Please Turn Over

This film shows why we were good at making comedy a classic film with a great cast I love watching as it takes me back to a quiet time not like today where life is fast

For some strange reason this film has evinced reviews which either claim that this film is the funniest thing since sliced bread or a dismal broad farce.It in my opinion is neither.It does have some funny moments but is not as consistently funny as some of the Carry Ons nor does it have great actors in every part.After all it has to be said that Ted Ray is no Sid James.Also it must be added that the idea that a 17year old schoolgirl in the early 60s could have the experience or knowledge to write a racy book is extremely unlikely.Furthermore the section where the actors play their alter egos from the book does go on a bit too long ,is a bit repetitive and not that funny.It is a reasonably funny if unmemorable film.

Please Turn Over is one of those films outside of the Carry On franchise, but one that still "bares" the early hallmarks of that series. Brought to the screen by Peter Rogers and Norman Hudis, it's adapted from the Basil Thomas play, "Book of the Month" and stars Ted Ray, Jean Kent, Julia Lockwood, Leslie Phillips and Lionel Jeffries. Plot finds Lockwood as a teenaged writer who upturns the lives of the local residents when she has a steamy novel published. The kicker being that the characters in her book appear to be based on them! Suddenly everyone is viewing everyone else in a different light.

A sort of comedic take on Peyton Place, it's a film that meets the expectations of those who are familiar with the cast and production team. Without being smutty or bawdy, it's more a gentle farce with some seamy undercurrents. The fun is mostly mined by the alternative world created by Lockwood when the townsfolk turn into adulterers and egotists. Rogers fills out the cast with performers he would come to rely on, where the likes of Joan Sims and Dilys Laye steal scenes, while Ray and Phillips turn in jolly good shows. Nice crisp B&W photography by Ted Scaife as well.

Not essential but a pleasant enough experience with a glass of Port on a Sunday afternoon. 6/10

The movie started out as a rather genteel suburban comedy, but got surprising a lot better. A clever plot for its day, with a good cast. Not up there with the Ealing comedies, but far superior to the Carry On films.

Produced by Peter Rogers and directed by Gerald Thomas, the legendary duo responsible for the Carry On series, this comedy is as mildly racy and as funny, but of greater subtlety. It concerns Jo Halliday, a seventeen year-old girl from a commonplace English suburban background who writes a scandalous novel that seems to depict the Halliday family -- and not in a favorable light. In it her accountant father becomes an embezzler and a sugar daddy to his secretary, her mother is having an affair with a retired military officer who is a family friend, and her lovelorn aunt is pining for her employer, a doctor who carries on with all his women patients. The book, of course, is a best seller and the whole town is gossiping about the girl's poor family and creating considerable problems for each member. The comedic complications unwind deftly, with an hilarious sequence depicting the characters as they appear in the way over-the-top book. The acting is superb, but we expect that with British films from the '50's. Ted Ray anchors the family and the film as the father. Jean Kent, an outstanding dramatic actress who had starred in such films as The Browning Version and The Woman in Question, shines as well in comedy and is wonderful as the slightly daffy mother. Joan Sims, of Carry On fame, is a riot as the maid. Also featured are familiar comedic actors Leslie Phillips as the doctor, Dilys Laye as the secretary, June Jago as the aunt. Lionel Jeffries as the family friend (whose efforts to teach the Jean Kent character to drive a car are simply hilarious), and Colin Gordon, Charles Hawtrey, Ronald Adam, and Joan Hickson. Best of all, though, is the leading actress who plays Jo, Julia "Toots" Lockwood, the young daughter of film great Margaret Lockwood. She is thoroughly charming and immensely appealing and at the same time plays her part with great sensitivity and conviction. Unfortunately, Toots didn't have a big film career, although she worked on the stage and on TV until she retired in the mid '70s. But she's a standout in this film, which is a must see for those who like British comedy of the period.