Keep It Up Downstairs

There was a famous period drama in the UK in the 70's called Upstairs, Downstairs, looking at both the aristocracy and the working class in one household, hence the second part of the title. The first part alludes to that of the carry on series of movies, which were famed for being a bit saucy with occasional laughs. This movie had none, indeed I just found it awful. This might be the worst British comedy movie I've ever seen.

A desperately unfunny film featuring some very sexy women and classy actors wasted in an underwritten story set in an English country-house.

The production values and the costuming are excellent for such a low-budget movie, but these do not adequately compensate for cringe-making and vapid humour. There are absolutely no valid statements to be made about human sexuality in this British sex-comedy despite its claim to being a sex comedy.

All that the audience gets instead is a White culture of sexual repression, male insecurities & the inevitably-resulting sexual desperation - especially among the largely-unsatisfied women. To make things worse, the film insults its audience by treating them as if they were also just as love-starved.

There is no real sense here that sex is a means to an end - just an end in itself - since all of the characters are either scared of sex or see it as something you get from someone else rather than something you share with them. And where's the fun in that?

Excellent production values including gorgeous period costumes - it is set in 1904 - and Alan Pudney's soft-focus photography of the exteriors and rooms of Knebworth House, mark this 'Upstairs Downstairs' spoof out as an above average entry in the 1970's Brit sex comedy stakes. Unfortunately producer Hazel Adair rather let herself down with her screenplay, with its surfeit of cringe-worthy puns, obsession with phallic imagery and general sniggering approach that typified the genre.

Most of the cast play with relish, with reliable character actor Neil Hallet having his finest hour as Hampton, Lord Cockshute's indispensable butler whose hands-on style is especially popular with Lady C. played by the stunning Sue Longhurst. Looking exquisite throughout, she's given a chance to really act and has some of the best lines. Along with Hallet she is the real star though placed half way down the cast list to accommodate the household names. Seventies icon Mary Millington looking sweet as Polly the maid and the under-used Olivia Munday as Lady Kitty provide more glamour and apparently took part in more explicit scenes for export versions. But Jack Wild, at 23 his career already in decline is pretty dire and Willie Rushton was no actor.

It's mostly well directed apart from the inevitable farcical scene of bedroom assignations, here combined with a fake robbery, that falls completely flat. Amazing that the BBFC considers some fleeting partial nudity and a few seconds of let's-pretend sex, still qualifies this for an '18' certificate; it should be of interest to a wider audience than usual for a film of this type.

KEEP IT UP DOWNSTAIRS is a low budget British sex comedy of the 1970s, with all of the connotations you'd expect from that particular genre. It's poorly made, and quite groan-inducing in places, an over-obvious spoof of the likes of UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS in its tale of a bunch of sex-obsessed aristocrats and their equally randy servants.

As a time capsule of the era it was made, however, it's priceless. Holding the whole thing together is Neil Hallett, who's perfected his long-suffering look as the butler, Hampton, but he's given ample support from a whole bevy of familiar British faces. Watch out for OLIVER!'s Jack Wild as a mad scientist type, Diana Dors as a visiting aristo, and Francoise Pascal and Mary Millington as a pair of sexy maids.

The humour is decidedly smutty and the film as a whole relies on the whole sniggering nudity set up of the CONFESSIONS films, and to be fair with a script of this calibre it's not likely to win many awards. For me, though, these were halcyon days and an era that deserves to be celebrated with its own scuzzy charm, so you can't hate it too much. For nostalgia purposes only, then...

This limp sex comedy is symptomatic. of the depths to which British filmmaking sank during the 1970s.Only these type of films and tv spin offs constituently flourished at the box office.To try and sustain this film to 90 minutes would strain the abilities of a Wilder,so Hazel Adair has no chance.Made with wrestling commentator Kent Walwin,it would have been more suitably called Good Evening Grapple Fans. Incidentally despite being billed above the title Diana Dors has a relatively small part.