of that genre.

Sophisticated and cerebral humour this isn't but neither is it, as some people labelled it, 'a 70s sex comedy.' Just because various attractive young women end up hiding in cupboards in their underwear does not place it in the same category as those dreadful 'Confessions of' films. This is very much a superbly honed, very funny comedy in the tradition of bawdy old fashioned English farce.

Whether or not this is for you would depend on whether you find Barbara Windsor, carrying a bird cage asking people if they'd like to see her tits, an outdated disgraceful example of sexism or silly schoolboy humour.

I recall that this film was made using a multi camera system.So that two or three cameras would be used to save time on setups.I also believe that it was taped,edited and then transferred to film.Ray Cooney who wrote this takes a rare leading role.He also co directs with David Croft of Dads Army fame.The problem is that he acts as if he is on the stage.Every line accompanied by a gesture.Compare this with the more restrained performance of Leslie Phillips.There are a lot of well known actors in this.Cicely Courtneidge making her last screen performance and Jack Hulbert his penultimate one.Jackie Paolo makes an appearance,then at the height of his TV wrestling fame.The problem is that the play may have been funny on stage but lacks sparkle on film.