Up the Chastity Belt

I think this film is better than Frankie howerds first outing as Lurkio in "Up pompeii". as classic as that film was this one beats it in my opinion. It is rather slow in parts but with excellent character performances by Rita Webb and Hugh paddick and of course Frankie camping it up as Lurkalot ("because I do!") the film is saved as a British classic. lots of setbound filming gives it a special magical feel. This film was cut down from an amazing 3 hour original and Frankie himself wasn't happy with the end result but it has become a classic. Lurkalot, the medieval surf, tries to save his master in a series of funny events only to find out he is in fact the twin brother of King john himself of England (played by..you guessed it! Frankie!) Eartha Kitt makes a purrrfect appearance and the best scene is stolen by Hugh paddick as the campest robin Hood to grace our screens ever, but when Rita webb turns up as maid Marion ("your reputation has spread far and wide...and thats not the only thing by the look of it!") the laughs really begin (as they say) see it once at least its a corny classic!

Forget about the trendy racist/sexist claims from bob the moo. Everyone and everything is stylized in the movie and it could just as easy be accused of being "kingist" "pigist" "jousterist" etc etc. There is nothing wrong with movie except that it lacks material and is a little boring. Howerd fans will enjoy seeing it. Others will have their curiosity satisfied. Some might find it right on the margin of being a waste of time. It is not as good as Up Pompeii.

The basic plot involves King Richard going off to the crusades, his brother John going to find him, and a servant who helps out the family budget with a chastity belt business, which comes in handy during the search for Richard.

Despite the title, the film would not have any trouble with the censors on the basis of sex or nudity.

This film does not have as funny a theme song, but most of the jokes are funnier. Howerd plays Lurkalot, a serf, who bears a striking likeness to Richard the Lionheart, and goes off to fight in the crusades. Eartha Kitt puts in a performance as Scheherazade, and there is a surprise about the reality of the Crusades.

A dull spin off of Up Pompei is what we get here Howerd plays Lurk-a-Lot (Get it?) in his usual persona (titter ye not etc.) which would be fine if the jokes weren't so predictable (men charging door with battering ram door being opened, men crashing through window etc.) and plain not funny in places. Up Pompei always worked best as a half hour blast the spin off film failing to maintain the gag count through feature length. This film suffers from being the left overs of what wasn't a great idea for a film in the first place.

The usual cast from the other Up... films (Up Pompei and Up the Front) put in appearances in this as well as a guest roll from Eartha Kitt but none really stand out as that good. I'm a big fan of classic British comedy but this is far from classic, if your looking for Howerd at his best then you have to look to his original TV series or in film one of the two Carry On's in which he appeared Doctor and Up The Jungle (not to be confused with this series of films it was a Carry On where Howerd presumably replaced the unavailable Kenneth Williams in a rare film of the series in which he doesn't appear).

Of the three Up..... films this is the weakest, watch the original TV series of Up Pompei and avoid this spin off even the biggest Howerd fans will i think struggle with this 4/10

This is one of those films that suffers from a predictable script. The actors all do well with the material they have been given but it's not the best to start with. Having said that there are a lot worse films out there, many of which are hyped with the Hollywood millions films like the 'Up' films never saw. The highlight for me has to be Hugh Paddick as Robin Hood basically reprising his Julian M LeStrange character from the radio show Round the Horne ("Hello I'm Julian and this is my friend Sandy"). With Frankie Howerd starring in a film produced by Ned Sherrin it was only ever going to be a very camp comedy but the result, while not wonderful, is better than average.