A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This takes place in Victorian England. It deals with four lusty men and their attempts to have sex. The plots were hard to follow (the thick English accents didn't help) but I THINK I figured them out. Shaftoe (Tom Bell) is lusting after virginal sweet Hilaret (Sussannah York). Lusty (Jim Dale) is after Cloris (Elaine Taylor) by posing as Lord Foppington (Christopher Plummer) to get her money...and sex. Rambles (Ian Bannen) is basically going after any woman he sees.The jokes are sexually crude enough to make Benny Hill blush...but they're actually more silly today than anything else. It's really hard to believe this got an R rating back in 1969. There's no nudity, sex, swearing or violence--just a lot of sex talk that wouldn't raise an eyebrow today. In fact TCM played it on afternoon TV recently! This is not a good movie (far from it) but it does have its moments and it is amusing to see Plummer play it WAY over the top as Lord Foppington. I kept having to remind myself that this was the same man who did Shakespeare on stage! Actually all the acting is good and has people going full tilt with many asides to the camera. No one is really bad but some are very good--Glynis Johns goes full tilt as Mrs. Sqeezum, Ian Bannen is having the time of his life playing Rambles and Jim Dale hams it up nonstop. Also this was a pretty big budget movie--it shows an accurate portrayal of how grubby and dirty England was back then (even though it was shot in Ireland!). So this isn't a good movie but has enough moments to take a look at.

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 ****

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.