Writer Leslie Thomas revisits his Malayan war memoirs but this time the result is more akin to “Confessions of a National Serviceman”.
1950: a group of British soldiers are stationed at Tanglin Barracks in Singapore for their National Service. Despondent at the thought of fighting guerrillas in the jungle, Privates Brigg (Robin Askwith) and Jacobs (George Layton) turn their attentions to the local girls.
Delectable nurses Bernice (Pamela Stephenson) and Valerie (Lynda Bellingham) attract their interest.
Nigel Davenport returns from the original The Virgin Soldiers (1966) as the barking sergeant, but Robin Askwith is a crude substitute for Hywel Bennett and the lavatorial humour sits uneasily alongside the stabs at drama.
Edward Woodward enjoys unusual casting as a disciplinarian NCO who’s a coward at heart. Miriam Margolyes appears as Elephant Ethel, a prostitute at the Golden Grape whorehouse.
Private Brigg
Robin Askwith
Private Jacobs
George Layton
Bernice
Pamela Stephenson
Valerie
Lynda Bellingham
Sergeant Wellbeloved
Edward Woodward
Sergeant Driscoll
Nigel Davenport
Colonel Bromley-Pickering
John Le Mesurier
Morris Morris
Warren Mitchell
Mrs Phillimore
Irene Handl
Elephant Ethel
Miriam Margolyes
Lieutenant Grainger
Robin Nedwell
Juicy Lucy
Fiesta Mei Ling
M.O. Billings
Patrick Newell
Miss Burns
Pearl Hackney
Miss Plant
Rosamund Greenwood
Lantry
David Auker
Field
Robert Booth
Villiers
Peter Bourke
Tasker
Leo Dolan
Foster
Brian Godfrey
Browning
Paul Rattee
Mrs Billings
Monica Grey
Director
Norman Cohen
