Up the Front

During WW1, a London boot boy called Lurk (Howerd) is hypnotised to save Britain from the Germans and has their master plan tattooed on his buttocks in order to get the information back to the British.

The second spin-off from the highly successful "UP POMPEII" sitcom is a truly ramshackle farce. It only ever provides faint amusement and the production values are strictly cardboard cut outs as is the direction of Bob Kellet who directed all three of the films spawned by the TV original. The best scene is where Dora Bryan dances with a German officer disguised as a doctor leaving him no choice but to join in with an English patriotic song much to his chagrin.

Well, we had UP POMPEII - a Roman comedy based on his popular television series, and its sequel UP THE CHASTITY BELT (which updated the format to the Middle Ages), so now comes UP THE FRONT, featuring the same kind of shenanigans except this time taking place during WW1.

I was in two minds about this film before watching it, purely because I wasn't sure how a comedy set during one of the most tragic wars in history would play out. I needn't have worried; UP THE FRONT is as trivial and frivolous as ever, a series of lame gags just about held together by Howerd's front man.

I like Howerd, but this material is definitely beneath him. When a running gang about a goat is the highlight of your movie, you know you're in trouble. He blusters and shams his way through a series of painful, originality-free gags while a series of supporting actors (Bill Fraser, Dora Bryan, Lance Percival and Stanley Holloway) mug shamelessly. Even Zsa Zsa Gabor shows up (playing Mata Hari!) along with a youthful Bob Hoskins in his first film outing.

The paucity of both budget and imagination is evident in the uselessness of the script, which involves a secret map tattooed on Howerd's behind (interestingly, the idea was later borrowed for the spaghetti western, THE STRANGER AND THE GUNFIGHTER). At the end of the day, this is a comedy with unfunny jokes, so it's not really worth sitting through.

Cor blimey guv....worra plot. I'm underwhelmed.

I don't care how long ago it was the people responsible for the main premise of this movie should be arrested. Honestly, it's criminal. Suffice to say the idea that Frankie has a "map" on his bottom filled me we dread from the off.

I have to say this film is a big disappointment especially when you see the actors in it. Frankie Howerd was always better with a live audience to bounce catchphrases off (he could make three jokes last over half an hour like that). This film also features stalwarts of the British film scene such as Stanley Holloway, William Mervyn, Bill Fraser, Dora Bryan and Lance Percival with early bit parts for Bob Hoskins and Mike Grady. Madeline Smith provides the love interest for most of the film as Fanny, loved by both Lurk (Howerd) and Groping (Fraser). Zsa Zsa Gabor turns up as Mata Hari which says a lot about the film and the state of Gabor's career at the time. Jonathan Cecil gives one of his best performances as the twit son of the family who becomes a spy and Hermione Baddeley is marvellous as the brothel madame. Gertan Klauber and Stanley Lebor play almost exactly the same characters as they play in Soft Beds, Hard Battles as slightly sinister but ultimately comic heavies. The story is basically about the spy stealing the German master plan for the war and the efforts of the Germans to get it back while the Brits try to get it to the General at HQ. It ought to have been a lot better. I do have a big soft spot for this film despite its failings.

Lurk is working as a dogsbody in a rich English household when WW1 is declared. In order to impress a girl he accompanies his boss to a recruiting show where he is hypnotised to think he needs to save England. Before the spell can be lifted he recruits and is shipped out to the front. Once there he finds himself drawn into a plot involving the German's secret plan for the way and a tattoo.

This is a very poor vehicle for a man of Frankie Howerd's talents. The first half of the film is the closest we get to his humour and even that isn't very funny. I'm a big fan of Howerd and think he's very funny but this doesn't do anything to use him. The plot is unimportant, but suffice to say it's very silly and doesn't hold the interest. That makes the comedy even more important and as I said already, in fails in that respect, with only a handful of funny lines and relies on smutting jokes and slapstick humour.

Howerd doesn't look convinced by the material himself, he delivers it all in his own indomitable style but it's all below his usual quality. The other actors only mug along, all playing the straight men to Howerd's comments.

Overall an unfunny, smutty comedy that wastes the talents of it's lead star.