''Not Now, Comrade'' is a 1976 British comedy film directed by

Ray Cooney Raymond George Alfred Cooney Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 30 May 1932) is an English playwright, actor, and director. His biggest success, ''Run for Your Wife (play), Run for Your Wife'' (1983), ran for nine years in London's West E ...

and Harold Snoad and starring

Leslie Phillips Leslie Samuel Phillips (20 April 1924 – 7 November 2022) was an English actor. He achieved prominence in the 1950s, playing smooth, upper-class comic roles utilising his "Ding dong" and "Hello" catchphrases. He appeared in the '' Carry On'' ...

Windsor Davies Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted ...

, Don Estelle and

Ian Lavender Arthur Ian Lavender (16 February 1946 – 2 February 2024) was an English stage, film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Private Pike in ''Dad's Army'', a BBC sitcom set during World War II, of which he was the last survivi ...

. It was shot at

Elstree studios Elstree Studios is a generic term which can refer to several current and demolished British film studios and television studios based in or around the town of Borehamwood and village of Elstree in Hertfordshire, England. Production studios ha ...

as the sequel to ''

Not Now, Darling ''Not Now, Darling'' is a 1967 farce written by English playwrights John Chapman and Ray Cooney, first staged at the Richmond Theatre, in Richmond, England prior to a long West End run. The production starred Donald Sinden and Bernard Cribb ...

'' (1973), and was the second in an intended series of "Not Now" films, with ''Not Now, Prime Minister'' pencilled in as a follow-up. But box office returns for this film, unlike those of its predecessor, were disappointing. It was the only feature film directed by Snoad.

Plot

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

dancer Rudi Petrovyan wants to defect. Unable to reach the

British embassy This is a list of diplomatic missions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, excluding honorary consulates. The UK has one of the largest global networks of diplomatic missions. UK diplomatic missions to capitals of other Co ...

and pursued by the

KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...

, he hides out with, and falls for,

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

Barbara Wilcox. But Rudi's planned escape in the boot of a Triumph backfires when he climbs into the wrong car, and he ends up in the country home of unsuspecting naval Commander Rimmington.

Cast

as Commander Rimmington *

Roy Kinnear Roy Mitchell Kinnear (8 January 1934 – 20 September 1988) was an English character actor and comedian. He was known for his acting roles in movies such as Henry Salt in the 1971 film ''Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'', Algernon in The Be ...

as Hoskins *

as Constable Pulford * Don Estelle as Bobby Hargreaves *

Michele Dotrice Michele Dotrice (born 27 September 1948) is an English actress. She played Betty Spencer, the long-suffering wife of Frank Spencer (Michael Crawford), Frank Spencer, portrayed by Michael Crawford, in the BBC sitcom ''Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em'', ...

as Nancy Rimmington *

as Mr Laver *

June Whitfield Dame June Rosemary Whitfield (11 November 1925 – 29 December 2018) was an English radio, television and film actress. Whitfield's big break was a lead in the radio comedy '' Take It from Here'', which aired on the BBC Light Programme ...

as Janet Rimmington * Carol Hawkins as Barbara Wilcox * Lewis Fiander as Rudi Petrovyan *

as Gerry Buss *

Richard Marner Richard Marner (born Alexander Pavlovich Molchanoff; ; 27 March 192118 March 2004) was a British actor. He was best known for his role as Colonel Erik von Strohm in the British sitcom Allo 'Allo!''. Early life Born in Petrograd (now St Peter ...

as 1st Russian official *

Michael Sharvell-Martin Michael Sharvell-Martin (2 February 1944 – 28 October 2010) was a British television and stage actor. He was a character actor, guest-starring in dramas and comedies during the 1970s and 1980s. Early life Sharvell-Martin was born Michael Ern ...

as 2nd Russian official

Stage origins

Cooney's 1964 play ''Chase Me, Comrade'' was based on the 1961 defection of

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev (17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet-born ballet dancer and choreographer. Nureyev is widely regarded as the preeminent male ballet dancer of his generation as well as one of the greatest ballet dancers of all ...

. First appearing in 1964 at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, Cooney himself played Gerry Buss. The play became a

Whitehall farce The Whitehall farces were a series of five long-running comic stage plays at the Whitehall Theatre in London, presented by the actor-manager Brian Rix, in the 1950s and 1960s. They were in the low comedy tradition of British farce, following the ...

running for 765 performances between 1964 and 1966. It was televised by the BBC's ''Laughter from the Whitehall'' in August 1964 and again in December 1967. In 1966 Cooney published a novelisation of the play. In 1981 Dutch television transmitted a version of the play called ''Een Kus van een Rus.''

Production

''Not Now Darling'' had been financed by Tigon Pictures who went broke. Do ''Not Now Comrade'' was financed by EMI. Richard Stone, an agent, wrote about the film that "Bernie Delfont, now at EMI, backed us, but it was a stinker!" The film was shot at Elstree Studios in March 1976.

Songs

Don Estelle sings "Not Now" (lyric:

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premie ...

, music:

Walter Ridley Walter John Ridley (28 February 1913 – 23 January 2007) was a British record producer and songwriter. Primarily associated with traditional pop music especially in the 1950s, he produced hit records by Alma Cogan, Max Bygraves, Ronnie Hilton ...

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' wrote: "Barbara removes her clothes and enthusiastically twirls her tasselled breasts; the ballet dancers posing for photographers in front of the Albert Hall spontaneously break into dance; Rudi mistakenly leaps into Rimmington's car; Barbara buttons up her blouse while angrily driving after him round Hyde Park. Having provided this obligatory glimpse of a semi-nude woman, ''Not Now, Comrade'' settles into the familiar round of harmless double entendres buried in the ramifications of a mistaken-identity plot played by the familiar troupers of British farce – Roy Kinnear, the gardener perpetually on the point of repressed sexual combustion; Leslie Phillips, still the self-regarding gay blade, here complete with naval beard and yellow Bentley; June Whitfield, Nancy's homely Mum; Windsor Davies, the doubting hob-nailed Constable, and Don Estelle, arbitrarily brought on in the last reel to partner him in yet another re-run of their Indian Army routine. Master of ceremonies Ray Cooney delivers the film's most embarrassing lines (the drunken Laver indulges in cloying baby-talk) and co-directs the mirthless proceedings at great speed but in a style derived from the dated traditions of the ''

Whitehall Theatre Trafalgar Theatre is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London. The Grade II listed building was built in 1930 with interiors in the Art Deco style as the Whitehall Theatre; it regularly staged ...

''." The

British Comedy Guide British Comedy Guide or BCG (formerly the British Sitcom Guide or BSG) is a Great Britain, British website covering British comedy, British comedies. BCG publishes guides to TV and radio situation comedy, sketch shows, comedy dramas, satire, va ...

called the film "a really delightful forgotten gem of British cinema comedy". The ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' called it a "horrid comedy of errors," adding "for the sake of a hard-working cast, let's draw a discreet

Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...

over the whole charade." '' Time Out'' said it was "from the darkest days of British cinema, a farrago which began life as Cooney's Whitehall farce, ''Chase Me, Comrade''."

References

External links

* {{Harold Snoad 1976 films British spy comedy films Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios Films based on works by Ray Cooney Films set in England Films set in London 1970s spy comedy films 1970s political comedy films British political comedy films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films Films scored by Harry Robertson English-language spy comedy films