''Privates on Parade'' is a 1982 film adaptation of the
Peter Nichols play of the same name
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* Pla ...
about a fictional – and mostly gay – military entertainment group, the "Song and Dance Unit, Southeast Asia" assembled to entertain the troops in the Malayan jungle during the
Malayan Emergency
The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...
.
Cast and characters
*
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...
– Maj. Giles Flack
*
Denis Quilley
Denis Clifford Quilley, OBE (26 December 1927 – 5 October 2003) was an English actor and singer.
From a family with no theatrical connections, Quilley was determined from an early age to become an actor. He was taken on by the Birmingham Re ...
– Capt. Terri Dennis
*
Nicola Pagett
Nicola Mary Pagett Scott (15 June 1945 – 3 March 2021), known professionally as Nicola Pagett, was a British actress, known for her role as Elizabeth Bellamy in the 1970s TV drama series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'' (1971–1973), as well as being ...
– Sylvia Morgan
* Patrick Pearson – Sgt. Steven Flowers
*
Michael Elphick
Michael John Elphick (19 September 1946 – 7 September 2002) was an English film and television actor. He played the eponymous private investigator in the ITV series ''Boon'' and Harry Slater in BBC's ''EastEnders''. He was nominated for ...
– Sgt. Maj. Reg Drummond
*
David Bamber
David James Bamber (born 19 September 1954) is an English actor. He has worked in television and theatre. He is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
Early years
Bamber was born in Walkden, Lancashire. By September 1973, he was ...
– Sgt. Charles Bishop
*
Bruce Payne
Bruce Martyn Payne (born 22 November 1958) is an English actor, producer, screenwriter, film director and theatre director. Payne is best known for portraying villains, such as Charles Rane in ''Passenger 57'', Jacob Kell in '' Highlander: End ...
– Flight Sgt. Kevin Cartwright
*
Tim Barlow
Michael John Leigh Barlow (born 18 January 1936), whose stage name is Tim Barlow or sometimes Timothy Barlow, is an English actor who has performed many small roles in a variety of films, television programmes and plays.
Barlow left the army i ...
– Commanding Officer
*
Ishaq Bux
Ishaq Bux (15 June 1917 – 2 September 2000) was an Indian actor.
His first screen appearance was in BBC TV's ''The English Family Robinson'', in 1957.
On stage, he appeared with the National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in Tony Harrison's ...
– Sikh Doorman
*
Steve Dixon – Drummer
*
David Griffin – Infantry Officer in the Bush
* Peter Hutchinson – Trumpet Player
* Jasper Jacob – Bass Player
*
Simon Jones – Sgt. Eric Young-Love
*
Brigitte Kahn
Brigitte Kahn is a German-born British actress who has appeared on several television shows in the UK.
She is well known for her part in the '' Star Wars'' film ''The Empire Strikes Back'', where she plays an originally unnamed rebel officer who ...
– Mrs. Reg Drummond
*
Robin Langford
Robin W. J. Langford (12 September 1953 – 22 November 2014) was an English actor, writer and director.
His acting work included with the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Company in Stratford-upon-Avon; at the Moscow Arts Theatre in Russia at the ag ...
– Electrician
*
Joe Melia
Joe Melia ( Giovanni Philip William Melia;
23 January 1935, Camden Town, Camden, London - 20 October 2012, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire) was a UK, British actor.
Educated at the City of Leicester College, City of Leicester Boys' Grammar Sch ...
– Sgt. Len Bonny
* William Parker – Armed Escort
*
Neil Pearson
Neil John Pearson (born 27 April 1959) is a British actor, known for his work on television. He was nominated for the 1994 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actor for '' Between the Lines'' (1992–1994). His other television roles include ''Drop the D ...
– Band Pianist
*
John Quayle – Capt. Henry Cox
*
– Sailor
*
John Standing
Sir John Ronald Leon, 4th Baronet (born 16 August 1934) is an English actor and baronet who is known as John Standing. He is the stepson of John Clements.
Early life
Standing was born in London, the son of Kay Hammond (née Dorothy Katherin ...
– Capt. Sholto Savory
* Philip Tan – Lee
*
Vincent Wong – Cheng
Reception
One critic stated that ''Privates on Parade'' was 'better suited to the theatre'. Derek Winnert stated that 'there are some good jokes and songs, but ''Privates on Parade'' is sometimes a bit dodgy and dated, and the lurch into serious drama at the end works no better on film than it did on stage'.
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...
described the film as 'fine, witty, extremely self-assured
ndsomething seldom seen in movies-a melodramatic farce that comes complete with songs, dances, lewd jokes, sudden death, teary sentiment and smashing performances'.
References
External links
*
*
1982 films
1982 comedy films
Films about the British Army
British LGBT-related films
British films based on plays
Films set in the 1940s
Military humor in film
British comedy films
1980s English-language films
1980s British films
{{1980s-UK-comedy-film-stub