Wonderful character development!

best movie i've ever seen.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

When our local TV station first launched, it filled a lot of its schedule with old British programming. "Lock Up Your Daughters!" was duly aired, and I -- swayed by the opening few seconds of the film -- popped in a blank tape. Best thing I ever did.The actors are beautifully suited to their characters and bring them to delightful life, complete with appropriate accents (Christopher Plummer's Foppington will leave you in stitches, as will Hoyden and her family). Double entendres abound, plot-line wheels within wheels mix and match the characters, hilarious sight gags lurk in every scene, and risqué comments are made on a regular basis.I showed the film to friends a few years ago and they called the piece "a lost treasure," as much for the cast as for the story. To this day I can crack up just thinking about the dialog. Should this gem ever find its way to a DVD release, I'll be at the front of the line.

I saw this film on TV and have waited thirty years to see it again. For me, it is one of the most under-rated films of all time.Why isn't it more appreciated? Perhaps because you have to listen to the dialogue (which is also 18th Century speech, not Shakespeare but far from modern), or keep track of at least three main plots. This is not a simple 'romp', it is based on work by Vanbrugh and Fielding.The script is literate and witty, but the overall theme is - sex. In pre-Victorian England, the desire for sexual fulfilment is regarded as a healthy and natural part of life. Men want it, women want it, and they'll do anything to get it.The film is performed by a great cast. I defy anyone to recognise Christopher Plummer as Foppington under the make-up, wig and costumes. There's one scene where he is hilarious simply getting up out of a chair, as unsteady as a new born deer. After making love for the first time, he explains that he has a servant to do that sort of thing for him.The rest of the cast is filled with marvellous character actors: Georgia Brown, Jim Dale, Roy Kinnear, Kathleen Harrison, Roy Dotrice, Glynis Johns, Peter Bayliss and Fenella Fielding. Not big names, perhaps, but they fill their roles to perfection. So my advice is: watch the film with care, more than once, to get the flavour of the dialogue, then enjoy the free-spirited age that is brought to life for you.And, by the way, it's the *fourth* rung that's missing...

A real find this one. I can see why it flopped. Modern audiences simply cannot relate or understand most Restoration drama, but this is a pretty fair example of two plays translated to film, replete with 18th century language.Such a pity the story is a bit limp and contrived, but refreshing nonethless.

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!