Review of Naked Truth, The

Introduction

Think of a quintessential Englishman in the movies today. Pretty hard isn`t it? Try as I might, only one name sprang to mind, that of Hugh Grant, an actor who`s made a career from being a wishy-washy fop. It`s practically a niche market. It`s either that or any of a hundred Hollywood bad guys. Things weren`t always like this. Thirty or forty years ago, many actors embodied the essence of being English in many different ways. Leslie Phillips will always be the perfect English Lothario, Noel Coward was the epitome of the breed in The Italian Job, and you couldn`t get more English than Roger Moore as James Bond. If you wanted cads, bounders, loveable rogues then you needn`t look any further than the inimitable Terry-Thomas. With his famous toothy grin, neat moustache and unique manner, he entertained in some of the best-loved British comedies, invariably in a smoking jacket with a cigarette holder in hand. The Naked Truth is one of the many classic movies Terry-Thomas starred in, and also starring Peter Sellers and Peggy Mount, it promises to be hilarious.

Nigel Dennis is an unscrupulous journalist, who profits from blackmail. He threatens to publish scandalous stories about certain celebrities in his rag, The Naked Truth and rakes in the cash, with nary a second thought. However he goes a step too far and eventually the hapless victims decide to fight back. Sonny Macgregor, a famous television personality feels that murder is the only option, and using some of the thousands of characters he creates on his show, he pursues his quarry relentlessly. Flora Ransom, an author who also falls prey to the machinations of the blackmailer also concocts a lethal plan to do away with the blackmailer, with the aid of her anxious daughter Ethel, and a plot from a crime novel. Also attempting to deal with the blackmailer and keep his wife blissfully unaware of his indiscretions is Lord Henry Mayley. As you would expect, with all manner of plots against Dennis taking place, mayhem ensues when the would-be assassins bump into each other.

Video

The Naked Truth was made in 1957 and consequently, the picture is in glorious monochrome. Presented in a 4:3 format, the picture is digitally remastered. It`s fair to say that the image quality is impressive, with contrast levels strong and the film looking quite fresh and rejuvenated. However, all the signs of age couldn`t be removed and there are a few blemishes or specks. This is most apparent when the film first starts but rapidly fades to imperceptibility. I also found that the darker scenes, particularly at night were a little indistinct, but I feel this was indicative of the film rather than the DVD transfer.

Audio

The Naked Truth is presented with the original mono soundtrack, which isn`t really a surprise. Dialogue is always clear and what little music there is suits the feature well. It is indicative of the times, that there is hardly any background music at all. Dialogue is given priority and I found it quite refreshing to enjoy a story without music to punctuate the film`s tempo for me.

Features

The theatrical trailer is provided, with a nice animated menu showing the effort put into the disc.

Conclusion

You know that I said the dialogue was always clear? Well that may have been stretching the truth. To be honest, I didn`t listen to every minute of the soundtrack. I was laughing so hard that I missed out on what the next line was several times. After a while, I gave up on skipping backwards and just went with the flow of the film. It very rarely happens that I laugh at a film. Increasingly, modern comedies opt for the gross-out option and it was wonderful to see a film that was funny because of the wit and the writing rather than any scatological humour.

Terry-Thomas is wonderful as always as the roguish Lord Mayley. He endeavours to keep his indiscretions secret from his wife and pay off the blackmailer, but always seems to get caught in the middle of the others` plots. He plays less of a cad than he usually does and more of a victim, but the underlying nature of his character is irrepressible and that glint in his eye more than justifies the ire of his wife. Peter Sellers is magnificent as the man of a thousand faces, Sonny Macgregor. He reminds me of Alistair McGowan, with his myriad of costume changes leaving him completely recognisable and his repertoire of one voice for the lot of them. You can see the development of Clouseau`s penchant for undercover work in Sonny Macgregor`s trip to Dublin. Peggy Mount also impresses as the blackmailed author, Flora Ransom and her sharp and caustic wit is evident here. Joan Sims makes an appearance as her twitchy daughter Ethel, and her constant exhortation of "Mumsie" is priceless. Dennis Price as the blackmailer Nigel Dennis is suave and ruthless, but his character is there only for the principles to play off and as such does little to distinguish him here. The stars of the movie are most definitely the victims rather than the criminal. Shirley Eaton also stars as the blackmailed model, and her role starts promisingly enough and she does have some funny moments, particularly with Terry-Thomas, but her role does tend to tail off towards the end.

The Naked Truth is like many of the comedies of this era, hilarious. It`s not perfect though, the blackmailer is a little underwritten and the ending somewhat ridiculous, but The Naked Truth hit far more than it missed and easily surpassed any recent British comedy. There was a great British tradition for cinema comedy that somehow vanished in the early seventies with the last of the decent Carry On films. Fortunately, the body of work that was created in the years before that still exists and thankfully is making its way onto DVD. Warning! Cliché coming… "They don`t make `em like they used to." Well, they don`t.