Titer ye not
Spin off from the 70's sitcom of the same name this film spins out the
same gags over an hour and twenty minutes run time and gets away with it but only just. Frankie Howerd is again Lurcio the roman slave in ancient Pompeii getting involved in the evil machinations of the emperor Nero (Patrick Cargill) and the evil Brutus and his henchmen (Lance Percival). If you liked the TV series you'll like this is the basic rule here, to a modern audience I doubt it would play well, Frankie Howerds routine is very much of it's time and place. But its very entertaining some of the gags are sign posted miles away but Frankie's personality, playing to the audience and comic timing are what make this entertaining. The movie feels too much like a stretched out episode to be a classic like many TV shows spun off into movies in the 70's (On the Buses, Rising Damp, Porridge etc.) but its certainly worth a look for Up Pompei or Frankie Howerd fans. Mostly funny, occasionally hilarious 7/10. 
Only the British make rubbish like this!
This film is rubbish! I know - I've seen it 23 times! Perhaps you need to
be British even to understand it. Just reading the names of the characters makes me smile. The film has its origin in a British TV Series and was certainly much better in 30 minute chunks but, at least when they made the film, they took the effort to come up with a plot, puerile though it is. The cast is pretty well unchanged from the TV Series too. Frankie Howerd (Lurcio) based his whole theatrical career on dodgy double intendres and this film is full of them. His habit of making asides directly to the audience via the camera is hilarious. In fact, most of the comedy lies in those two attributes. The visual side of the film, the physical comedy, is more or less one long chase scene with breaks and is not really that funny. There are some very funny scenes though. The orgy and its aftermath and the wrestling match stand out. The ending is very clever too. Worth a watch and far better than the two sequels it spawned, 'Up The Chastity Belt' and 'Up The Front'. . |
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