max-crack

Straight-ahead exploitation film from a director of nudie flicks (oh and exec producer of "The Sorcerers", which is actually a good movie). Hardly shocking, more comical, although still banned by the BBFC on initial release. England in the early Sixties must have been more prudish than previously thought.

There are some funny moments with a lot of non-actors "doing acting", and the spy-jazz theme tune is a swinging number (it gets replayed many times for extra value). I'd say the real interest, though, is the shots of a long-lost vintage Soho: a world away from today's tourist attraction.

Half marks, for genuine Z-grade/camp/period piece/curiosity value. Seekers of smut should, however, look elsewhere.

In 1968 the nascent Thames TV invited 1950s BBC Radio favourites The Goons onto their new London television channel, with the idea of recreating their uniquely surreal humour in a weekly show . A pilot was filmed, without the musical breaks from the original radio format, and with John Cleese taking the linkman role. And that was about that, since the series never progressed beyond the pilot stage. Presumably it was thought a failure at the time - and rightly so, since it looks pretty terrible now.

So The Goons make a cursory effort to re-enact one of their last radio shows, but it does not translate to TV and they very likely know it all along. The team's comic timing is awry, perhaps so they can get off backstage for a shot of the old brandy, and the low production values don't help (we often miss jokes because cast members are out of shot). And for some unexplained reason a beehived dolly bird lounges on a chair in a justifiably bored fashion, but says and does nothing - most odd. Milligan has the right idea - he just gives up and wanders off halfway through. Most definitely for the most zealous completists only.