Lock Up Your Daughters!

I went to see this at the theatres when it first came out mostly to follow the career of Christopher Plummer...it was the summer of my first car...and I drove an incredible distance to see it in some obscure little theatre. I couldn't believe my eyes..the ribaldry and overt sexuality reminiscent of Tom Jones had everybody in histerics...but none so much as whenever Christopher Plummer was on the screen as Lord Foppington, a long lanky, powder haired, rouge lipped, belaced and high heeled ,courtly gentleman in satins and feminine finery trapsing thru' the movie like some awkward, flamboyant peacock. I got hysterical...I could hardly breathe ,I laughed so hard I was crying. The whole movie is full of gems..and is well worth watching to catch them all. Dated of course by today's standards..but for its time really very riskee'. See it ...if only for Lord Foppington!

I reviewed this movie when it was released in 1969. At that time I thought it was absolutely rib-splitting. It deals mainly with the attempts of an English Fop (we're talking the 1700's here) to maintain the chastity of his daughters. It is ribald fare and the comedy a bit along the lines of TOM JONES, but it is worth the price of admission just to see this father, fake cheek mole plopped in place, his finery and lace cuffs set just so, rush from situtation to situation in little prig-ish strides.

I would love to see it released on Video.

Awful late-sixties so-called "comedy" about the ill-fated attempts of an over-protective father (Christopher Plummer) to keep his daughters pure. Plummer's hate for his most famous film, "The Sound of Music," is infamous. Many people know that he refers to it as "The Sound of Mucus." So he started appearing in really bad movies (most notably ones where he plays evil characters) in order to wipe away his Nice Family Man persona.

So he made this trash instead? Whatever.

I saw this film 12 years ago on TNT. It was Susanah York's Birthday and they were showing this film as a double feature with Tom Jones (1963). I have not seen this film on TV since. I took interest in seeing this film because one of the stars is the very funny and talented Jim Dale, as Lusty the sailor. I believe that Dale now does the narration of the Harry Potter books on Casette, but anyway he is quite funny. This is a fast paced comedy. It is not on VHS or DVD. Columbia Pictures should go through their film collection, and consider restoring and releasing this film to DVD. Christopher Plummer is hilarious as Lord Fopington, Ian Bannen is also quite humorous as Ramble the sailor. This is a bawdy comedy, the kind of film one no longer sees, with great production values. ***1/2 stars out of ****

When our local TV station first launched, it filled a lot of its schedule with old British programming. "Lock Up Your Daughters!" was duly aired, and I -- swayed by the opening few seconds of the film -- popped in a blank tape. Best thing I ever did.

The actors are beautifully suited to their characters and bring them to delightful life, complete with appropriate accents (Christopher Plummer's Foppington will leave you in stitches, as will Hoyden and her family). Double entendres abound, plot-line wheels within wheels mix and match the characters, hilarious sight gags lurk in every scene, and risqué comments are made on a regular basis.

I showed the film to friends a few years ago and they called the piece "a lost treasure," as much for the cast as for the story. To this day I can crack up just thinking about the dialog. Should this gem ever find its way to a DVD release, I'll be at the front of the line.