It was with some tredipation (and a wee bit of reluctance) that I took on the review of this film. I'd never heard of it before so I had a look on
IMDB and thought "Oh Dear! An old British sex comedy and a pretty bad looking one at that." But it starred Peter Sellers, ex-goon and a well known as Inspector Clouseau from the Pink Panther series, so I thought "Oh well, it'll pass an evening".
In a simliar vein to Alec Guinness in "Kind Hearts and Coronets", Peter Sellers plays multiple characters in this movie, which is set in a Paris brothel during World War II just before the US entered the fray.
It tells how the British coerced the madame and her girls to help the war effort by bumping off some senior German officers with all the usual bufoonish comedy of the genre. It was released as "Undercovers Hero" in the US and, as far as I can tell, they haven't yet had the "pleasure" of a region 1 release.
Audio/Video
Presented in a 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen picture, it's pretty clear and free of scratches, etc, which is pretty amazing given its age. The sound is clear enough but it's only mono. Not that a surround soundtrack would enhance this one much anyway.
Review
This was obviously written as a vehicle for Peter Seller's talent for playing multiple characters as he'd done previously in "The Mouse That Roared", "Dr. Strangelove", the Goon shows and a few others. While Sellers is excellent at portraying these roles, foreign accents and all, I just didn't find it funny enough. I remember some mild chuckles but that was about it.
The plot revolves around the British major and the brothel staff doing away with high ranking German officers and the bungling attempts by the Gestapo to discover what's going on. At one point it looks like they're going to be discovered so the girls et al debunk to the country and stay in a convent dressed as nuns and that leads to some amusing scenes with visiting Germans and a Japanese prince. While they're away, the Gestapo search the brothel and discover the means by which they've been doing away with their officers so when they get back…zzzzz, whoops nodded off again!
Sellers is excellent as usual, even with this fairly boring material. He plays six characters in all - A French general, a British major, a Gestapo officer, the US president, Adolf Hitler and a Japanese prince. He's pretty good at all of them,especially the bufoonish Herr Schroeder of the Gestapo. I'm pretty sure the 'Allo, 'Allo writers must've used this character for some of their ideas as Herr Flick had the same limp and Herr Von Smallhausen dressed almost identically, even down to the thick spectacles.
The rest of the cast do a reasonable supporting job. Curd Jürgens plays General Von Grotjahn, the German military govenor, Lila Kedrova as Madame Grenier (the madame), Vernon Dobtcheff as the padre and Timothy West as the convent chaplain.
As for the sex aspect, there are a few topless scenes but not that many. They certainly don't add anything to the movie and, unless you really want to see Rula Lenska topless (I didn't), I think they could have cut them altogther and tried for a broader audience.
Extras
I'm not sure why they bothered but there are just under 30 minutes of alternate or deleted scenes, some of which have a voice-over by Peter Sellers. There are 29 scenes in all played as one continuous piece and each is separated by some blank space, which in some cases is way to long.
Overall
A mildly amusing British comedy and, if you're a Sellers fan, you might get some enjoyment out of it. If not then have a look at 'Allo, 'Allo as they did it so much better and, at the time of writing, series one is available on DVD.