La vérité presque nue

Released in America as 'Your Past Is Showing,' this amusing black comedy concerns a group of English celebrities and nobility who are being blackmailed by Nigel Dennis, an unscrupulous tabloid reporter. Four of these people, a Lord (Terry-Thomas,) a television host (Sellers,) an author (Mount,) and a model (Eaton) decide to fight back and kill their blackmailer. The catch is, none of them are aware anyone else is targeting Dennis. What follows is a series of humorous attempts to off Nigel Dennis.

Peter Sellers gets to dress up in various disguises and do impressions. Watching him is watching a true genius at work. But the movie is stolen by Peggy Mount, who plays the daffy author. She and her hilariously skittish daughter, played by Joan Sims, concoct a plan to poison Dennis, lock him in a trunk and dump him in the river. But things go wrong on several levels, and the way these two cope is hilarious.

As all the characters come together for the final act, things escalate and become even funnier. So if you enjoy British comedy, a fan of Peter Sellers, or just in the mood for a laugh, then don't hesitate to watch this film.

This film solidified Peter Sellers' stardom as a comic actor of the first rank. He had appeared in other films prior to it, but THE LADYKILLERS was the only one prior to this that showed him to any advantage, as an inept "teddy boy" type.

Here he is "Wee Sonny MacGregor" a popular young entertainer on television, whose variety show has mostly elderly viewers who think of Sonny as the son or grandson they always dreamed about. Unfortunately for Sonny, one Nigel Dennis (Dennis Price) publishes "THE NAKED TRUTH", a tell all scandal sheet like "Confidential" or (despite their disclaimers) "The Enquirer". Mr Dennis has a nice, somewhat legal, offer. If you will help defray the expenses of his magazine, he will refrain from publishing details of what you don't want known. In his best, intelligent scoundrel style, Price reveals to dear "Wee Sonny" that he knows about the large amounts of rent money "Wee Sonny" has been making with some rotting tenements in London. The audience for "Wee Sonny" would not feel very comfortable with his image knowing about this.

Price has similar pieces of information regarding Peggy Blount, playing an "Agatha Christie" novelist - apparently one of her plots may not have been so original. Also Terry-Thomas, as Lord Mayley, is not as respectable as he lets on - he seems to have had several affairs his wife does not know of (although Georgina Cookson - Lady Mayley - has her occasional suspicions). Soon all three are considering the last resort for dealing with blackmail - doing in the blackmailer. Their problems are more than dealing with a brainy adversary. Blount tries to commit a murder (after all she's an expert in killing as a creative writer), only to come a cropper (all I'll say is Price ups his demands for payment as a result). Terry-Thomas seems to keep stumbling into the schemes of Blount and Sellers, to his own discomfort.

Best is Sellers though - he is certain he can commit the perfect murder because he is a "master of disguise". His assistant Kenneth Griffith keeps warning him that he has a tendency to overact, but "Wee Sonny" dismisses this. He tries to spy out Price playing an elderly dock expert, and only annoys the latter and makes Terry-Thomas suspicious. He flusters a gun shop owner by appearing as an Edwardian style country squire ordering enough ammunition for a regiment, not for a hunt. My favorite moment is when he tries to impress possible IRA members by speaking to them (as a fellow member) in perfect Welsh.

How they finally get rid of Price and his demands is as funny as one can expect, given the rest of the film. It is a comedy that will pay handsome dividends of laughter.

This is a wonderfully English tale of Blackmail, Attempted Murder and various other dirty deeds, Terry Thomas, playing the kind of upper-class Scoundrel that he does so well absolutely classic . And the crooked game-show host superbly underplayed by a pre Hollywood Peter Sellers who is definitely at his peak , The scenes with Kenneth Griffith as his camp disapproving dresser are sheer class (this is the first of the five or six films they made together). The scene where Sellers slides effortlessly into the Irish character demonstrates perfectly his genius.

Dennis Price is wonderfully cast as the smarmy blackmailer who bites off more than he can chew when he attempts to expose the main characters dodgey pasts.

The only flaw for me is Peggy Mount, she just doesn't seem comfortable with the character and never really settles in. But this is a small moan about what is a delightfully entertaining film.

Stars Terry-Thomas, Peggy Mount, and Peter Sellers are all quite good in this black comedy about blackmail and murder. There's a good remake in this material. Joan Sims is funny as Ethel and Georgina Cookson is gracious as Lady Mayley. Dennis Price seems an odd and bland choice for the blackmailer. Miles Malleson plays another vague vicar. Despite many disguises for Peter Sellers, Peggy Mount (in a role that seems to have be written for Margaret Rutherford), Terry-Thomas, and Joan Sims steal the show. And there is a surprise ending in a zeppelin! A must for fans of British Comedy and the great British eccentrics on 1950s films.

There are few films (these days) that make you laugh out loud and laugh hilariously. This film is one of them. "Pay my blackmail or I publish in a month" is the magazine publisher's standard line. The characters who react to this blackmail are varied, amusing and unique.We need this film to be available on video.